HELP choosing motherboard

[Milner]

OK I want to order my parts/new computer this week, but I am having a hard time picking a motherboard. I have the other components pretty figured out. I will be using a E6600 c2d, but want a board that will take a quad if need be at some point. Other than that my biggest thing is USB ports for all my crap, and an external SATA. (if I get an mb with eSATA, I don't need a case with an eSATA port, right??) Also plan on SATA for my optical drive. I will run 4gb for now but want the support for 8.
I assume it is better to get a board and seperate sound/video???? Or maybe sound on the MB and video on a card? (Dual monitor NO games)

So suggestions? Asus, Intel, Giga, Others????

I seems like my needs narrowed everything else down to easy choices, but I just keep running circles on the MB.

THANKS
Marc

[ChrisJ]

So suggestions? Asus, Intel, Giga, Others????

I just bought an ASUS P5B-Deluxe (w/o WiFi). It supports all of your requirements except that I do not know about Quad support. It's socket 775, so I think it does.

See this thread for details of my system: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=59219

Link to the ASUS manual for this MB (pdf): http://dlsvr05.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5B%20Deluxe/e2668_p5b_dlx.pdf

[TristanP]

If you care about good audio, you'll get a separate card. If you care about video and want a dual monitor setup, you'll get a dual DVI video card. Shouldn't run you more than $140 for a perfectly fine vid card. I've had good success with Asus and Gigabyte boards. My current is a C2D E6300 on a Giga DS3 w/ 2GB of Corsair RAM. When you say you want to run "4 mb for now", do you mean 4 GB of RAM? I can't see how you'd need any more than 4 GB ever. Even 2 GB is plenty for most users.

[Milner]

When you say you want to run "4 mb for now", do you mean 4 GB of RAM?

Opps

Actually I will probably only run 3gigs for now, sticking with cs2 and xp for now....

[claudermilk]

Asus are good boards, not familiar with Giga. Another good manufacturer to look at is MSI.

As a matter of fact, here's a couple they specifically say are quad-compatible:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=975X_Platinum_V.2&class=mb
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=P965_Platinum&class=mb

I've been very happy with my socket 939 board. Nice feature set & good price. I am happy with the on-board sound on my board, and those look like even better versions. Video is best as a separate card.