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Need new MoBo + CPU. Looking for Recommendations.

Can someone suggest a good MoBo and CPU Combo?

I just melted my old MoBo. I would like to find the fastest Motherboard CPU combination. Here are a few of my requirements
- Around 500 dollars
- I don't care about on-board Video or sound.
- IDE 100 or 133. I do not have any SATA drives currently.
- APG 4x or greater. (I am NOT looking for PCI-E. I will wait for about a year before I go that route. )
- Fast Intel or 64 bit AMD.
- Good support and easy install would be nice.
- On-board Ethernet
- More USB 2.0 and Firewire ports the better
- Ability to support fast RAM and at least 2 gigs.

I have built about 3 PC's all Intel. I hear that AMD is more bang for the buck. I am looking for specific MoBo and CPU combinations. I have used ASUS in the past, but I am way open to suggestions.

Thanks for your time,
David Grossman

kamilw

AMD does currently give you more bang for the buck. AMD is moving all their Athlon 64 processors to socket 939, so I would recommend a motherboard with that socket. This is also going to be compatible with future AMD dual core chips which will arrive sometime in Q2 2005.

If I was buyig a motherboard right now I would go with the MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard. You can get this for about $140 and it has all the features you are looking for.

The specs are below:

Supported CPU: Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64FX/64 processor
Chipset: nForce3 ULTRA
RAM: 4x DIMM Supports dual channel DDR266/333/400 Max 4GB
Slots: 1x AGP 4X/8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2, 1x COM, 1x LPT, 8x USB2.0(Rear 4), 1x IEEE1394, 2xRJ45, 1x S/PDIF Out, Audio Ports
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
SATA/RAID: 4x SATA RAID with 0,1,0+1
Onboard Audio: ALC850 8-Ch
Onboard LAN: Marvell 88E1111 1000Mbps, Realtek 8110S 1000Mbps
Onboard IEEE1394: 3x ports by VIA 6306
Form Factor: ATX

As for the CPU I would go with the AMD Athlon 64 3500+, available for about $340

This will give you a very fast machine and will keep you in your budget.

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Callandor

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visualcoat

I know you did need the SVL included but i realy like this board....

Intel 865GLCLK
w/Sound, Video & LAN
Intel 865G AGPset, PGA478
Socket for Pentium 4
Processor, Supports
800MHz FSB (Front Side
Bus) Supports up to 4GB of
DDR266-DDR 400 in 4 DDR
DIMM Slots, ATA100, SATA, 3
PCI, 1AGP 8X (1.5V Only), 4
USB 2.0 w/4 More Optional,
Onboard Sound, Video and
Gigabit Ethernet
Intel 865GLCLK
w/Sound, Video & LAN
$115

CPIPR3328 Intel Pentium 4
HT 3.2GHZ 800MHz
$329.00

zvitam

I think that the number of opions will be like the number of answers, read the following hardware guide and decide for yourself.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/motherboard/index.html

http://yahoo.pcworld.com/yahoo/bguide/0,guid,29,00.asp