Windows 7: What motherboard?

Hello all. I'm debating with myself as to whether I should I should change my Acer manufactured mobo and whether it will be worth it. I use my computer for everything from browsing the web to gaming and everything in between. I'm looking to spend £100-150 and would want it to be able to host an sli set up for my 9600gt and also 8 gig ram. CPUz details are below and my other spec is in system details. Any advice would be great as I have also never swapped out mobo before. Does anybody know of any decent motherboards in this price range for my specs.



Cheers

Paul

this slightly breaks the bank but if your looking ''BNIB'' then i think one of these is a sound buy...

Asus P5N72

if you don't mind 2nd hand, you'll probably be able to get your hands on an Asus striker for that sort of money from EBAY....

i would of recommended a ''P45'' board as they are EXCELLENT performers for the money, but SLI is a no no....





SK

Personally I only change MB when I upgrade CPU, but if you insist, then read on.

Have a look at the EVGA 750i FTW board. Newegg.com - EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI FTW ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards It's served me well for a year. It has a few flaws that I have to mention though.

First is the Northbridge fan. It's 50-60mm, can be very loud, and blows the hot air right on the back of the GPU. I recently replaced it with a Vantec Stealth for 10$ and that worked very well. You can read more about this in my posts on this page: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-d...ur-rig-41.html

Second is the HDD LED header. From what I've read on the EVGA forums, it doesn't supply enough power to light up the HDD LED on some cases. I've used this board for an Antec 300 and ABS Monolith and both have this problem. There's also a fix for this. You can rotate the HDD LED cable of the case so that it uses the (+) pin of the POWER LED and (-) pin of HDD LED. Not a deal breaker for me. The HDD LED was both HDD and power indicator for the Antec case. Now I even removed the front door of the ABS case and only listen to the HDDs for their activity

Thanks for the replies chaps. The reason I am not upgrading the cpu is because it is only three months old. It came with the computer and I have not touched it with regards to oc, so don't see the point in upgrading that because they are solid performers and great to overclock (or so I believe). The only thing that is holding me back is mobo, all the rest I have added my self from new, gfx card, psu, ram. I really want one that is sli ready really, then it's kinda "future proof".

Is this the type you refer to skunkmash. Reading the specs it doesn't say whether it is compatible with my cpu.It also states it is sli ready.

Asus Striker II Formula REPUBLIC OF GAMERS 780i M/BOARD on eBay, also For Intel, Motherboards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 27-Apr-09 10:29:27 BST)

That one you provided the link to harmann could cost as little as £88 with the rebate. Seems a good thing for the price. I'm off to scan it's specs more closely.

Thanks again lads.

I have the same Board and my HDD LED works fine but the Power LED never has, I thought it must have been one of the case wires or the LED that was the problem and I agree about the chipset fan, that is what makes the most noise in my computer. It starting to get cool here now so I decided to take it off until next summer, so much quieter.

I agree with skunksmash..

i would of recommended a ''P45'' board as they are EXCELLENT performers for the money, but SLI is a no no....

Gigabyte or Asus boards would be my choice, and are well within your budget.

Given the current state of the processor market, were I you, I wouldn't. Any motherboard you buy for your current processor is a dead-end product. Core i7 and Core i5 won't fit. So you only upgrade page would be another current but soon to be out-of-date, out-of-sight, out-of-mind Core-2 Duo or Core-2 Quad. Don't buy into a dead end.

Were I you, I'd take the plunge (or wait until fall when their prices have dropped about 15%) and go Core i7 or AM3 -- either choice meaning a new motherboard, a new processor and new DDR3 memory. However, they are the future and they are here now.

As to brands, my preference is Gigabyte over Asus but both are top quality.