Allright, since my trusty MSI board failed, I am intensively comparison shopping for a new board and CPU.
The CPU will very likely be a Pentium D 940 3.2 Ghz (socket 775).
Here are the 3 motherboard makers at the top of my list. They appear to offer the best combination of onboard equipment/sockets/ports I want, and from what I know, they are reputable companies/brands. My only board experience is with MSI, and I can't complain at all, but new MSI boards in my price range don't offer what I want.

Things to consider:
-general reliability
-general stability
-mfgr's customer service reputation
-mfgr's tech support reputation
-ever had one D.O.A brand new?
-do you have/had one? do/did you love it or hate it?

Please select the most appropriate choice for you, based on your experience, knowledge, etc.
Thanks for your time!
Sasha.

i think it often depends more on the specific motherboard than the company. in general, asus, epox, msi, have all worked well for me. i haven't ever tried abit or gigabyte, but i wouldn't be afraid to. personally i think they're all about the same -- they're probably even made in the same factory with just a different name slapped on the box. it all comes down to the specific model (imho).

Biostar mobos tend to be a little cheaper than the mainstream boards without skimping on quality.
On my old box the power line got hit by lightning three times and only the third time finally did the mobo in.Wouldn`t recommend to try it though.

Similar view to slackhacks here:

I wouldn't put my trust & hope into a manufacturer
as such but do research on individual potential
candidates; maybe read a few reviews, search the
model on http://www.google.com/linux and see how
others do with it ... I've had great boards from all
of the above (minus abit, never had anything of theirs),
and a few duds from all of the above as well ...



Cheers,
Tink

I got my Intel motherboard from a dumpster, works fine.

Crashmeister -- I was curious about the Biostar as well as a few other not-so-big-names, but I shied away because of the ridiculously low prices. Often one gets what one pays for (of course, often not, too.).
If anyone else here can tell me about Biostar (good/bad/other) I'd consider them too.

don't be scared by low prices, like i said, there's often not much difference! coincidentally, i'm using a biostar now, a k8m800 that i got for a cheap A64 system. it's been running flawlessly 24/7 for at least 5-6 months (got it in jan). i usually just try to find the cheapest one i can find that has halfway good reviews, and go for it. once it's in the box and installed, i never look at it again anyway, so i don't care what name is on it as long as it works.

I've found that the chipset of the board is vastly more important than the maker of the board. I would rate the chipset brands in the following order:

Nvidia
Intel
VIA

the others I have no experience with.

MSI
then
Abit/ASUS

I use and prefer MSI 99% of the time, but if for some reason it isn't available, I try to use Abit.

IGF

I haven't voted because the jury is still out on my ASUS M2A-VM. I chose it because it supported the Athlon X2 and included integrated video.

In retrospect, the integrated video may be the biggest problem, since it (the 690G Northbridge) is so new. The only 64 bit distro I could install is Sabayon 3.3. I really didn't want quite the bleeding edge stuff, and would have preferred CentOS or Mandriva for what I want to do.

I've tried Ubuntu/Kubuntu, CentOS, Mandriva, Fedora 7, plus several 32 bit distros. Sabayon works but it keeps giving me little surprises at odd times. For example, Beryl sometimes will not work at all, sometimes it works immediately after I boot up, and other times I have to manually select it as the window manager.

Well, enough of that. This thread is about motherboards, not distros. Let's just say the maybe the AMD 690G chipset is not quite ready for prime time, maybe pending some drivers. I also can't say definitively that it is the chipset that is causing my installs to fail.

I have personally had good experiences with each brand you listed as well as MSI. The only brand I ever had issues with was AsRock. I will say that I feel that Abit and Asus have more features compared to Gigabye, but then again that may just be model specific. For example, I have an Asus board in my mom's PC and it has more jumpers and onboard headers more than any other board I have seen. Overall I think you'll be fine with anything from those brands, just make sure it's got what you need and check the reviews...while it may be a reliable company, reliable companies can make rotten eggs sometimes.

I run my folding machines (24/7) & games PC's almost exclusively on Asus boards - I've had a few Abit's a long time ago & the caps burst - I've had 915/945 based Gigabyte boards & I have scrapped both of those due to instability. I have read good things about BioStar's as budget boards, but they are less available in UK & I have never owned one. A standard issue Intel board, such as the 965RY, is also a good match for a Core2 too & will be reliable.

I would recommend something like an Asus P5N-E & a low end Core2 processor, seriously the Pentium D is getting on a bit now, and you will get better performance/temperatures from an e6320 for minimal price increase. Hope that helps in some way

Thats it, simply my preference.


Nah, I like them but not that stuck on them, started using asus a loooong time ago and have had great service out of every one i have purchased (every one still runs ), so i'm gonna stick with them.

Edit: Best idea when selecting a motherboard is to check the user ratings on them. Most site have customer reviews of hardware. Running linux obviously stay away from the newest chipsets, and another pref for me is using amd processors, I have amd and intel equivalent machines here, but prefer amd (cheaper(usually(lol))) with better stability(My experience with my machines).

I built a barebones ASUS with the Pentium D 3.2 Ghz processor a few weeks ago. It is a great machine. I installed 4 gig of ram and installed Ubuntu and SLED on it. The entire system was easy to build and within three hours I had put the computer together, installed the OS and was online.

MSI's Warranty was a huge turn off for me a few years back I haven't touched one since. We purchased a new MSI Motherboard as a spare and it sat on the shelf in our shop for a month or two. When we installed it it was DOA.. no big deal it happens to everyone, the board had a 1 year warranty. The company we bought it from was out of business so I called MSI directly. They told me they would be happy to fix it under warranty for $180.00.. I don't think we paid that much for the board, and they wouldn't budge on their position. I've never had another manufacturer do that to me on what should have been a direct warranty replacement.

I have several PC's here with ASUS A8N motherboards,(AMD 64 CPU) for the most part are good, but I have had 3 systems in the last year where the on-board Ethernet port dies for no apparent reason, and the motherboard must be replaced. the local distributor said it was a common issue that they saw frequently with that board for some reason.. I have one sitting in my office as we speak that needs to go back for a motherboard swap.

The Intel and Gigabyte Motherboards I have at home, I have had NO issues with so far. I did spend quite a bit of time choosing them, and looking at the component chip-sets on the the board (IDE, SATA, AUDIO, Network, etc..) and crosschecking Linux compatibility before purchasing them.

This is one site I used to begin my selection process..
http://motherboards.org/ranking/motherboard-rank.html

another resource you might look at which is geared more towards Linux is: http://www.phoronix.com/?page=catego...m=Motherboards

Best of luck in your selection !