I currently have a dual core AMD Opteron that I'm going to be upgrading to an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E8400.

Obviously I'll need new components to go along with this.

I'm going to need 2 gigs of RAM.

A budget minded nvidia video card (they have good driver support for linux, which I run)

And last but not least, a motherboard.

Stability is my main concern.

However, I like my boards feature rich.

My current board is an Asus A8N SLI Premium.

http://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/asus-a8n-sli-premium-nforce4sli/board-big.jpg

It can support up to 8 SATA drives (some of which can be external SATA) and 4 IDE drives.

I've got a lot of drives, so this is important to me.

It also needs to have at least one PCI-E x16 slot and at least 2 PCI slots.

Passive cooling (ie, no fans) on the motherboard itself is preferred.

I also need an assload of USB ports (the current board has 10) and at least one firewire port.

And obviously, it has to be compatible with the E8400.

Anyone have any suggestions?

2gigs of ram? Does Linux support 4? Go big!

Does it NEED to have 4 IDE spots? Hard to find sextastic new motherboards with loads of IDE connections ; ;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127355

That vidja card-a-ma-bob looks like a pretty good deal.

If you are using Asus go with Corsair memory. And def go for atleast 4gigs. I havent been active in the computer world for a bit but I think they are up to ddr3 memory and you can get up to 16gig in a rig without going too crazy. Ive used that combo with nvidia cards and intel chips and never had any problems.
Newegg is probably the best site out there for computer stuff. Also look at tigerdirect.com, zipzoomfly.com and xoxide.com
Get a video card with directx10. Its going to start in the 800s. Anything 790 or less is only directx9 which is probably like a-track tapes by now.
Good luck on your search. Building and upgrading these things is always a fun project!

Xoxide gets a thumbs down from me. If they send you something borked you pay to ship it back to get a replacement.... lame.

Asus motherboards are all I ever use, they are terrific.

www.pc-infinity.com check that site out, they have a nice configuration page and a great selection.

i aswell am getting a new PC at the moment, certain pieces i want arent up on pc infinity like the 790i ultra mobo, so im buying everything on newegg for the parts, and xoxide for the case, cooling and all that good stuff. but if your not sure exactly what your looking for check out that link.

Get the Skull Trail board from Intel ;)

2gigs of ram? Does Linux support 4? Go big!

I'm pretty sure I can run 4 gigs in linux.

Does it NEED to have 4 IDE spots? Hard to find sextastic new motherboards with loads of IDE connections ; ;

not 4 IDE spots, just 2, since I can run 2 drives off of each channel (for a total of four IDE drives)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127355

That vidja card-a-ma-bob looks like a pretty good deal.


Looks nice, but I won't use half of that. I'm not much of a PC gamer anymore.

I'll probably rock this for a video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134045

This is my board. The "Bad Axe 2"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121060

I run the hackintosh off this. It's the definitive 775 socket board.

Sweet, nice card. I didn't know quite how much you needed lol.... My PC has a disgustingly expensive vidja card so I thought it was a good deal :P

But yea if you can run 4gb of RAM don't skimp. It will make a difference regardless of what you are doing.

Just don't forget xp only understands 3.5gb of ram.

This is my board. The "Bad Axe 2"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121060

I run the hackintosh off this. It's the definitive 775 socket board.

1-out of stock
2-not enough USB
3-not enough IDE and SATA
4-No eSATA

:(

1-out of stock
2-not enough USB
3-not enough IDE and SATA
4-No eSATA

:(

Find a retail version then. Not enough sata? There are 8! USB? get a hub.

Even still, i need eSATA as well.

This may do, but good lord is it pricey.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121338

look at my pc, its like an evo fast and good looking

Ok, so it looks like I can get away with a single IDE channel and 4 SATA channels...so long as at least ONE of them is eSATA.

I think thats the Bad Axe 2 board. Great motherboard! Just use all that money you saved on the proc and get the good board!

I think thats the Bad Axe 2 board. Great motherboard! Just use all that money you saved on the proc and get the good board!

Yeah that is the other Bad Axe board. I have the new gen one for ye olde hackintosh.

What do you guys think about this board?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121314&Tpk=DP35DP

This could work too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128082

Yet another contender:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130141

This is definitely the right forum for me cause you are all computer geeks as well as car crazy just like me.

My days of building systems and staying on top of the latest tech are a bit behind me but there's no stopping me from getting back into it.

My last computer was a dell M1730 laptop. All the computers previous to that I built myself but that was back in the days of single core 3ghz processors :P

edit: Dino I just checked out the boards and video card that you posted up. I haven't been a big MSI fan for years and that mobo from them looks a bit cluttered. Those coils standing up could cause a problem with heat, dust, and cable routing. Same with the intel branded board. Out of the three you posted up the gigabyte would be a clear-cut winner for me due to the low-profile and good layout. Plus gigabyte is a good name.

Linux eh? I don't have a lot of experience but I've delved a couple of times to know that it's not really beginner friendly. That said I did learn that third-party drivers are everything in linux when it comes to audio/video and peripherals. That is of course unless the company who makes the product has its own linux drivers. you'd know that.

Anyways what i have to say about linux is your choice of video card. While the ECS video card would probably work just fine (I run a Geforce version of it in my desktop on windows XP) it might be a PITA to find drivers for that brand for linux. Search around the net for video cards (Brand/Version) that have good support by independants in linux. Though for the price that ECS one is a good value.

On the topic of ram: If you're trying to keep your costs down don't worry too much about matched brand name ram. You could still get 4gb without too much hassle out of the bargain bin, though your clock speeds might not be anything to write home about.

Just givin' ya some food for thought. :D
Good luck.

Ah, a Pentium 4 guy, eh?

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146784

Yeh the PC i'm using in my home-theater system is:
Asus p4p800s socket 478
Intel Presscot 3.2ghz core overclocked to 3.5
1gb ram (kingston) lol!
geforce 8600 AGP
Creative Audigy 2 audio
600gb hdd's (2x 300 SATAII)
and a multitude of fans hooked up to a 3.5" bay fan controller.
Custom modded case :D
Coupla DVD burners attached too.
Operating System: Tiny XP Platinum (the best os since sliced bread), corporate student version repackaged by some hackers with good registry tweaks and stripped down programs to boot and run pretty quick.

Btw, nice find on the ram, I might have to order some for this bucket I'm using.

I personally never liked the P4. Lots of heat, lots of Ghz, lots of money, and not a lot of performance.

Tiny XP platinum, eh? How can i get my hands on that?

I personally never liked the P4. Lots of heat, lots of Ghz, lots of money, and not a lot of performance.

Tiny XP platinum, eh? How can i get my hands on that?

Latest build is Rev.09. Torrent it here (http://www.mininova.org/tor/1446524).

I went with the intel P35 board, a single 2gb stick of mushkin 1066, and a budged nvidia card.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146784 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146784)

As long as you get 2 sticks, I approve.

I personally never liked the P4. Lots of heat, lots of Ghz, lots of money, and not a lot of performance.


Lots of ghz and heat make it sound more powerful doesn't it?
I do agree with you almost fully though that they run hot (had to upgrade ventilation big time for that and old video card) and it still didn't seem all that powerful at 3.2ghz. However at the time when I bought it I paid like 150 bucks so it didn't cost me all that much.
The core 2 duo processors were just being released by intel and weren't proven really so I felt like I got a good deal. Add on that the prescott processors were getting a lot of press from the enthusiasts for overclocking and I have been very happy with it.