searching for a stable motherboard

I am going to put together a system for a friend [ http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=183820 ] but I cant decide on a motherboard.

I need a motherboard that is very stable and is good for games. I dont want to become technical support for him the very first day I put together the computer for him.

He wont overclock or play with the bios. Budget is from 60 to 100 dollars for the motherboard.

This will be for a AMD XP2100 Retail, 512 PC2700 DDR ram, Geforce4 Ti4200

Thanks

The Mainboard is just one slice of the Stability Pie.

depends what chipset you want to look at...nf2 - 8rdan non plus is pretty cheap and a great board for overclocking and just plain running

I am thinking about EPOX Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model #EP-8K9A

what you think?

Nvidia is coming out with a new chipset/revision soon. That is what I just read from the inquirer ^^

If he can wait, wait and see what it is

i would go for the 8K9AI since it comes with lan but only 2-channel sound instead of 6, its cheaper too

epox makes overclocking boards, but it should be 100% stable not overclocked

a good cheap incredibly stable non-overclocking board is the ECS K7S5A, it's notorious for never crapping out no matter what, they have a pro version now that supports usb 2.0, comes with lan, sound, the pro version has a purple pcb , i have the old brown one thats still alive and kicking after much abuse and about 30 bios flashes

oh yeah, i wouldn't go for nforce2 for stability, the chipset isn't mature at all yet, lots of dead boards

I think I will go with the EP-8K9AI since the price is right and that is has onboard lan.

Thank you for all the information and help.

Oh if interested this will be the final system

Epox Motherboard for AMD, Socket A Processors, Model EP-8K9AI
AMD ATHLON XP 2400 /266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM Hard Drive Model # 6Y080L0 - OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Corsair Value Ram PC2700 512DDR ram
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Dolby Digital 5.1 - OEM
COOLER MASTER SAF-B83 Single Ball Bearing Fan x3
Lite On 52x24x52 CDRW Model LTR-52246S Retail
Chenming ATX-301KB-SL-0-450W Mini-Tower Case Silver
Logitech Z-340 3 Piece Speaker System
SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM
Asus Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB Retail

= 709.25