I have to buy my first motherboard.

[fortyways]

In the past I've been using mobos from retail systems and building around them. I just got a raise, and the Acer board I'm using now keeps screwing everything up, so I'm going to try to get one that isn't a POS. Help?

I'm going to post exactly what I'm looking for here, so big thanks to whoever reads it all.

I have a Pentium D, so I guess I'm looking for Intel socket 775 - does socket 775 accommodate dual and quad-core? Or should I look for something else if I'm looking to upgrade soon?

My PSU has a 20 or 24 pin and then an 8 or 4 pin.

Will not buy something with fans on the heatsinks.

Don't need flashy lights, the board being black or red instead of green, or SLi.

Don't need anything on the back aside from USB.. firewire and PS/2 wouldn't hurt though.

I'll be getting Vista Home Premium 32-bit and a Western Digital SATA HDD at the same time.

 

[daisymtc]

I am assuming it is a replacement of an old motherboard...

What size is your case? fit ATX? mirco-ATX?
What type of RAM have you got currently? DDR? DDR2?
What type of graphic card have you got currently? PCI-E? AGP?
Do you want onboard graphic?

 

[oscaryu1]

In the past I've been using mobos from retail systems and building around them. I just got a raise, and the Acer board I'm using now keeps screwing everything up, so I'm going to try to get one that isn't a POS. Help?

I'm going to post exactly what I'm looking for here, so big thanks to whoever reads it all.

I have a Pentium D, so I guess I'm looking for Intel socket 775 - does socket 775 accommodate dual and quad-core? Or should I look for something else if I'm looking to upgrade soon?

My PSU has a 20 or 24 pin and then an 8 or 4 pin.

Will not buy something with fans on the heatsinks.

Don't need flashy lights, the board being black or red instead of green, or SLi.

Don't need anything on the back aside from USB.. firewire and PS/2 wouldn't hurt though.

I'll be getting Vista Home Premium 32-bit and a Western Digital SATA HDD at the same time.

1. Yes, SOME motherboards support dual core and quads.

2. No. LGA775 is fine. Just get one that can support 45nm.

3. Good. As long as it's 24pin with an 12V 4pin. SATA and 6 pin's are optional.

4. What do you mean "fans on heatsinks"? If you mean the cooler, thats an have-to. On PSU, no such thing...

5. P31-DS3L, P35-DS3L are great budget boards.

6. Firewire is usually on the motherboard, as in you have to connect your front case connectors to the mobo. PS/2 is on every motherboard.

7. Then you'll need an SATA Psu, and memory under 3.25GB.