Building a new computer, starting with the motherboard? Any Recommendations?

[JarrettNZ]

Hey I'm new! My current computer is a PII 450MHz Compaq. I want a major upgrade. I want the system to be based on an Athlon XP with DDR, 5 PCI slots, ATA 100, AGP 4x. I don't need a monitor or hard drive (I already have a 60 Gig).

Since the motherboard is a MAJOR part of a PC, I need a good one. Any suggestions? Keep in mind I want the entire system to cost about a $1000.

 

[JarrettNZ]

BTW, I don't want to overclock anything.

 

[themadmonk]

MSI makes excellent motherboards.

 

[Demonicon]

I highly recommend the Shuttle AK31A $80 from NewEgg.

 

[Ionizer86]

Go with the EPoX 8KHA+ because it is really fast, and it's stable if you don't overclock it to high speeds. It has the KT266A high performance chipset, AGP 4x (which board doesn't?) ATA100 (most boards have ATA100, some have ATA133) and 6 PCI slots (the 6th one may come in useful compared to 5 PCI)

It's about $100; $20 more than the Shuttle, but it's worthwhile because this is one sweet board. BTW, welcome to the forums

 

[AkumaBao]

Go with a Iwill or an ASUS mobo. Both very very stable! The Iwills have 6 channel sound built in too!

 

[Eforster]

The Soyo Dragon+ is sweet with all the ingrated stuff
5.1 sound and raid controllor/ide controllor
and 10/100 lan....

and the shuttle is a sweet board to and alot cheaper...

 

[JarrettNZ]

Hey, thanks for all the recommendations. I have decided to buy an EPoX 8KHA+ motherboard after reading a bunch of good reviews. Now I will move onto the processor. lol