Which would be the best motherboard

[akjs1234]

which would be the best motherboard with respect to the following components:
a p4 3.4 EE and 2 GB Kingston pc4000 hyperx (khx400) ram.
the graphics card is undecided yet but it would be from either the nvidia 6800 or the ati x800 series.
as far as the ram goes, all the motherboards till date support only pc3200 so will overclocking be needed.
thanks

 

[Pauli]

AMD Athlon64 is probably your best bet for a gaming rig. However, if you are intent on going with P4EE (definitely NOT the sweet spot in price/performance), ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe or Abit IC7-Max3.

PC4000 RAM will allow you to overclock to higher FSB speeds but will run fine at 200/400Mhz (PC3200 spec). You don't "need" to overclock your system just because your RAM can run at a higher speed.

 

[akjs1234]

I am aware that ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe and Abit IC7-Max3 are the best choices but I am really not sure which one of these I should go for.

 

[jhurst]

I would suggest the Abit. The boards run almost identical, but the Abit looks better, and I think it offers a bit more options when overclocking. Plus the Active NB is pretty cool on the Abit too, along with the OTES. If nothing else, I would go with the Abit b/c of its black PCB, especially if you have a window .

 

[Sylvanas]

abit have their "guru" technology enabling you to get the latest BIOS updates and it should apply it all automatically or so i understood. go abit!

 

[jhurst]

Yes, they do have a very simple BIOS update program, but thats really not that important.

 

[Pauli]

I went for the ASUS because it has only a heatsink on the NorthBridge - no fan. I'm going for quiet on my system. If this is also important to you, then ASUS is the right one for you.