Need help to pick a mobo

O

olegplanets

Geek Trainee
Hi guys! I'm slowly upgrading my PC part by part and I'm pretty comfortable with computers, however I can't seem to get my head around the motherboards.
There is just such a great number of them and it's hard to choose.
Basically I just want to get the best motherboard for the buck which will support my current CPU and allow me to upgrade to quadcore when I can afford it.

Here's what I'm looking for:
- A reasonable on-board video card (so I can plug my H213H monitor and watch 1080p HD movies) (4200 would be nice)
- Good overclocking options
- HT 5.2G

Right now I have Biostar NF-520A, it's AM2 motherboard and my CPU is Amd Athlon 64 X2 6000. I'm basically looking to get a motherboard which will support this processor, but which will also support a quadcore cpu (for the future). I know quadcores need AM3 but I'm a bit confused if I should be looking for AM3/AM2+/AM2 or simply AM3/AM2+? My processor's specifications say it's AM2, but if I go on Biostart's website and choose a AM2+ mobo, it says that it supports Athlon 64 X2. I guess my CPU would then work on AM3/AM2+?

So far I only looked at AM3/AM2+/AM2 and here's what looks decent
- BIOSTAR TA790GXE AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
- GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
- GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

I only need one PCI-Express slot, in case I decide to get a good video card in the future.
4-8 GB of DDR2 RAM would suffice
At least 6 USB ports (front and rear combined)
2 PCI slots (if there's an on-board sound card, 1 would be enough (I listen to music through the speakers intergrated in my monitor anyway lol!))

Any solid motherboard that I could get with the specifications above for a price between 100-150$?

Would really appreciate your advice!!
 
GA-MA780G-UD3H (rev .1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - CPU Support List

pretty decent board will support your cpu also supports the phenom II quads but will have to update to the latest bios revision as the quad core cpu's are 45nm ready not 90nm like yours.

dual channel config memory ddr2 non-ecc unbuffered dimms.
5000MT/s maximum system bus frequency so around 3800mhz?
1x Pci-Express x16 2.0 (4GB/s) bus frequency for a 2.0 graphics card.
onboard fake raid controller supports raid 0 (must have for performance) raid1, raid10 and JBOD (just a bunch of disks)
nice dual bios support which is a bonus
solid state caps alround
5 phase powers not to bad, better power efficency.
2oz copper in the pcb for better bus signal quality and heat distribution throughout the board.

overall good board for the money costs £75 in sterling don't know in canadian currency probs around $120??
 
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