Maximum PC

I am building a budget gaming machine which will consist of
amd athlon 64 2800+
1 gig ddr 3200
ati radeon 9800 le (soft mod to pro)
western digital 120 gig sata hard drive
what would be the best motherboard. I will probably be overclocking. Looks as far as color are not that important but a bonus.
Also, how does that build sound for some CS: Souce, UT2K4, Farcry, MOHAA, etc at 800x600 high detail? 1028x768 high? Right now I don't need any earthshadering card or anything. I will be upgrading from a gf2ultra any card is a dramatic upgrade. Down the line i plan to get a 6800 when the prices drop. So what would be the best motherboard, raid is not really necessary but a bonus. same goes for firewire.

Unless you have the card and have already done so, you can't be definite about the softmod. You take a chance with that.



For the motherboard, I suggest:

Abit KV8 Pro
Abit NF8
DFI Lanparty UT NF3

Anandtech's review of the DFI board.

I recently built a system around the KV8 Pro 3rd-Eye with a 3400+ and a 6800 GT, and have been very happy with it so far. However, I run everything at stock speeds but I am able run Doom 3 on High Quality, so I have no need to overclock (yet). From what I understand the KV8 Pro (and VIA chipset boards in general with a few exceptions) don't overclock that well. But I got the 3rd-Eye at a decent price, so I couldn't pass it up. Haven't had the opportunity to play HL2 or Far Cry yet, but I assume they will run pretty well. If you're into overclocking I have the heard the DFI board shines in that respect, so if I were in your shoes that's what I'd probably go for out of the three OCNoob suggested. All three are excellent choices. I have also heard pretty good things about the MSI K8N Neo Platinum. My 2 cents.

for overclocking i also recommend getting the DFI board. i have no experience with this particular board but many people say that the motherboard overclocks pretty well. stability and performance are great as well.

If you've made up your mind already, you might be in luck. The DFI board is on sale at Newegg. One day only so you might have to be quick on the draw.

Hah, I already linked that!

Heh, heh... so you did.

Sorry. Didn't notice they were links when I looked at the list. My bad.