Most Stable AMD X2 Motherboard

If your not into any real OC'ing, then this ASUS board is probably the way to go. I'll include a link.

Asus AMD Board

I personally prefer DFI. You can OC the crap out of them and they're uber stable.

asus would be best for dodging problems. ASrock is an asus brand, ive heard good things about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

I don't understand.
I assume you are talking about ONLY Asus mobos with nForce4 chipsets?

no, im saying all asus boards are generally ok including its sister company ASRock.

If your looking for "stability" over all, I would recommend using an 1XX series Opteron S939 on a single socket "server" mobo from manu's such as Tyan, ServerWorks, Asus, etc.

If ultimate stability and uptime are not truly desired, then any top tier motherboard of the mid-range to enthusiast level should be adequate as long as you are not over-clocking. Some will say NForce4 based (though they still have SATA stability problems), ATI's latest chips, or even ULi's M1697 trickling into the channel now is a good choice.

If your looking for "stability" over all, I would recommend using an 1XX series Opteron S939 on a single socket "server" mobo from manu's such as Tyan, ServerWorks, Asus, etc.

If ultimate stability and uptime are not truly desired, then any top tier motherboard of the mid-range to enthusiast level should be adequate as long as you are not over-clocking. Some will say NForce4 based (though they still have SATA stability problems), ATI's latest chips, or even ULi's M1697 trickling into the channel now is a good choice.

uh, this is obviously not what he wants. if he bought a "server" 939 board from somebody like tyan, he would end up needing ECC ram and a bunch of other shit he doesn't need like SCSI support. just go with any known asus 939 board and you will be fine..

I disagree! Server Socket 939 boards do NOT require ECC RAM, it's only and OPTION! SCSI is either not available, or is an OPTION on the boards, again.

I said: Socket 939, not 940! IE: Tyan Tomcat K8E-SLI, Tyan K8E, Asus K8N-LR.

Get the Fata1ty Abit AN8 motherboard.
This motherboard has EVERYTHING you will ever want.
Here is the link: http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?catego...

I have it using a 3800+ with 4 GIG's of Ram and 2 XFX GeForce 7800 GS 256MB SLI cards.
Monster for sure. Need I say more...?
 

I have that motherboard. It was cheap and has worked perfectly. Also I notice you said two 7800 GS in SLI? Typo?

The "Fatality" was a good board (Why was? Has been DC'd). Had alot of bling, and over-clocking options. Not arguing quality...

OP said he wanted a "rock solid board"; SLI and possible other "addons are not required. When you start adding "features", it is "possible" to decrease stability...

What makes a truely great board; and along with that, stability? Well designed and engineered PCB, well engineered power management circuits, quality electrical components, and great BIOS engineers!

However, if you throw inferior accessories at any high end mobo... you'll rock the boat! A server or work station quality system is designed as a whole. Quality and or highend pieces must be obtained and assembled.

Maybe the original OP can give us a better idea of where he is headed, by telling us intended useage of his system, and maybe some other parts he is thinking off?

The system will mainly run a database and mail server on linux.

I will not overclock at all.

I will not use SLI.

I will occasionally play some 3D games in linux.

I will also have a small partition with windows XP to run a few windows apps that linux does not have rarely.

Sata does not mean the world to me if the board comes with pata ports.

I have built many Intel Systems. I would like an AMD one next  

Thanks for all the replies.

get a socketA board, might sound old but for your use its would work fine.

I can vouch for the Tyan Tomcat K8E (s2865). The board lives up to Tyan's reputation for putting out a no nonsense, quality board. I ditched my DFI LP UT Ultra-D after on going problems. It does cost a little more than most of the NF4 Ultra boards out ($165 at Newegg). But you are getting a Tyan product, it can take non registered ECC memory if needed, will run just fine with unbuffered/non ECC.

Oh, I like that. Sounds like sig material. 8)

Oh, I like that. Sounds like sig material. 8)

I agree! Was a bit flattered knowing it came on my response to an uninformed reply!

The Tyan Tomcat K8E S2865 would be a great board; coupled with a few basic components. I would spend the few extra dollars and get a S939 Opteron 170, 1-2Gbs of Corsair Reg (ECC) RAM, NVidia 6600 series {(not sure about the new 7300 series) I'm an ATI fan, but will relenquish to NVidia for Linux useage!}. If wanting better sound, go with a Via Vinyl based add on card solution, high end CMedia based card, or even a Creative Live! 5.1 (now Creative Audigy SE).

I would use any of the quality power supplies (threads found everywhere, but Tagan, Enermax, Antec, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling come to mind). Disk sub-systems I would go ahead and use SATA, and choose either Seagate's 7200.9 series, or a combo with a WD Raptor (use for OS/Boot drive). For data protection, a RAID 0 or even 5 Array would be in order. For Optical useage, I would personally go with one of the newer DVD +/- R/RW/RAM drives. DVD RAM seems to be making a small comeback, and is ultra stable for repeated backups. I would even suggest an external HDD for back-ups, since tape doesn't make fiscal sense in this scenario.