Help on choice of Motherboard

Hi there,

It's my first post in this forum and I need some help.
I am purchasing a new system and my dealer is offering me the choice between the Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9, Gigabyte Motherboard P35-DS3, Gigabyte Motherboard 73UM-S2H and Asus Motherboard P5KR. I will be using a Quad core cpu.

Which one is the best?

second question:

Is it important to have a IEEE 1394a port on a Mboard?

Thanks

Best to compare the features on the 2 boards and decide what you need, e.g., number of PCI slots, number of SATA connectors, onboard eSATA or firewire. The ASUS P5K E is loaded with features at a good price, around $140, I beleive the R is for advanced RAID if that's what you need. While you can always get a firewire card like Gravemind123 suggested, at most you'll get 3 PCI slots and why use one up if you don't have to. Most devices connect using USB but one exception are a lot of digital comcorders if you have or planning on getting one

At current prices, bang for the buck, I'd go with DDr2 800

DDR2-800 is all you will need, get either the G-Skill HZ or some Crucial Ballistix if you plan on overclocking your CPU past 400MHz FSB, or like running your ram at the highest possible speeds or tightest possible timings. It doesn't make that much of a performance difference no matter what your speeds or timing are though. If you aren't much of an overclocker, then just get a cheap kit of DDR2-800.