I'm looking to upgrade. I have a pile of IDE drives and DVD writers. So I was looking for a MoBo that would support 2XPATA, along with SATA ports. I was looking at an Asus M2N-SLI AM2 but it has quite a few less than favorable reviews.
I don't game, and I don't do any video editing. I want something fast and reliable.

Before we think about choosing a motherboard, may I know what is your platform? I mean your processor? Is it Intel or AMD? What RAM do you have?, is it DDR, or DDR2 or DDR3?

I'm going to buy
New Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Case

I plan on reusing
Windows XP pro
Two IDE DVD writers
IDE hard drives

I use the computer for wok and home.
I DL movies, burn movies, and some Auto cad in the near future. I want something that will allow me to do other tasks while a movie is DLing.

I currently have a Pentium 4 1.60 MHz 1 gig ram.
and my current Mobo will not recognize an HD bigger than 60 gig.

Hello.. Sorry for my late reply..

Ok, first issue would be, IDE drives... as most of the latest line of motherboards (both AMD and Intel) only comes with one IDE connector, which means you can only use two IDE devices max..


However, those Intel/AMD motherboards which comes with VIA or SiS chipset still provide two IDE connector, which means you can use up to 4 IDE devices..


Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 only have one IDE connector..

Asus M2N-E SLI has two IDE connector..

Since you mentioned you don't do graphic, but you want something that is fast and reliable, plus with two IDE connector, I would suggest you go with Intel Platform..

Look at Intel Core2Duo E4xxx series and Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI 650i Motherboard

Reviews for the motherboard are below

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboard...y-fpin9sli.html

http://techreport.com/articles.x/12340

http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4874


Or, MSI P6N SLI Platinum Motherboard.. Reviews below:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2946

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/mainbo...ce650i-sli.html

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html...W50aHVzaWFzdA==

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/03/2..._SLI_Platinum/1


Next, just buy any 2gb or 4gb of DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 RAM.. I recommend Crucial or Kingston brand.. Just go for normal RAM as you won't noticed any performance difference with Performance RAM.. (those Performance RAM only shows their true potential through overclocking.. Otherwise, a value RAM is just enough)

This post has been edited by fenzodahl512: May 7 2008, 12:47 PM