Need help choosing a motherboard!?

Question

Guys, I would really appreciate your help with this. I am new to building my pc. I would like certain features to be part of my motherboard and i am not sure what is the best motherboard for that.

Here are my specs.

Support for Intel Core 2 Duo 8400

Support for 4 RAM slots. (upto 8GB or more)

Onchip video support

Onchip audio support

atleast 2 IDE slots (one for hard drive and other optical drive)

Price under $100 preferably or under $150, but thats a stretch.

The rest is usual:

(8 or more) USB ports

PCI and PCI express

VGA port.

DVI (may be)...etc.

Purpose:

May be some gamming or photo or video editing but mostly for the fun of having a decently fast computer. Currently i have some celeron processor with 512mb ram. not worth mentioning what the other specs are. it is slow.

Actually i placed an order for Intel DG35EC Media Series G35 Desktop Board and now I am having second thoughts based on some reviews. Also I noticed, after placing the order, that it has only one IDE support.It will be taken by my exisiting harddrive. However, I would like to hook up my DVD writer which is ATA style and currently my mobo does not have provision for it.

* 1 hour ago

* - 3 days left to answer.

Answer 1

I just got done building a system for a client with this board:

http://www.directron.com/p5qle.html

It even allows you to get online BEFORE the OS is loaded. Supports 1066 DDR2. Take a look at it it is really pretty cool.

Answer 2

You can opt for ABIT motherboard. It is in your budget range.

The model is Fatality F-I90HD. You can check following link:

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboa...

also

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=...

It has all features which you want and it is the one of the best available motherboard.

Answer 3

Get an Asus board...whatever model you want.  If you are planning on using more than 4GB of RAM, remember that you have to install the 64bit version of Windows, and if you do that, some programs may not work unless they are 64bit as well.  

If you stick with the standard 32bit version of windows then 4GB is the limit on RAM.  Also, if you are going to build a new computer, then use SATA hard drives!.  Just copy all your stuff from your old IDE drive after you do a clean install of Windows on a new SATA drive...you will be glad you did.  If you try to use the same IDE HDD on your new system, you will have to run a repair install to account for all the new hardware, and it may give you issues...just start fresh.  

Answer 4

Try this-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

It has most off the stuff you want, but no onbaord video.

Answer 5

Get the Asus M2A-VM briliiat value for money costs £40 or around $80.

24-bit built in sound

x1250 ATI intergrated grfx chip

can hold up to 8GB max RAM

I have this model and use it on my computer that I use for heavy gaming.

Answer 6

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

this motherboard fits all your needs! don''t forget, 4 gb or more = 64bit os. but this mobo has all you need and is an award winnder,... and it's manufactored by intel!

nothing can beat the stability of intel mobo on intel cpu!

Answer 7

Your not getting any answers because you want to much, you can't get what you want for under 100$ you will spend 150 at least.

I can't do all of the research for you, but I'll send you in the absolute best direction, this site has pricing for the mad gamer or for the budget wise.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/

I'd prob cancel that order. Here is the link to the guaranteed best prices.

www.pricewatch.com

Hope this helps. O BTW IDE is ATA.