Im in the market for a new desktop computer and want to build a mid performance PC.

I cant seem to read any motherboard user reviews on Newegg.com without finding a few people that trash any board out there.

I am probably going to put a Pentium D 820 or 840 in it and want a fullsize board. Two PATA connections prefereable since I have a couple of new PATA drives along with a DVD writer and ATA Zip drive that I want to be able to use.

For mid-performance you'd probably be a lot better off buying something already built than getting parts and pieces and putting it together yourself. I used to build my own systems starting with a 386 up to my current (and aged) AMD 1.2 Gig system, but when it's time to scrap that and move on to something a little more current I'm just going to get a box already built with the stuff I want already inside it. The cost difference won't be that much and there won't be that big question mark over whether everything will work right the first time or if there'll be issues to debug.

This is, unless you're a geek like I used to be, or you're building something on the bleeding edge... but by saying "mid performance" I don't think that's the case.

Im in the market for a new desktop computer and want to build a mid performance PC.

I cant seem to read any motherboard user reviews on Newegg.com without finding a few people that trash any board out there.

I am probably going to put a Pentium D 820 or 840 in it and want a fullsize board. Two PATA connections prefereable since I have a couple of new PATA drives along with a DVD writer and ATA Zip drive that I want to be able to use.

Sure you arent referring to a SATA Drive?

I would tend to recommend ASUS as a board choice. Check out NewEgg they rock on their prices and shipping.

As for the comment above me. If you dont really care soo much on the internal components look at a already configured system. But since you seem to be specific with some things I would recommend building my own. BTW I would scrap that zip drive. Get all your Zip data off and store it on a external USB hard drive and get your self a usb flash drive to carry files around. Zip disk will die in time.

PATA is the old IDE Parallel ATA standard with the ribbon cables.

I thought the same about a premade box from Dell or HP but when I started looking at what I wanted the price difference was about $200...and I have recently purchased some new stuff for my older computer that I would like to reuse.

Unless you already have the Pentium D CPU, I'd go with an AMD Athlon 64 AM2 CPU. (More bang for the buck.)
As for the mainboard, I find that ASUS and ABIT are good quality boards.

Yea....Asus mb's are excellent. What do you mean my mid-performance? One thing you can do is go to www.sharkyextreme.com. Look in their "guides" section and find one of their computer building guides. They have three different guides. One is for cheap...like $1500, the next is like $2500 and the last is $4000. (those numbers may be wrong...but you get the point). If you are looking to spend around oen of those numbers, find the most recent guide w/ that price tag. If you want to spend less than all those....go back a few months and build from one of those guides. That way you at least know there will be no compatability problems!

www.newegg.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.zipzoomfly.com

www.sharkyextreme.com

I was also going to suggest an ASUS board. I have a few of them in my systems. I know things have changed a bit since the last time I bought a system board but they had some of the easiest to use system configs. They were the best if you were using multi CPU's or overclocking. Abit also makes a decent motherboard at reasonable prices.

I think the chipset on my ASUS S777 went bad, I've heard taht the SIS chipsets are not as durable as the Intels :shrug:

I think the chipset on my ASUS S777 went bad, I've heard taht the SIS chipsets are not as durable as the Intels :shrug:

Whats wrong with the computer that makes you think it's the chipset? I still have a couple ASUS boards over 5 years old running fine.

I've pretty much swapped every component with another computer and still got some strange lockups. Then I decided to do a fresh windows install, cant do it. No matter which OS I try to install (windows, linux, DOS) I get errors every time new HD, old HD, different video card, different processor, different RAM pretty much everything but the motherboard. I've spent too long messing with it. Only have spend $60 on a new HD but probably have spent 40 hours on it.

I have actually had nothing but trouble with this board since I bought it in 03.

I've pretty much swapped every component with another computer and still got some strange lockups. Then I decided to do a fresh windows install, cant do it. No matter which OS I try to install (windows, linux, DOS) I get errors every time new HD, old HD, different video card, different processor, different RAM pretty much everything but the motherboard. I've spent too long messing with it. Only have spend $60 on a new HD but probably have spent 40 hours on it.

I have actually had nothing but trouble with this board since I bought it in 03.

Have you updated the BIOS? Asus boards have tons of configurations and if you dont have the config set for the board it will never work right. Make sure your using brandname memory and have all the timings set right for the processor and the memory.

Locking up doesnt mean anything really. Which version of windows are you running?

Also try pulling the CMOS battery and letting the config go back to default. Then reconfig it. But it does sound like you may have gotten a bad one. It does happen. Even the best of companies don't have perfect quality control. If money isn't an issue you could always go with a true intel MB.

Eh its time for an upgrade anyway, this $200 build got me through 3 years.

I got a ABIT AT8-32X and I love it.

Ive had Asus boards for about 7 years and i decided to swap over to ABIT. I love it so far. Ive been on this new board for a few months with no issues with OCing and watercooling.