Best motherboard?

[ToddS]

I just got back into the computer hardware scene.. and was wondering what is the best motherboard out on the market today? I need to know because I'm planning on building a new system.. I mean what is just simply the best if you could narrow it down.. it'd be appreciated.. thanks!

[tgxiii]

For a Pentium 4, Abit IC7 MAX-3

IMO...

[bugalaman]

and for AMD the NF7-S is the best. if its not made by Abit its Crap.

[Omardeth]

do a search here this question is asked daily . there are lost of posts already on this .

[tgxiii]

Actually, no one can really tell you what the best motherboard for you is. The best way to determine without actually buying all of them and trying them out is to go read reviews and comparisons on them.

www.anandtech.com and www.hardocp.com have really good reviews

[Jeordiewhite]

Originally posted by bugalaman
and for AMD the NF7-S is the best. if its not made by Abit its Crap.

That's a little broad view of things, aside it is quite misinformitive.

If i'm not mistaken, at toms hardware these nforce 2 boards were in a round up. the asus a7n8x deluxe came out better in an nforce 2 333mhz fsb, then it was retested when the 2.0 board came out with 400mhz fsb. This board came out on top again against other nforce 2 motherboards with 400mhz.

Likely you wouldn't be sad with the abit or asus motherboard, however which route were you deciding to take, intel or amd.

This might help quite a bit in narrowing your search.

[beppodmime]

Considering that most motherboards made by reputable manufacturers will perform pretty much the same, the only real differences lay in the price and features. Most nForce2 will perform the same, and be as stable, across the board of manufacturers. The same goes for the 865/875 offerings from the top motherboard manufacturers. It all really depends on what features you're looking for, and what you're willing to spend. The Epox 8RGA+ worked for me, but may not be suitable for you.

But, suffice it to say that Abit, Asus, Epox, Soyo, MSI, Gigabyte, and others I may have forgot to mention, all pretty much make good quality boards, with a decent range of features. However, a few goofed boards can get through even the best of QA departments, so make sure you buy from a reputable retailer, with a very clear RMA policy, just in case.

[Ace McGirk]

I asked this of Kyle at hardocp and he recomended the Asus A7N8X and an ATI 9800pro.

Have to say that it has worked without ANY probs.
I got the XP2800+ barton core CPU and it is plenty fast for me without overclocking.

[John Bennett]

Everyone says Asus makes good boards. But then when I begin researching a particular Asus board, I run across a LOT of posts on various forums detailing problems with them.

Read about the hideous problems these guys are having with the Asus A7N266...

http://hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/1584/?o=40

There are also may posts here along similar veins.

The Asus website is choc full of bad english and dead links.

Not confidence inspiring.

I have much better things to do than spend my evenings fiddling with contrary m/b's.

[snackle]

I also have the Asus A7N8X. Great board. Asus is rock-solid, known for their stability and overclocking features. Any motherboard has its fair share of people with problems. Hardware interacts oddly at times. As far as a company, Asus is deffinetly prooven to be WAY up there.