low budget mobo for c2d

[mickeddie]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131044

Is this a decent low-end mobo for a core 2 duo system? The person will be useing the machine for copying DVD's. Will the on-board video be good enough for watching movies? I don't see why not but want to get a more professional opinion. (I already priced a system for this person including a 7300gt gpu).

Thanks!

 

[Syntonic]

Uh, well, the gigabyte p965 s3 is only 108 USD and is probably a bit better than what you have listed. I believe there are cheaper motherboards that will support a c2d though. You can get a cheap video card as well that would probably be way better than the onboard but it doesn't really sound all that necessary. There are several openbox video cards on the cheap for sale on newegg. You could also possibly check ebay for some parts here.

Motherboards with basic c2d support start around 50 USD or so but it depends on what parts you have chosen, what is necessary and if this system is ever going to be updated. Many of the low end motherboards also have onboard video as well but judging from the reviews, many headaches getting them to run stable (most are via chipsets it seems.) Pay attention to the memory requirements on those budget boards too. Get what you pay for type of deal I guess.

My oldest system I still have around could play dvd with a dvd player as well as xvid and divx so I'm fairly certain as long as you don't expect advanced hardware decoding features on the newer vid cards, you're alright. The old machine can't do x264 decodes but again, that has more to do with the processor than the video card. Copying dvds doesn't really take a lot of video card speed either to my knowledge.