Need help finding a new mobo

[nowwhatnapster]

Well my hardware is dated, using a p4 3.2ghz, 6800gt & ddr500 ram & Asus p4p800se. no upgrades for my platform available for me. so i need to start fresh.


Basically i'm willing to dish out ~200 for a good MOBO that will last me awhile, I.E. support for new features like pCI-E 2.0 & DDR3 is a priority. so i can upgrade prehiprials instead of boards.
Not sure if thats a good idea, maybe better to get a cheap 60 buck board and upgrade when necessary to another 60 buck board.

Havent been able to find something sub 200 with support for DD3 & 1+ PCI-E 2.0 16x slots

Dont care about RAID support other than 0 or 1. even that is not necessary, but a plus

Gigabit Ethernet is a must. 2x is even better.

Fully overclockable BIOS is a must. got watercooling system in current setup with a 3x120mm fan radiator.

Any input? Suggestions? I will be purchasing MOBO, CPU, RAM & GPU, budget~600. if you feel like tossing in other part suggestions.

 

[Shadow703793]

Imo, there is no point in getting a DDR3 board since Nehalm is just around the corner.

I recommend you get a good P35 (ie P35-DS3x or P5K) or a good X38 board (ie ASUS Formula,etc)

PCIe 2.0 is also just marketing right now as no card currently comes close to using full PCIe 1.1 bandwidth.

 

[Andrius]

^Nehalem's release is at least 7 months away. Entry price will likely be far above mainstream so add another 6 months for availability to us mere mortals.

I agree with Shadow703793 about the rest.
DDR3 offers poor value and very small benefits over DDR2 at this time.
The benefit of PCIE 2.0 over the next 2 years is also questionable at least for single graphics card systems.

A P35 board could save you the money to buy a better GPU. Say 8800GTS(G92) or the like.

Or you could wait untli early June and get a P45 (will have all your desired features).

 

[nowwhatnapster]

I took your advice, i settled for pci-e 1.0.

Here's a link to my list on newegg. Spent about 530 total with 100 in rebates so 430 total. (i settled for 4gb's DDR2 800 for 50 bucks!)

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=11557367&WishListTitle=Upgrades+for+the+Beast

figured ill get cheapy parts and upgrade in the future

 

[Andrius]

Looks nice.
I would have gone for an GA-EP35-DS3L (I think it's cheaper) but it's still an unsafe bet with the overclocking and DES issues reported.