Since my computer problem seems to be my motherboard, it looks like I'm going to have to buy a new one sooner than I wanted. I don't know an extreme amount of information about motherboards, but I will read into them alot before I purchase one, as I do with any other high dollar item I purchase. What I'm asking is what types/brands do you suggest I get/look at. I will be using a Pentium IV chip, preferably up to 2.5 - 3 ghz or so. I believe these are 478 socket chips, if I'm not mistaken. I plan on using the 1.5 ghz pentium IV in the motherboard for a while until I get enough money for a new processor. I would like a motherboard that supports DDR ram, but I'm not sure what is the best ram, so I would like some input on that as well. Also, I will be looking for some good parts off seek, but if anyone has some parts not posted that you think I would be interested in feel free to email me with the information on it. I'm bmbce5@umr.edu. Thanks.

I recently built a computer from scratch and used these forums as a resource.. you might look up my thread on the subject.

I went with with Asus and found their site very helpful (http://www.asus.com/products/mb/mbindex.htm)

yes, socket 478 is what you want.. I went with the P4P800 SE and put a 3.2GHz P4 in it, amoung other things.

if money and performance is importand, i'd go with AMD. you can get an ASUS NVidia nForce2/Athlon XP 3200 combo for $151 + shipping. I cant find anything that beats that value to performance wise. That is what i put in all the computers i build for people.

the problem with going AMD is that the intel I have now won't work with it and I would also have to buy a new chip along with the motherboard and ram. Too much money, I say.

I'm very happy with my ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe. Though, the P4P800 SE is a much more attractive price/performance option. In any case, I've not had a bad experience with ASUS, their techsupport was very knowledgible and spoke english.

I've seen some pretty good deals on the Asus P4P800-E Deluxe, but I've got a question about it. The whole 800, 533, 400 Mhz FSB thing is confusing me a bit. If I'm not mistaken, the FSB deals with the processor you have, but I'm not sure what speed my 3 year old 1.5 pentium 4 is. I am at home this weekend and was wanting to bid on the motherboard, but I'm not sure if my processor is not one of these FSBes. Would it still work if, say, it was a 133? Or do they only make pentium 4s in the 800, 533, 400 MHz styles?