finally building a new rig. what mobo and ram to buy?

[ams30gts]

alright peeps.

time to build a new computer. i do some video encoding/authoring and play games tf2 etc.

right now i have deceided on a Intel E8400 chip, nvidia 8800gt video card and Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC6400 from the deal today. basically i dont know which mobo to get.

any suggestions? i probably wont OC any.

 

[Heidfirst]

do you need RAID, firewire or any other specific requirement/want?

 

[ams30gts]

dont need raid. need a decent amount of usb 2.0 and 1 firewire.

 

[munruss]

make sure your mobo has raid. you may use it in the future. i recommend asus mobos. they are very stable.

 

[wbynum]

You should stay away from the Ballistix. Whole bunch of reports of them dieing at the rated specs.

 

[ams30gts]

well guys this is what i ended up getting

E8400 chip $190
ABIT IP35 Pro $150
2gb G.Skill PC-6400 ram $45
XFX 8800GT 512mb $130

everything after rebates ended up to be about $515

 

[jdkick]

Not bad. Should be a good system. The IP35 Pro was on my list when I was shopping for a new build, but the external connectors on the P5K-E/WiFi-AP worked better for me. Man, the price on 8800GTs is getting awfully tempting these days.

 

[ams30gts]

does anyone have experience with that G.Skill memory? i didnt know about it really til i saw all the good reviews on newegg

 

[Nightblade]

I've never used them personally. I don't like Gskill simply because there website is broken, If they can't even keep there official site running decent, whats its going to be like if I have to RMA... plus there memory is ugly and there name sucks lol.