Motherboard recommendations

[Burble]

I need to build myself a new PC but am so out of touch with the market that I've no idea what board to go for. I'm wanting something that'll run a C2Q nicely, have space for upto 8Gb of RAM and do all the usual stuff.

I'm not fussed about RAID (infact I loathe and detest software RAID with a passion).

Like I said, I'm very out of touch so don't know what the best manufacturers, chipsets and so on are.

Budget is around £150.

[Davey_Pitch]

In my recent experience Gigabyte mobos have been the best by a distance, so they'd be my recommendation. I'll look for something more specific after my lunch :)

[Will]

Agreed about gigabyte - microstar and asus have always caused me issues, but asuses are supposed to be good for overclocking and tweaking if that's your thing.

[Burble]

Tweaking and overclocking used to be my thing, nowadays I can't be arsed and want something that'll work with minimal faffing.

[Will]

Well I've always been an AMD fan so I don't know if that helps but the AMD gigabyte boards have always been good. I don't bother with on board graphics, on board raid (aren't they hardware controlled now? Or is it still bios controlled?) or having 2 graphics cards etc... So a simple high end board will be around 80-100 quid anyway now I reckon without all the gaming and graphics and audio stuff.

[Burble]

I was an AMD boy too but I believe Intel are giving better bang per buck these days. I'm pretty sure most SoHo motherboards will use software RAID which is an abomination so a total no no for me. That said, if an otherwise idea board had it then I'd get the board and just not use the RAID.

Onboard graphics are a no no, but I'm not fussed about SLI or Crossfire but I do need to be able to drive my 2 x 24" monitors (or maybe 3 if I move things around a bit) reasonably well. I'm not much of a gamer but if I'm spending the money I want to get the best I can for it.

[Feek]

My latest experiences showed me that Asus was crap and Gigabyte was excellent. I'd be looking at a Gigabyte board. They're also great for making hacks if you feel that way inclined ;)

[Burble]

Gigabyte seem to be the way forward then :)

[Zirax]

Agreed on the Asus front. I was out of touch and asked about the Asus boards. They are a total pile of tripe. Getting it to work with my Wolfdale was a joke. It's currently sat in the server just using standard settings as its just that bad.

In contrast, the gigabyte board on my main machine is great. Nice and simple to get an overclock, with the option to really drill down should the desire take you (personally not bothered yet).

[Mark]

Even I can overclock the Gigabyte boards, and up until then overclocking was a scary subject best left to people who could afford to break stuff. :)

The Asus board in this PC has done me somewhere around 4-5 years though so they're not all bad - just don't expect miracles.

Only thing to watch for with the Gigabyte boards is the odd flaky BIOS, particularly if you try to upgrade while overclocked I suspect.