jordan_ellipsis

Im after a mobo that will support an Intel core 2 duo processor, maybe 2.93GHz 4-8MB Cache. Im also looking to put in 2 sata WD Raptors (150gb) and about 2GB memory (DDR2 667MHz)

Id like 2 - 3 usb2 ports, and a firewire port - i dont know if this has anything to do with the motherboard.

Could anyone help with suggestions, or point me in the direction of learning more about this stuff?

34erd

Pretty much every C2D motherboard can do that. Whats your budget?

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jordan_ellipsis

Sorry, whats a C2D motherboard? Well i dont have a budget right now as i dont have much of an idea about motherboards. But if i find one that has everything i need, will i find a similar board for a different price. Surely the cheaper the better, as long as it can handle the merom chip and has space for a couple of hard drives and a few PCI slots etc, or can a more expensive board, with the same availabilities, perform better?

Basically im asking if one motherboard can be better than another - even though they both fit my needs?

34erd

Sorry, C2D = Core 2 Duo, Intel's new processor series which comprises of Conroe (and Allendale)

First off Merom is a mobile chip, just double checking to see that you meant Conroe/Allendale. To answer the rest of your question, as long as it meets your needs and isn't known to fail, yes, you can go with whatever's cheaper. It doesn't sound like you need a huge feature set or overclocking abilities (the two things which usually drive up cost), so something like the GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 would suit you fine. Read through Mobo 101 also.

__________________
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI DR
Athlon 64 3500+ Venice
1 Gig OCZ VX DDR500 DDR
BFG GeForce 7800GT
160 Gig SATA HDD
CD-RW DVD-ROM
Antec NeoPower 480
Thermaltake Tsunami

Linderman

I may miss the boat here but it sounds as if you main objective is money spent = value in that case with the prices they way they are you would be better served with an AMD 939 socket system like the 4400+ dual core ]

you may even be able to salvage some existing PC 3200 memory you may have ????? and other components

pretty much any decent offering in the C2D mobo is going to be inflated in price compared to what it will be in 8 months !

Cromewell

Be careful what RAM you pick with 965 boards. They seem to have shipped with BIOS that don't support some DDR2 RAM typesEvery peice of hardware is inflated in price compared to 8 months down the line.

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jordan_ellipsis

Ah, i see.

Ah, again i see, im still learining the linguo. I quickly scanned the mobo 101, but its late here (in the uk, 1am) and im going on 3 hours sleep, so il read it in detail tomoro. I gathered that i shouldnt buy an Intel board.

I would like to be able to build a fast, powerful machine to be used possibly for gaming, more likely for music editing (pro tools etc, requires mega power) or maybe even both. I think i may be looking for a mobo too soon and i should really figure out everything else i want on it, and then find one that works, right?

Would this be compatible with the Core 2 Duo chip set?