Entry-Level Motherboards
We'll start at the bottom, with motherboards priced at around $50 or less. Obviously features are going to be cut at this price point, and quality/support might suffer as well, but you can still get some very reasonable options without breaking the bank.
Intel
If you only have $50 to spend, then we suggest the ZOTAC N73PV-Supreme based on the GeForce 7100. This uATX motherboard features HDMI output, Gigabit LAN, four 3Gb/s SATA ports, 10 USB ports, HD audio, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and support for 4GB. This board is offers excellent stability and performance for the money. Pair it up with an E5200 and 4GB of DDR2-800 and you have a solid SOHO system or base HTPC, although H.264 hardware acceleration is not featured on this chipset.
Our other under $50 choice is the ASRock G31M-S motherboard based on the Intel G31 and ICH7 chipsets. This uATX board features 10/100 LAN, four 3Gb/s SATA ports, 8 USB ports, 5.1 HD audio, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and support for 8GB. ASRock also worked their magic on the BIOS so it supports the full range of Core 2 processors. Also included is ASRock's excellent Instant Boot technology; yes, it really works as advertised.
An honorable mention goes to the Foxconn G31MV-K that can be had for around $43. Performance is equal to the ASRock board but we gave the nod to ASRock based on features and BIOS support.
AMD
On the AMD side we have a couple of interesting choices. The $48 ASRock N61P-S has been a solid, no frills, uATX SOHO board for us and features the GeForce 6150SE and nForce 430 chipsets. The board supports 8GB of memory and provides 10/100 Ethernet, 5.1 HD Audio, four 3Gb/s SATA ports with RAID 0/1/0+1/5, VGA output, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and ASRock's excellent Instant Boot technology.
Our next board is the Foxconn A74MX-K 740G uATX board featuring the AMD 740G and SB700 chipsets. This board is a very good option for a basic SOHO build and provides Gigabit LAN, 5.1 HD Audio, 4GB memory support, DVI-D output, 12 USB ports, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, four 3Gb/s SATA ports featuring RAID 0/1/10.
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v12v12 - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
I hate to say it, but anyone dumb enough to buy this Sh!_ gets what they deserve. It doesn't take a shopping analysis to figure that this stuff is nothing but BETAWARE. Or more like BEWARE... It's bad enough that M$ is allowed to basically sell a patch-ware OS, now mobo manufacturers are ALLOWED to sell patch-hardware. In the form of "bios updates." PLEASE Do the dang testing YOURSELVES: OC, Stress test etc... WTF are the public/review sites forced to do it themselves — then Hope and pray for a proper firmware to be released to address it?Just like my old NF7-S 2.0 = a GODLY mobo. It's highly OC'd, still passes Prime95 and yet cannot even boot from a damn USB stick? How could that simple innovation be left out? B/c Abit DECIDED to not give a crap and just leave users blowing in the wind...while a POS Dell Inspiron has the bios option???! People PLEASE! If you want to do something about it, DO NOT BUY these types of products until they are properly reviewed by AT and the like and PROVEN: Reliable, stable, and meet any claims or advertising by the manufacturers!
superkdogg - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
WANTED: One cheetah on steroids for overclocking experiments. PM me.poohbear - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
thanks for this guide, looking forward to the next one as im really looking at upgrading soon and this article was a wealth of info. cheers.jzodda - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
Nice article. In the mid range category I am impressed with the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P. It's in my opinion the best board I have owned since the Abit BH6 8+ years ago. Its incredible overclocking enables me to run 24/7 stable at 525 FSB. I didn't expect that when I purchased it. My E8400 loves it.AssBall - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
Speaking of Abit... didn't see them lurking around on any of these lists. Are we to conclude that newer Abit boards are no longer top notch equipment, Gary? Or is it just that AT doesn't play with them anymore or they have poor support?DefRef - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
ABIT is out of the mobo business, thus their non-existent profile for years. Too bad. The BH6 and BH6-II were awesome boards.bigboxes - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
I place the blame squarely on the mobo compnay for releasing their products without proper QA. Maybe by then their bios updates will fix the multitude of bugs that infect their products. Until then I'll play the waiting game. :)SonicIce - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
remember then the site used to actually review them and post overclocking results :(tyaiyama - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
I bought it about $260 before $30 MIR in late September. Now it sells less than $200 after MIR. It is feature rich.Chipset: nForce 780a SLI
(nForce 200)
3xPCIe(2.0)x3
Dual GbE
Creative X-Fi Xtreme H/W Audio Card
Everything else in high end M/B can be also found.
strikeback03 - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
is that Instant Boot Technology available on any ITX boards? Would be nice for a carputer.