Picking a Motherboard

Hi,

Going to be building my first PC this summer, probably in a months time once I get paid again. So far I think I've found a decent selection of components for a good price but wanting to keep costs under the 400 mark so finding bargains and tweaking choices quite a bit.

Here's what I've picked so far,


PSU: 500W FSP Blue storm II PSU 80% Efficiency - £40 (Have bought already)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Pro Q6600, 775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache CPU - £163

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Socket 775 - £103

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-212BK - DVD±RW (±R DL) - 18x/18x/12x - Serial ATA - Black - £20

RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 - £67

VideoCard: Jetway ATi Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB - £65

Case: Foxconn TLA-002 Black/Silver Case - £20

Total: £478

Already paid for PSU so £438 left. Want to knock £50 off of that motherboard price as I've seen loads around the £50 mark which look like they could work but I don't know which ones are best. Not sure if I really need that graphics card either but it looked like a bargain compared to it's normal price. I just want one that can play most top games easily.

Any opinions are appreciated.



EDIT: Going to be using Hard Drive from current computer as it is quite new, 400GB seagate.

you could get a uATX G33 motherboard for around £60.. They can be very feature rich and even provide overclocking features if you require them

Unless you know you're going to make full use of a quad, then drop down to a E6750 processor (~£45 saving) and switch to a GA-P35-DS3P (~£17 saving) which is basically the same board but without the fancy heatpipe. If you still think you're stretching it, switch to PC2-5300 RAM if you're not overclocking but that will only save a further ~£10.

knocking £50 off the mobo price may be a bit optimistic depending upon what features that you need/want but e.g. abit's IP35-E & Gigabyte's P35-S3/DS3 should be available for little more than £60.

That GA G33 looks like a good shout, found a standard ATX one at Scan for £63, just realised I can't post links but it is the

'Gigabyte GA G33M-S2 iG33 Express, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, ATX, On Board VGA'

If you guys want to have a look.
Seems to have everything I need, what do you think?

The Gigabyte DS3R is good, £86 but can take DDR3 too for the future (at least I think I got the model name correct :p).