Motherboard Question - Building new PC

[aroma]

Have a little money laying around so I decided it's time to put a new machine together. Use to put my own machines together many years ago, but my last couple have been pre-assembled systems, and I haven't kept up with all the technology out there. Looking for suggetions on which mother board to start with. My only requirements is 8x AGP, and a socket 478. (I've already decided to go with a Intel chip, so don't try to convince me to go AMD). I'm going to go compelete from scratch on this machine, so I'm not worried about compatibility with any existing components. I was looking at something like the MSI NEO-FIS2R.

So, what motherboard would you recomend, and why?

- Aaron

[Jacob]

It's been while since I looked at the whole motherboard market, but I've used a couple (and currently am using one) motherboards from Abit (http://www.abit-usa.com) and I've never had a problem with them.

You might want to take a look at www.tomshardware.com - they usually have good reviews of hardware in general and could point you to a good motherboard. [/url]

[Janak Parekh]

For Intel processors, I've personally gone with Intel mainboards (http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherbd/index.htm?iid=ipp_home+desk_boards&). They're a bit more no-frills, but they're absolutely unbelievably rock solid, and actually, looking at that page now, their variety has increased quite a bit. For me, total stability is more important than a 3-5% performance difference or the ability to overclock, so your opinion may differ from mine. :)

--janak

[aroma]

Good point, Janak. I hadn't really looked much at the Intel boards too much yet, but taking a quick look their D875PBZ model looks pretty comparable to the MSI I was looking at the price is close too.

While we are on this subject, who do you all recomend as a good source for the motherboards and other componenets?

[Janak Parekh]

While we are on this subject, who do you all recomend as a good source for the motherboards and other componenets?
NewEgg (www.newegg.com). They have almost every modern computer part available, pictures of them, very accurate specifications, and they ship in a timely fashion and give you updates on every step of the order. Their prices are also pretty good.

--janak

[Pat Logsdon]

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but you may want to consider a SFF (small form factor) box that comes packaged as a bare-bones system with power supply and a micro-ATX motherboard.

I'll be putting one together myself pretty soon, since a) they look neat, and b) I'm tired of having a huge tower. :?

The best SFF package seems to be by Shuttle. Their Intel chipset package is the SB61G2 (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/specb/ba19333.html).

It supports a ton of DDR RAM, has an AGP 8x slot, and has lots of connections on the front and back. 8)

It has one 5 1/4" drive slot (excellent for this (http://store.yahoo.com/livewarehouse/piondvdvcddr.html)), one 3.5" drive slot (great for this (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product%5Fcode=301565)), and one hidden 3.5 drive slot that can be used for a large capacity HDD.

You can read reviews about this little sucker at tom's hardware guide (http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20030131/index.html).

[Mitch D]

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but you may want to consider a SFF (small form factor) box that comes packaged as a bare-bones system with power supply and a micro-ATX motherboard.

I'll be putting one together myself pretty soon, since a) they look neat, and b) I'm tired of having a huge tower. :?

The best SFF package seems to be by Shuttle. Their Intel chipset package is the SB61G2 (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/specb/ba19333.html).

It supports a ton of DDR RAM, has an AGP 8x slot, and has lots of connections on the front and back. 8)

It has one 5 1/4" drive slot (excellent for this (http://store.yahoo.com/livewarehouse/piondvdvcddr.html)), one 3.5" drive slot (great for this (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product%5Fcode=301565)), and one hidden 3.5 drive slot that can be used for a large capacity HDD.

You can read reviews about this little sucker at tom's hardware guide (http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20030131/index.html).

I 2nd this idea, I have a shuttle system and love it!