Need help deciding which motherboard to get

[jay-d]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my machine. I'm an AMD and ATI fan, so I'll be upgrading to:

AMD Athlon X2 6000+ AM2
ATI X1950 Pro x 2 (CrossFire Mode.. I've already purchased these)
OCZ 2 Gig (2 x 1gig sticks) DDR2-800 PC-6400 Platinum XTC Rev. 2
Antec Sonata III w/ included EarthWatts 500 PSU (Made by Seasonic - will this PSU be enough to power my new machine??)
Seagate 500 Gig SataII Drive
Seagate 200 Gig Sata Drive (from my old machine)
2 x LG H22L (from my old machine)

I've been on ATI's website with their list of 2007 motherboards and I just can't decide which one.. I've read countless reviews and I'm just stuck. My choices are

MSI K9A Platinum (but this board is discontinued so I might have trouble finding it - read really good reviews)
Asus M2R32-MVP (a lot of mixed reviews regarding quality)
Sapphire PC-3200 Advantage
DFI Infinity CFX3200 (crap reviews)

I've always used Gigabyte motherboards for as long as I can remember so I have no idea how these motherboards compare. The DFI is only rated to DDR2-667 so I don't think I can use the OCZ ram that I would like.

Edit: ATI also lists an Epox AD580 XR/G but I've never even heard of this.. so I'm weary on that choice.

 

[xylomn]

it would help us a lot if you posted your budget and where in the world you are

we may be able to recommend something better in your prrice range

 

[jay-d]

Sorry.. I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Price range.. uhm.. say around $200 CAN

 

[MarcusTaz]

Hey bro,

I would wait a little while longer if you can for AMD new chipset to be released. It should not be much more time and I think in the long run it will pay off. Being an AMD fan myself I sadly went the Intel route a month 1/2 ago. The primary reason for this was the poor choise of good ATI/AMD crossfire chipsets for the AM2 platform. Selling my Asus A8R32 MVP deluxe 939 platform, I could not belive that the sister Asus M2R32-MVP AM2 had so many mixed reviews and was not as feature richly packed as its sibling. At any rate frustrated I went Intel and got the Asus P5WDH-Deluxe Crossfire 975X Chip. Sad that AMD takes so damn long to get their products out on the market. But again some new chipsets are not to far away and if you can wait their will be offerings for the AMD Quad core procs and those Mobos should be able to take the 6000+ as they are supposed to be backward compatable from what I read. Hope this helps...

 

[bassmasta]

m2r32 mvp is definetly a great choice right now as it will take in the am2+ cpus, and it has great crossfire support, the only downside is that if you choose a creative soundcard, you will probably lose your hearing with the chipset on it.

 

[jay-d]

I wish I could wait but I can't. I've already sold my old PC and I need to upgrade mine so I can give my old one away. I'm reading reviews on the Epox motherboard.. it looks good.. anyone familiar with this brand?

Bassmasta: I do have an Audigy 2 ZS card and I've read people having those problems

 

[MarcusTaz]

Honest for crossfire I would say go for the Asus board then with that chipset. Use the last PCI slot for the sound card and update it to the latest bios. You may try allocating the IRQ manually to get the card to work.

Are you going to install Vista or XP? I think you may have better luck with Vista but that is just me saying that and I cannot back that up at all :>))

 

[MarcusTaz]

Also that board has onboard HD audio so there really is no need for a creative card in there...

 

[MarcusTaz]

I know you are in Canada but newegg has a nice selection including the MSI. Do you know someone in the states that can ship to you?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130057

 

[jay-d]

Thanks everyone.. but I think I'm gonna go with the Epox board if I can find it. Asus is my last choice because of the sound card issue and I've read reviews with no support for OCZ Ram.

 

[MarcusTaz]

Good luck bro!

 

[natesuniverse]

Hi I noticed your post was fairly recent and the only place you can get the EPoX board is through their online store in the US. Wasn't sure if they were still up but received my AD580XR today, Beautiful board and if it's like my previous ones you will not be disappointed. Although it has been about half a month and you've probably got something else lined up. Mught try to get back and let people know the results with the two HIS x1950 pro's I've got coming.