Chipsets and Motherboards Made Easy

[congo]

I had an extensive look at current chipset/motherboard options available and this is what I narrowed it down to.

These Mainboards were chosen because currently they represent the best value for money in the marketplace while retaining leading edge technology and a reasonable life expectancy before being outdated. I am biased by my own methodology in the decision process and by my own needs and wishes.

These are both high quality boards from major manufacturers. I didn't intend on this result, I was led to it by a process of elimination.

The boards also represent the two main CPU platforms - AMD and Intel. They also represent what I consider to be the two most viable chipsets at present, as far as mass market suitability is concerned.

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My first choice, the Asus A8N-E, is based on the nForce4 Ultra chipset for AMD 64bit processors (socket 939).

Find the product specs here:
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?mode ... l2=15&l3=0




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Runner up is the Gigabyte GA-8I915P Duo Pro, based on the Intel 915p chipset and supports Intel cpu's. (socket 775)

Product Specs:
http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Pr ... %20Pro.htm



Both boards above are seriously fully featured, as they utilise their respective chipset's capabilities very well, yet, they are marketed like no-frills items and are competitively priced.

You could choose other similar boards of course, and you may have to if you can't find these models.

If you have plenty of cash to sink, you may choose something a but more gaudy.