I am looking for a good motherboard for an ati 4850

[bob_thing5]

I have decided finally to upgrade, I still have an athlon xp 2400...
I am getting an intel core 2 duo, ati hd 4850, some ddr2 memory, and an ocz evostream power supply.
I have been looking for a really good gaming motherboard that is really fast, has only 2 video card slots (I will never get more than 2 video cards if even that), preferably heat pipes for the north and south bridge, I dont really need on board sound even though I think they all have it.
basically I want a really good fast gaming motherboard without spending a lot of money which rules out a lot of the asus motherboards. also crossfire might be nice I may or may not use it so nvidia nforce if its better and cheaper is okay.

 

[bob_thing5]

I forgot to say i dont need a lot of the bells and whistles, I dont need e-sata, on board sound, or wi-fi, I just want the best gaming motherboard for the cheapest.

 

[TechUser]

So..... You wanted the cheapest good gaming motherboard?... hmmm....

Well, somebody just recently recommended me a cheap Biostar TPower I45 which could be very good for overclocking and gaming but it does not have heat pipe from the northbridge to the southbridge...

Since you are not planning to use more than 2 video cards then P45 motherboard should be fine for you because you will be using only a single PCIe x16 mode and it will save you money. This is because P45 only supports either single PCIe x16 or dual PCIe x8 for Crossfire therefore unlike X48, it does not support dual PCIe X16 for Crossfire...

However, Biostar TPower I45 broke the World's Overclock Record. It has the fastest overclock record performance...

For me, in the case of ASUS and GIGABYTE, there is nothing as the "best" gaming motherboard below GA-EP45-DS4 and P5Q Deluxe, regardless to Biostar TPower I45...

 

[bob_thing5]

well I have actually changed my mind i want to go nvidia.....the prices dropped, so thanks for the information but what would you suggest for sli?

 

[TechUser]

Unfortunately, I don't know much about the SLI motherboard since I was focusing on buying the Intel chipset motherboard.

I believe that Intel chipset motherboard is more stable than the nForce chipset motherboard based on some reviews that I read. nVidia is a good VGA producer but not the best chipset producer. If you wanted the best and stable chipset then go with either AMD or Intel.

If you still wanted SLI motherboard then I would recommend a 750i motherboard. If you wanted to Tri-SLI then go with 780i which is for enthusiast and 790i is only for DDR3...

750i is nVidia's response to Intel P45 and 780i is nVidia's response to Intel X48.

Anyway this thread might help you a bit:
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=6&t=12563