AM2 Motherboard

[turnbullm]

Hi all,

I am replacing my motherboard and processor, but not sure which motherboard to get.

I am purchasing an AM2 4000+ (would perhaps upgrade to 6000+ in the future... or to something faster?).
I have 1gb DDR2 533 ram.
I have 1 SATA drive, and 1 old PATA drive. (So i need at least 1 IDE port)
I need a PCI Express 16 slot as I have a X1600Pro (not a hardcore gamer so I won't be looking at SLI)

Inbuilt sound and video is not an issue, however I need inbuilt LAN networking.

I'm not big on overclocking.

I mainly want stability and fairly cheap (no need to purchase the best for bells and whistles I won't be using).

My budget is about $150 at the most. Would push to $200 if it's really worth it.

I am purchasing my components from centrecom, and I prefer to use ASUS boards, so my options are here:
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=36_63&sort=3a&filter_id=17
The list is still overwhelming and I'm not sure which one is the best to get!

Thankyou

 

[jman2807]

May i suggest

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131013

For a $140 it is a nice board... It is SLI but its not an overly expensive board.

 

[fx51]

If you are going to stay with Asus go with ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe.

But try to look to others brands to. They have exellents MB with the same options, at less expensive price.

 

[f61]

I kinda like the Biostar TF7025-M2 . Easy set up and is a good o/c companion to the Brisbane 3600. Its reletively new and inexpensive, and gets good reviews. With the money saved, I would purchase a 1Gbx2 pair of DDR2-800 sticks. These GSkill PC6400 sticks match the voltage requirements of the TF7025 (edit: 1.9-2.0V), and are speedy.

At the egg, there is a combo offer that will save you a few bucks on MoBo and CPU, and if you sell your old sticks, this will reduce the final cost. Right now with the combo offer the sticks AND the MoBo are $150. (edit2: All 3 parts: 3600 Brisbane, Sticks, and MoBo are about $US220) Note that this is all US, as this is the US forums, so its wise if from down-under to copy the part#'s and double check your local pricing.

Cheers mate.

f61

 

[fender22]

I saw that you have 533 memory, AMD CPUs rely heavily on Memory speed... If you could, I would upgrade to 2GB 800 sometime... Not saying right now, but it is a good idea if you are looking to up your performance sometime along in the future...

Best of luck!