Motherboard manufacturers recomendations

[Captain Answer]

I want to look at replacing the motherboard and processor (possibly change to DDR2 RAM as well) for the PC we have at home, this is only really used for surfing/email and I use it as an interface to remote servers etc for work.

The machine is becoming unstable with a high page read and quite a lot of page errors and the display output has become "snowy".

The SATA harddrive and DVD/RW of the current will be re-used, as will the PSU and case. The system will only need to run XP and microsoft office

I'd like to upgrade to an Intel Dual core, however I'm no hardware expert so if someone could tell me which motherboard manufacturers are worth a look at?

[martin1810]

I know nothing about computers but when I built this one I used a Gigabyte mother board with an AMD duel core processor. My original power supply couldn't work this board so I had to buy another one. It was nearly as cheap to buy a new box with power supply, etc, etc. So my upgrade became a new computer. It would have worked first time if the idiot building it had understood the instructions.:D

[Captain Answer]

I know nothing about computers but when I built this one I used a Gigabyte mother board with an AMD duel core processor. My original power supply couldn't work this board so I had to buy another one. It was nearly as cheap to buy a new box with power supply, etc, etc. So my upgrade became a new computer. It would have worked first time if the idiot building it had understood the instructions.:D

MY PSU should be compatible with all the newer board as it isn't that old

[sooty]

Go for an ASUS motherboard

[Clinterous]

Second the above - Asus are popular.

Basic mobo's which support the first generation Core2 Duo are relatively cheap now. I've been running a first gen Intel core2 for a couple of years and do not recall ever utilising both cores to the max! The current i5 & i7 Intel processors have hyper threading so there is more potential to use both cores on one application - i.e. getting more out of the processor.

So what I'm saying is that the first gen of Intel Core2's will probably not be fully used in relation to your objectives, and probably not worth splashing out on. The AMD multi core processors are cheaper and adequate for basic pc use. Or maybe even a Pentium 3ghz plus single core.

Save the pennies for when Intel i7's come down in price and jump straight to those. And make sure your existng PSU will connect to the new mobo - the 20/24 pin connector in particular.

Just my view.