Quick mobo & GPU suggestions!

[MarkTheNoob]

Hey guys, been getting help for a system i'm upgrading but need a couple of mid-range suggestions for my mate. Basically i'm putting together a system for him from my old parts and a few extras. So far there is...

Case - Soprano Thermaltake
PSU - Cooler Master 550w
RAM - 2GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400
HDD - 750GB Seagate 16mb
DVD - 2x Optiarc
CPU - Intel E6400
Sound - Creative Audigy Something ( It's his own)

All I need is a reasonable mobo and graphics card.

Just a few suggestions that would compliment the system. Quality but reasonable value.

Cheers again gents!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This motherboard will do the job fine:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Gigab...-SATA-RAID-ATX

It has a good review:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/575

It also has all solid capacitors too!!

Here are some reviews of the Gigabyte P31-DS3L which is virtually the same:

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/revie...3L/index.shtml

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...yte_gap31ds3l/

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=837&num=1

You can get it for under £50:

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info....source=froogle

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...ource=googleps

If you need more SATA ports and support for more than 4gb of RAM the following is a better choice:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...7-SATA-300-ATX

For a graphics card the minimum I would go for is a HD4830 or 9800gt which should do fine at 1280x800 and 1440X900.

If you need something with a bit more grunt an HD4850 for £110 or a 9800GTX+ for £115 will plat most games at 1680x1050 fine:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146705

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

[PwnDirect]

Same as above

but please dont buy a termaltake case dont encourage them to make more!

[GeorgeStorm]

I would agree on the GPU front, I really like my 9800GTX+, and it outperforms teh 4850 i had in a rig with an e8200, (compared to my current e7300), and it clocks nice, (the one for £110 at aria comes with an aftermarket heatsink, not the one in the picture, atleast mine did, )
For motherboard, I dunno, I mean, I would go for the Biostar HP, then again, I have defo become a Biostar fan boy after using both the HP and the i45 over the last couple of months, love the baord,s
Before I used them, I really liked Gigabyte, and their cheaper boards are pretty decent
However, watch the lack of cooling on the MOSFETS if some serious overclocking/overvolting is gonna be done, they may blow,
Edit:
That scan one is the same one I have, except it has a Palit sticker ont he front,
The cooler does a grwaet job, enver goes over 60 degrees, at 70% fan, while running at 850/2050/2500

[Hyperviper34]

I would go along with the Scan 9800GTX+, I brought one for a build last week and it turned out to be a Palit, I was very impressed with it’s performance and looks for £115.

The Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L is a very good recommendation and is a MB I’ve used a lot in the last 18 months for budget builds. The Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L iP43 is another good budget MB but has the P43 chipset so will support pci-e 2.0 and has better memory module support (the P31 doesn’t like using 4 double sided modules), it’s also very easy to use with good clear over-clocking feature, no RAID support though on both those boards.