Which boards are best in performance?

I admit I don't know all that much about MoBo's (though I'm learning), but I wanted to know which board out there offers the best overall performance for the money. (I want to keep my budget at around $150 or so) My current board is fine and the chipset is adequate (see sig), but I may be putting it into another rig to give to someone and so will obviously need one for mine.

Some members have already suggested that Abit (such as the IC7-G)and Asus (P4P-800) boards will get the job done, and I gotta say that the IC7-G looks really good. I gotta love the HS/Fan on the Northbridge. I wish my board had one of those. And since it comes with BIOS option to OC, I can maybe look into that, plus it will support my Prescott.

But for some reason, a comparably priced Asus isn't really drawing me in like the Abit. I have read some things where people were talking about problems they had with Asus boards regarding BIOS/OS installation and compatibility with equipment, or something like that. But I have also read some good and bad about the Abit board, so maybe it's a shot in the dark, even though I'm leaning toward that one.

Now with that said, other than these brands, what other MoBo makers are really good options to look into? I just want a really stable, good performance board to support my 3.2 that I can use to build a really nice gaming rig, assuming that can be done for roughly $150.

Suggestions?

Look no farther than Asus or Abit. For a socket 478 that will O/C a Prescott, I will also have to recommend the Abit IC7-G. Sure you can find cheaper mobos, but the IC7 series is the best for overclocking and has the most robust power mosfets which are needed if you use a Prescott. BIOS updates are super easy with Abit's FlashMenu program. The IC7-G is a rock stable feature rich board with a proven track record.

Thanks, batboy, for your input. I was looking around for MoBo's on some different sites last night and found several brands I've never even heard of. But I found myself not that impressed with a lot of them, and just ended up comparing prices on the IC7-G's. I think that is probably the one I will get, because it does seem to have a lot to offer, and it isn't all that expensive either. TigerDirect had it listed for a few dollars more than Newegg, so I will most likey buy from NE again. I might have considered buying from TD, because they sell bundles that come with a MoBo and a cpu. But thier IC7-G comes with a P4 2.6 or something like that for about $330...if it came with a 3.2 or a 3.4, I might get it. But I think an IC7 from the egg will do the trick.

BTW, can you...or anyone else...explain what the mosfets are? I keep seeing this term, and I don't know what it means. Are they a visible component on the board, or is it something you can't really see?

Yes, they are a visible component, part of the power circuitry. In fact some folks put little heatsinks on them to keep 'em cool. They are little black flat square things, often close to the CPU socket. There is a pic of an IC7 with cooling mods in my article listed in my signature.

If you get the IC7, here is a BIOS guide.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=258345

batboy said:

Yes, they are a visible component, part of the power circuitry. In fact some folks put little heatsinks on them to keep 'em cool. They are little black flat square things, often close to the CPU socket. There is a pic of an IC7 with cooling mods in my article listed in my signature.

If you get the IC7, here is a BIOS guide.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=258345

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link...I bookmarked it so I can refer to it later.

Got another question about boards...
I noticed the IC7-G has support for ATA 100 up to 4 devices, where I'm fairly certain my board has support for Ultra ATA. I'm not sure if it's ATA 100, 133, 150 or whatever, but my question is this:
Will I be able to connect my components (HDD, opticals, etc.) to the IC7? Or will I need to get drives that are compatible with ATA 100?

Yes, all your optical and harddrives will work, no problem. ATA100 and ATA133 are both Ultra ATA. Actually, ATA133 harddrives aren't really much faster than a good 7,200 RPM ATA100 HDD. The IC7 series also supports SATA harddrives which are a little faster and use smaller cables in case you want to eventually upgrade. If I remember correctly, there are 4 SATA channels on the IC7-G, in addition to the support for 4 IDE devices (the regular IC7 only has 2 SATA channels). I believe RAID can only be used on the SATA controller.

Thanks, batboy. That really eases my mind because I REALLY want this board for my future rig, and it's nice to know that I can keep my current drives. Doesn't mean I won't upgrade in the future, but I like to keep my options open.