Decent motherboard for non gaming pc

[dbgray]

Hi all,

I am just after some advice for a build I am doing for my parents, I do not want to go as cheap as possible but nothing expensive. They have a pc already but it is really slowing down and I would like to upgrade it rather than keeping it going.

My main concern is motherboard. They do not play games so I am going for a decent M/B with onboard graphics rather than getting cheap m/b and graphics. I would like to use the Intel E5200 so looking for an Intel M/B, is this processor overkill for general use?

I am torn between the G45 and nforce 730i chipsets. Looking at the reviews, the G45 looks slightly faster for most office tasks with the 730i a lot faster for 3D graphics. Is this a correct assumption?

I also don't know if I should go for 2 pci slots or 1 pci slot. At the moment, there are no PCI cards in the pc but occasionally their broadband internet goes down so I have a backup pci dial up modem which would mean that there are no PCI slots spare

There are some decent boards by ASUS and Gigabyte for around £90 in the UK. I particuallry like the ASUS P5Q-VM / EM (G45) or the P5N7A-VM (730i). Does anyone have experience with these boards?

Cheers for any advice

 

[Proximon]

You really only need a G43 for the build:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-304-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=326&name=Asus%20P5QL-CM%20Intel%20G43%20Micro-ATX%20(Socket%20775)%20PCI-Express%20DDR2%20Motherboard

I think the CPU is a fine choice.

 

[kubes]

+1 proximon. that board is a great all purpose kinda board, and actually has not to bad support for low end graphic stuff.

Your processor should be fine as well. If you plan on running vista make sure to give them at least 2gbs of ram though.

 

[dbgray]

Thanks for the replys guys. Had a quick look at the board and am a little concerned with only 2 ram slots. Also had a look at the P5QL-EM aswell, can't see a huge amount of difference except the EM variant has 4 ram slots.

If using Vista with onboard graphics, would it be best to go for more than 2 GB of ram as the graphics will use some of the ram?

 

[alcattle]

You are right about RAM. 2 slots is 4GB so that is good, you will need to use a 64bit OS for the system to see and use more than that.

 

[kubes]

I would pick up 2x2gb sticks (4gb's in total). That should be plenty for your needs and desires. I think you'll be fine with just the 2 ram slots. Filling a motherboard with 4 ram sticks is hard on it anyways. Has a hard time maintaining the voltages to each of the sticks in a lot of cases.