Purchasing a new motherboard: which one would you choose?

[The Borg]

Greetings individuals. We are in process of purchasing a new motherboard. We have narrowed our choices to four motherboards coming from two different manufacturers, Gigabyte and Asus, with each motherboard having deluxe and "lightened" version. Your assistance is required in selecting the "right" one: Is the deluxe version of each motherboard worthy of that extra investment; why do you think so?

ASUS

ASUS P4P800-E DELUXE (216 KM; 105 €)
[http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=31&model=178&modelmenu=1]

ASUS P4P800 SE (192 KM; 90 €)
[http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=31&model=179&modelmenu=1]


GigaByte

MB GA-8IPE1000 Pro-G (218 KM; 106 €)
[http://global.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Products/Products_GA-8IPE1000 Pro-G.htm]

MB GA-8IPE1000 G (162 KM; 79 €)
[http://global.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-8IPE1000-G (Rev%203.x).htm]

Cross-compare the cheaper ones; more expensive ones; inbetween.

 

[Dean66]

It really depends what you are going to be doing with your computer. Both those ASUS boards are great. In fact, I have the SE version, while my friend has the Deluxe. The only real difference with the Deluxe is the better onboard sound chip and the built in firewire, as well as a couple extra SATA mobo headers. Other than that, they're basically the same. If you're going to be using the firewire port for a camcorder, you're probably better off with the Deluxe.

HOWEVER, all four of those boards you selected use the older Intel socket 478. Intel has a newer socket out now (LG775), although most people seem to think that the newer chips underperform when compared to AMD's Athlon 64's counterparts.

If you're going to be doing any serious gaming in the future, I would definitely recommend you go with an AMD platform over intel. Go with a socket 939 board and an Athlon 64 processor.

As far as boards go, the DFI Lanparty NF4 is a big favorite around here.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

What is the use of your setup you are building?


If your looking into gaming or most general use, as people said AMD would be better

 

[The Borg]

Our Computer System fills a role of a Renaissance machine:

Video/Audio Digitalisation
Video/Audio capturing
Video/Audio Conversion
Video/Audio Encoding
Video/Audio Presentation (aka "watching and listening")
Light 3D modeling
Programming
Multimedia Center: TV, two VCRs, stereo system connected to it
Office businesses
Occasional gaming

We considered a switch to new CPU architecture. However it would present a drain on our resources at this moment since it would require of us to change most of the already present

Current computer configuration:

Motherboard:
Asus P4P800 [without suffixes, revision 1.02]

Needs a replacement, highly unstable. Reason: still unknown.
All attempts of findind and resolving problem have failed.

Processor:
Intel Pentium IV, 3.06 GHz, Hyper-Threading

Memory:
2 x 256 MB Elixir PC3200 DDR400 Dual Channel
2 x 1024 GB Elixir PC3200 DDR400 Dual Channel

Hard Disk Drives:
1 x Western Digital - Caviar, 120.00 GB, Parallel ATA
1 x Western Digital - Caviar, 80.00 GB, Parallel ATA
1 x Maxtor DiamondMAX Plus 9, 80.00 GB, Serial ATA
1 x Maxtor DiamondMAX Plus 9, 80.00 GB, Serial ATA

Optical Drives:
ASUS DVD-RW DRW-1604P
Samsung CD-RW SW-216

Graphic Card:
nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, 128 MB, TV-Out (Composite, S-Video)
[due to get an upgrade]

TV Tuner:
Hauppauge WinTV GO, Model 607 (Aerial Antenna input, Composite Video, Stereo Audio input, Audio output)

Satellite Card:
TechniSat SkyStar 2 [revision 2.3]

Sound Cards:
SoundMAX (Integrated onto Motherboard), 5.1 (if reconfigured, not functional [Stereo Output not functioning])
Creative Labs Audigy LS, 5.1 Channels
CMI 8738/C3DX, 4.1 Channels

Modem:
ASUS ISDNLink 128K

 

[Dean66]

Not sure what the issue with your old mobo is, but it looks like you definitely want the ASUS deluxe board. Otherwise, you're going to have to buy a separate firewire card, plus it has a few extra features that the SE board doesn't.

It's funny that you mentioned a stability issue with your previous mobo, cause STABLE is the one word I would use to describe both of those ASUS boards. I've never had even a single lockup on my system, which is a welcome change from the crappy ECS board I had before.

I do lots of capturing and DVD rendering and burning on mine as well, and am very pleased how flawlessly everything works.