Is this a good motherboard ??

I am looking to upgrade my motherboard for the next level of Intels CPUs. Would this be a good MB ?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681312805

any other suggestions for a motherboard?? I don't know if it helps but i heard it is smart to match up motherboard manufacturer with my Graphics Card Manufacturer Right now both my card and mb r from Gigabyte and they run pretty well. I just need a new MB for Core 2 Duos and such.

(on a side note I have surrond sound speakers from logitechdo i need a Sound card for all of them to work because right now I can't get surrond sound from just my motherboard)

thanx for help

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128048

- That one supports DDR2 or DDR3 (not both at the same time, however).
- It has support for Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme and upcoming 45nm Penryn CPUs.
- PCI-E x16 slot for GPU.

any other suggestions for a motherboard?? I don't know if it helps but i heard it is smart to match up motherboard manufacturer with my Graphics Card Manufacturer Right now both my card and mb r from Gigabyte and they run pretty well. I just need a new MB for Core 2 Duos and such.

It doesn't affect performance at all. Of course, there's stuff like matching colours or showing some loyalty, bu it's not going to get you extra FPS.

For sound cards, you can go with Creative's X-Fi series or you can go for other alternatives (some of which perform better than the X-Fi):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829127002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156003

Both of them use C-Media's Oxygen DTS chip, and it actually puts less strain on your CPU then an X-Fi. Also, unlike Creative, they've got some beta drivers for Vista.

I suggest you get the ga-p35-ds3r motherboard that supports only ddr2. No need for both ddr2 and ddr3 support.

By the time you move to ddr3 you'll want a new motherboard with new technologies like pci-e 2 and sata III.

dd3 will become mainstream in 2009.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=159074

I suggest you get the ga-p35-ds3r motherboard that supports only ddr2. No need for both ddr2 and ddr3 support.

By the time you move to ddr3 you'll want a new motherboard with new technologies like pci-e 2 and sata III.

dd3 will become mainstream in 2009.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=159074

matrixian

That's a good point, but the extra $30 for combo support could save you some time when you have to swap out your motherboard.

If you can, get a regular ATX board as micro ATX boards tend to run warmer and even your video card will be warmer in a smaller case.roulettethedog

My concern with Micro-ATX boards is that they are often made cheaply and don't have as many connectors as standard ATX boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128044

it is a ATX, DDR2, and Supports up to Quad for intels processers,

something worrys me though what does it mean by the PCI-E 16x slot that says in SLI it will go down to x8?

thanx for all the help

bump anybody??