This is my second day of reading reviews on newegg and forums here. I might have to start smoking cigs again if I can't decide on a board in the next few days. All input will help so thanks in advance. I'm looking at boards in the $100 range, give or take $50. There are just so many to choose from. Check out the other stuff I plan on getting.

1. I will be over clocking for the first time so user friendly is a plus.
2. I would like a good on board sound that will support HD sound for my home theater. I'll get a better sound card but it's not in the budget right now.
3. I don't need RAID.
4. I want to be able to upgrade to quad core at some time.
5. I will also be running vista at some point soon.

Case:
XION Onyx XON-303 Black/Blue Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Model #: XON-303

PSU:
Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W Power Supply
Model #: EA500

CPU:
Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
Model #: BX80557E2160

CPU Cooler:
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm
Model #: Nirvana NV120

RAM:
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Model #: KHX6400D2LLK2/2GR

HD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Model #: ST3250410AS

Graphics:
GIGABYTE GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Model #: GV-NX88T512HP8

GA-P35-DS3L comes to mind.

Nice build, all good choices.

Reviewers at Anandtech showed the Nirvana gets noisy under load. That might ruin the home theater experience...
http://anandtech.com/casecoolingps [...] i=3202&p=4
I think an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro would serve you better. It won't reach the record overclocks of the Nirvana or Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, but it's good, cheap, quiet, easy to install.

Oops, I read the original post wrong, you didn't mean a mobo between $50 and $100. All right, is $150 is acceptable, the GA-P35-DS3R ($127) and aBit IP35Pro ($150 at newegg) are better and worth the price.

Yeah, those boards are on my list but with all my wants and needs + inexperience it's hard to pick one.

Thanks for the post.

Don't spent all that money. Seriously.

DFI Blood Iron for $110 is a great dual core OCing board. It held my Q6600 stable at 3.4 GHz. I moved to a P5K-E for 3.6-4.0 GHz stable. It even has ICH9R South bridge for Raid.

I think it is one of the best budget boards around, you won't be disappointed. I loved mine. OCing is easy. My DFI is now powering an E6300 at 3 GHz (428 MHz FSB).

I stay away from Gigabytes because the BIOS is not clearly labeled, or it has "propriatary" (spelling?) names for common features.

If you have the budget by buying this "budget" board I would pick up an 8800 GTS as well. You won't be disappointed any way you go, I just think the GTS/Blood Iron would be the best and easiest.

Edit: Also the Nirvana is overkill (imo) for the 2160. Get a Freezer Pro 7 (cheaper) instead.

Edit2: The other option for great Quad OCing for cheap.. is the board I have, the Asus P5K-E. The OCing is extremely easy and userfriendly. I love this board.

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813131196

I completely advise against that board. Only half the MOSFETs are covered. *IF* you need a Wifi card, sure. Other wise:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131225

@cnumartyr: Thanks dude. Your the one that steered me away from AMD on my posts three or four days ago.

I know, I don't read this section, I got an IM saying I should come check out the thread and give you a hand picking out a motherboard.

Topic CPU Cooler: I will be moving on to quad core eventually, hence the ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm choice.

I did have the arctic pro picked out but changed do to other posts.

Good reasoning. If that is the plan I would suggest you lean toward a P5K-E with the 0602 BIOS (Until you need 45nm support).

I know I have personal experience OCing more than one of them (and we have multiple people in the OC section with them). We'd, of course, help you as best we could.

I would advise against the Kingston Ram.. since I can't find Transcend kits anymore, I would suggest a Crucial Ballistix Kit (DDR2-800) over it.

What about these boards? Pros and cons.

Also, should I stick with E2160 or move to the 2180?

2160 is high enough (I doubt it will OC to 3.6 GHz because of the limits of the core, and a P5K-E will easily do 400 MHz FSB).

I don't like Gigabyte. I've hard the IP35 has a ton of vDroop issues when you drop a quad in. Those are my personal opinions.

I don't think it gets better than Asus and DFI for Intel.

What is a Transcend kits?

I already sent out the rebate and cut the upc on the RAM

Lol, the Kingston is fine. I just like to OC my RAM as well. Putting the ram in 1:1 is just fine (which means you don't have to OC it until you hit 3.6 GHz on the 2160).

Transcend is a memory company that uses Micron ICs on their DDR2 Ram. They are GREAT kits. They were the ONLY ones I have found that ran DDR2-800 at 4-4-4-12 with JEDEC Standard 1.8v.