Replacement Motherboard considerations (+OS)

[sleepyhead]

I'm having massive headaches with my current setup and it's gone back to Scan twice and this time round the motherboard and ram all passed memtest both individually and when assembled but that is another story...

Anyhow, I'm after possible motherboard replacement for the FP-IN9 and perhaps maybe even try Vista 64bit.

Requirements:
LGA775
Support my Corsair PC6400 Cas4 DHX ram (I now have 4x1GB sticks)
Be under £100
Is overclockable
Preferably not Abit (i've had many Abit boards in the past and want to try something different)
Onboard sound (until I can save up AGAIN for a dedicated sound card)
Onboard Lan (I fried my 3Com PCI card after 7 years of abuse, will look for replacement soon)

There are loads of reviews out there and LOTS of good boards but really would love to have the Hexus community input and suggestions

[kalniel]

We're all partial to Abit boards

[mercyground]

Urm I believe 3com cards have lifetime warrenties? I sent in a couple once and got new ones back.
Might be worth going checking?

[sleepyhead]

We're all partial to Abit boards

Well there is no bloomin' way I am getting another FP-IN9 nor a NV based motherboards. My NF7 was a pain in the bum too.

It's not really worth me pursuing a 3Com card I purchased years back for like £20. It's a 10/100 2 port network PCI card.

[kalniel]

Oh good heavens, we'd not be as daft as to suggest an nVidia chipset - take a look at the excellent intel ones - P45, P35 etc.

How about this Asus?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145751

[sleepyhead]

Not bad

It's also £84 at SCAN with free delivery.

I am quite confused by the Asus range of P45 based motherboards with big price range.

I'm also not familiar with non Abit BIOS'...so new learning curve!

Also, Vista Home Premium OEM seems quite cheap, both 32bit and 64bit.

Depending on what SCAN say about the FP-IN9 and the RAM, I may just throw the towel in and move onto Vista and the above suggested board...unless someone knows of a better and cheaper alternative!

Any views on this P45 Board, the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R?

[Zhaoman]

The Gigabyte P45 boards have been very disappointing so far. I would suggest going with Asus with P45 or buying a P35 board.

[kalniel]

Bios section of the Asus:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...-review-6.html

[sleepyhead]

Tasty! BIOS looks awesome.

If I end up giving up on the FP-IN9...that Asus will do me fine

Thanks for that Kalniel (and the P45 boards aren't as expensive as I thought they were).

[Will404]

I have an ASUS P5Q PRO, and have to recomend it as it is great

[inonefly]

the DFI DK P35 is a good board, about £72 from scan, and is a good oc'er

[mediaboy]

For OS, get 64-bit.

If you can make sure everything is compatiable.

Otherwise that 4gb RAM won't be doing much more than 3gb (as 32 bit don't support any more than 4gb, and at 4gb you don't actually get that much. I can find a review if you want)

Premium be quite nice too... it's worth the few extra quid to get it over Basic. Don't bother with Vista Extreme (or whatever the one above Premium/Buisness is) as it's not worth the effort.


EDIT: Vista ULTIMATE.. that's the one.