Motherboard advice needed

[DJS0302]

I'm building my first computer. I've done such things as memory upgrades, hard
drive upgrages, and video card upgrades but I've never totally built one from
scratch. I'm calling this first computer I'm building a budget pc because I'm
not going for the top of line when selecting components. If everything works
when I get it together then maybe I'll think about upgrading to better parts.
Here's
my problem. I've already ordered the processor, an Intel Boxed Pentium 4 2.6
GHZ-HT 512K 800 FSB S478. I also have an atx case. My dilemma is not knowing
which motherboard to buy. I've looked at the Intel 875p, the Intel 865pe, and
the Intel 865g. Even in just those 3 categories there are different models and
price ranges to choose from. Which motherboard should I get? This is going to
be a general purpose computer. It'll be used for some gaming but I am
definitely not what you would call a hardcore gamer.

Thanks

 

[philo]

I'm building my first computer. I've done such things as memory upgrades, hard
drive upgrages, and video card upgrades but I've never totally built one from
scratch. I'm calling this first computer I'm building a budget pc because I'm
not going for the top of line when selecting components. If everything works
when I get it together then maybe I'll think about upgrading to better parts.
Here's
my problem. I've already ordered the processor, an Intel Boxed Pentium 4 2.6
GHZ-HT 512K 800 FSB S478. I also have an atx case. My dilemma is not knowing
which motherboard to buy. I've looked at the Intel 875p, the Intel 865pe, and
the Intel 865g. Even in just those 3 categories there are different models and
price ranges to choose from. Which motherboard should I get? This is going to
be a general purpose computer. It'll be used for some gaming but I am
definitely not what you would call a hardcore gamer.

Thanks

If you are going to construct a "budget" machine, you may want to consider
an AMD based unit.
whatever you do to save money...*do not* try to skimp on your choice of
RAM ...in other words...stay away from the cheap "generic" stuff

 

[DJS0302]

If you are going to construct a "budget" machine, you may want to consider

an AMD based unit.
whatever you do to save money...*do not* try to skimp on your choice of
RAM ...in other words...stay away from the cheap "generic" stuff

I'm spending more money on things such as the cpu and memory and spending less
of it on things such as the hard drive, video card, sound card, etc. For
example, I bought a 30 GB hard drive because that's more than I'll need. I
actually tried to find a smaller one but didn't have any luck. I don't need
anything like an 80GB or 120 GB hard drive. This way if I want to upgrade to a
better video or sound card I'll already have the necessary memory and processor
requirements.

 

[CBFalconer]

.... snip ...
whatever you do to save money...*do not* try to skimp on your choice
of RAM ...in other words...stay away from the cheap "generic" stuff

Touching on the MB, make sure the MB is ECC capable, and that you
buy ECC RAM. That way you will, to all practical purposes,
eliminate RAM faults from your future troubles. The cost
differential is small, and the rewards are great.