Which motherboard?

[andyr300]

im building a PC at present and have no idea which motherboard to go for, it needs to fit an Intel e6600 and a couple of PCI cards, a PCI-e GFX, some SATA HDs...

not fussed about on board sound/graphics as will be covering these seperately.

also not interested in overclocking.

I just want it to work with S3 standby states properly, and be good quality.

What is a good brand to go for?>

thanks
andy

[DratUK]

There isnt a great deal of difference in terms of performance between chipsets if your not interested in OCing. Therefore its a case of support and ease of setup and as you have pointed out one that fits your requirements.

In terms of support Abit for my money is second to none. Forum support here and on the USA Abit forum is excellent. There is direct support/representation here in the UK, the tech guys are very very helpful. See
http://forums.hexus.net/forumdisplay.php?f=171

I have a QuadGT in my main system the other runs a AW9D-Max in the familys PC. Both are rock solid.

For your needs ie PCi-E slots etc

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=605524
P35 Express
3 PCI Slots 6 SATA ports 2 firewire 2 PCI-E x 1 slots and the PCiE Graphics x 16.
Easy to work with and nicely laid out.
£87.31.

[BUFF]

If you can get by withour RAID/Firewire the IP35-E is even cheaper. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=605521

I've heard that S3 wasn't working on the Gigabytes but was working on the abits but have no personal experience.

[DratUK]

Buff by the way is one of our resident Abit xperts. He has helped a good number of people with Abit boards.
inc me.

[andyr300]

i currently use an Asus and havent been over impressed with their website support...but i have seen a few Abit boards.

what does everyone think of the fatal1ty board (the full size one as opposed to the micro-atx one)?

[DratUK]

Not a huge fan of the Nvidia chipsets atm. Numerous issues have been reported, do a google, but since I havent used one I can really comment. For me the Intel 965 and P35 are well rounded mature chpsets now.

[Rabs]

Another vote for Abit, solid reliable boards which clock nicely too Well worth the extra pennies over the competitors.

[Andy3536]

Have a gigabyte p35 and have been very impressed by the ease of use, web support and ease of installation. Also part of thier 'ultra durable line'
Just to through another manufacturer into the hat!

[BUFF]

what does everyone think of the fatal1ty board (the full size one as opposed to the micro-atx one)?

Unless you need the SLI support I'm not a big fan of the nF6xxi line of chipsets.

[SHare]

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, I'd like to upgrade to a shiny new 6600 but hopefully the biggest outlay will be on the chip itself.

[Blitzen]

I have a QuadGT in my main system the other runs a AW9D-Max in the familys PC. Both are rock solid.

I also have the AW9D-MAX and its by far the best board i have ever owned. Full of features, clocks well, and the temps are low on critical componenets.
ABIT's customer support is 1,000,000 times better than ASUS aswell.

[andyr300]

looking olike abit or gigabyte atm then.i will keep people informed how i am thinking!