Best mother board?

The new nforce4 motherboards seem to be getting good reviews:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE3

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0


Ozy

I got the new A8V-E Deluxe, and really like it. I don't see any reason (unless you already have an AGP vid. card) to go with the A8V otherwise.

If you don't need PCI Express (and you don't really... but some people like it) then I like the Asus IC7-Max 3 for a Pentium setup.

Im quite happy with my MSI, which seems to be a popular choice

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...130-468&depa=1


I also have a Athlon 64 3500+

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I agree,


My current htpc is a K8T800 chipset and performs very well for me, however if you are planning on running dual fusion cards then consider the nforce 3 or 4 Ultra chipsets.

Asus A8N-SLI!!! nForce4

Those are all fine boards, but the absolute best board is......


The one that's going to be released about 2 months after you get yours.


Sorry, couldn't resist!


Andy

This is a little "old school" at this point, but take a look at the top-of-the-line Epox Socket 754 board. Why??? Well the board comes with 6 SATA connections and 6 PCI slots. It can also do RAID 5.


I just ordered this board because it can accommodate anything I'd want to do. All you are giving up is PCI-E, but there are plenty of AGP cards around.


If you want future compatability, I'd opt for a Socket 939 board which is NOT SLI. MSI makes such a board which has 4 PCI slots. Most of the SLI boards have 2-3 PCI slots which is just not enough IMHO, particularly given the questionable benefits of SLI.

For the last two computers I've built, I used Intel boards. I'm especially pleased with the 925CV with Dolby Digital Live that I used for my HTPC. I don't want to overclock the HTPC, and I use the DD Live via SPDIF. The primary quality I wanted in my HTPC mobo was stability, and Intel's got that in spades. It uses PCI-e and SATA, and it suits my needs very well.


I would not claim it is the "Best motherboard," but it is the one I would still choose were I to build an HTPC today.

My DFI Nforce4 Ultra-D (non-SLI) will be here tomorrow, along with an Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 and a Leadtek 6600GT PCI-e.


DFI motherboards are really versatile and overclockable, but might be overkill for an HTPC, although my last 3 have been DFI m/b's.

From building a few HTPC's and many gaming PC's.


Rule of thumb for me is INTEL chipset mobo for P4's and NVidia (NForce)chipset for AMD. Seems to have less probm overall compared to VIA or SIS chipsets that I have tried. Manufacturers didnt matter as much as the the chipsets being use, as long as the the manufacturer are the top tier ones.

If you want the best motherboard possible I personally would recommend this motherboard . It has been reviewed here and if you ever feel like Doom 3 than SLI is definitely an improvement . An even greater improvement was shown with Farcry. The advantages of SLI are so great if you ever think about using your computer for gaming I would definitely recommend it.

While I have read most comparisons regarding the nForce3 chipset boards being a little slower than the VIA counterparts, I'd go with the nForce board due to better driver implementation and probably better stability. This is regarding using a AGP board. My brothers 2 week unsolved problem of constant reboots with his Asus A8V(another story) has soured me on VIA, again.........