Which mobo? o.o

[GeNome]

I am on a relatively tight budget, so cheaper is better as long as it doesn't sacrifice much performance. So out of these

ECS C19-A SLI
Asus P5LD2
[Abit AW8

I really like the MSI, but if anybody here has advice I'd be very happy to hear it!

 

[SDPlissken]

I think you would have atleast let the folks here know what this machine will be used for, and how tight your budget is what parts you have, and don't have.

 

[GeNome]

Oops, sorry about that. It'll be used for photography and multimedia stuff mostly, with some light gaming on the side. It'll be used with a Pentium D 930, X800XL, 2GB RAM, etc. My budget is about $130 max.

 

[SDPlissken]

Heres what i look at if buiding around ati/intel it gives the option to upgrade to crossfire cards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157086 ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2 heres cpu support list http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Support/show.asp?Model=775XFire-eSATA2

also you said you like MSI heres one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130537 cpu support list http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/..._cpu_support_detail.php?UID=707&kind=1

Hope this helps.

 

[GeNome]

Well, major update. I just found out that I'll be needing *two* PATA ports, not just one. I have an IDE HD and the disk drive, of course. The Abit I listed only has one, so that's out of the picture. SDP, the ASRock you posted only has one as well. It seems most new mainboads only support one..the MSI included. It also looks like a lot of people are having trouble with their boards and having to flash the BIOS to the latest revision to get Pentium D's to work. The only mobo that doesn't look like it's having this problem is the ECS. So here's an updated list of mobos I'm looking at:


Still seriously considering the ECS
Asus P5LD2 Deluxe - $150
Asus P5LD2 - $122
AOpen i945Pa - $126
Gigabyte GA-8I945P - $103
Gigabyte GA-8I945P Pro - $128

The ECS is really looking like a good deal, considering everybody seems to like it (including review sites). However, I'm still a little squeamish about going with a seemingly low-end manufacturer. I'm really in desparate need of some advice..so thanks!

 

[SDPlissken]

Being your budget is tight, and your squeamish about going with ecs your best choice would be the Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G