Upgrading my PC...

[Mehen]

I have this sucker, Intel X48 from ASUS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131284
100% satisfied so far. Only 6 SATA, which I will never fill up, but for you that might be an issue. Excellent chipset cooling. Definitely an overclocker's/enthusiast's board.

[Kooldino]

That's out of my price range. Nice board though!

[Kooldino]

What do you guys think about this board?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121314&Tpk=DP35DP

[Mehen]

Technically its a solid board, although to be honest I really don't know anyone who owns an Intel branded board.
Most any P35 is good though.

[Kooldino]

This could work too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128082R

[Claymonkey]

It looks solid enough. Though I'd spend the $25 to get one that isn't an open box. I do wonder about these boards that can handle DDR2 AND DDR3. It reminds me to much of DDR/SDR boards of old.

[Evildead666]

Technically its a solid board, although to be honest I really don't know anyone who owns an Intel branded board.
Most any P35 is good though.

I used hundreds of Intel branded boards at my last work, and they were all flawless in their functionality and stability.
The only boards that failed, were 'cable' incidents, and me trying to screw something in while the pc is on and dropping the screw and seeing a small sun appear there on the mobo...

edit : I just sort of assumed they were expensive for the Intel name....they seemed expensive when the price was mentioned ( bulk purchase )

Anyhow, Intel branded boards are extremely stable, and recommendable to any business etc...I remember the NB heatsink was soldered to the mobo, tight, and no way it was gonna move...

Kooldino : that board does look like it will suit most if not all your needs.
I can't see much of the chipset cooling, but if you're not overclocking, its a small point...
I suspect the SATA will be 6+2 additional, the ICH9R taking care of the 6 for RAID1/0/10/5...

[Kooldino]

I ended up with the intel board, a cheap nvidia card, and a 2GB stick of 1066 DDR2 Mushkin.

[Evildead666]

A single stick of memory will give you only single channel memory...
You really DO need two (identical if possible) memory stick for dual channel memory, which all the latest boards and chips use very well,, especially Intel chips...

[Kooldino]

I figured I'd wait until the prices came down a bit and then get a pair of 2 gig sticks.

[Evildead666]

I suppose mainly games and such would benefit from the extra bandwidth, and you will most probably see a big performance jump anyway from your old setup...so when you DO go dual channel, you'll be able to see another jump