-
I would only look at 'established' companies as these for starters through Newegg (though I won't limit my choices from just here);
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131096
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130071
The 3rd choice doesn't have a digital out which is a issue.
Many have suggested just to forget IDE altogether and go with SATA drives. Funny, I noticed most of these MBs' still have a parallel port and a floppy connector. ;)
-
I have not researched the MSI con , but it is something to concider.
Sata would be fine if they would not put the RAID chips on the mobo.
-
After spending half the day going to as many of the MB manufactures sites I would consider I have found these choices (all with 2 IDE channels);
Asus M2N-E SLI,
Foxconn N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H,
MSI K9N4 SLI-F,
Epox EP-AF590 SLI2,
Epox EP-AD580XR,
Epox MF570SLI (form factor??),
Abit KN9
Gigabyte, Soyo & Tyan had no AM2 boards with 2 IDE channels.
I know most will probably say the 1st entry would be the one of choice, but what do you guys think of the others? I'm not familar with Foxconn, other than just hearing of the name. I understand they do alot of OEM work.
Epox I'm questioning, because of some bad reports I have heard (other than the cap problems some years ago).
The MSI board didn't have a optical or coaxial audio out which I would perfer. The Abit doesn't either, but has separate outs for all the surround channels.
If anyone knows of any others with 2 IDE channels and either optical and/or coaxial audio outs, please add to the list.
I did find two more Asus boards, but they were over $170 which is out of the question.
The 2nd question I'm undecided about is;
Should I buy a low end processor and wait untill the prices drop on these newer AMD processors, or go with a better X2?
-
Video card and sound card may take care of the one set of problems.
As for the cpu, and seeing the video related bit and reading inbetween the lines, Go with the best X2 you can get!
Switched cpus in mobo that was dedicated for video dvd work.
A nice pleasant surprise in time difference was seen. Could not even finish a cup of coffee before the task was finished. :D
