Which MoBo for AMD 64?

I heard so far the MSI fis2r is very solid, but not too good for ocing.
And the Gigabyte K8n PRO board is better for ocing but not much else about it...
also is the new MSI K8N Neo Platinum should be stable and oc friendly but isnt out yet (anyone know when it is supposed to come out, and how much it will be?)

also which RAM should I get (i want to get 1 stick of 512, and later upgrade to 2 sticks) which speed and brand is best for the AMD 64 3000+ and which ever MoBo is recommended.

I'm assuming that the MSI motherboard is coming to the US soon. This vendor has just started taking pre orders and the listed price is $167.00. I'm really hoping that the price is going to be $40-$50 dollars less when it's finally available, but not sure about that.

-Ish-

I'm in the exact same boat as you are DunnoeWhattaDoo

I'm getting an athlon64 3000+, and am still deciding which mobo to get. I've read tons of reviews on a64 mobos. for right now, i would get the MSI K8T neo. The gigabyte seems like a close contendor, but for every 10 MSI Neo "editor's choice" or "a64 mobo winner" I see, I see one gigabyte "recommended mobo". both are undoubtedly good, but might as well go with neo, eh?

but the problem arises when you consider the neo platinum, since it will likely be a better mobo, but it's not out yet. personally, i feel pretty sure that i'm going to wait for the neo platinum, since it's based on the apparently better nforce3 chipset. I have no idea when it will be released, and i'm pulling hairs because of it. hopefully we're looking at no more than 2 weeks.

As far as ram goes, i decided to get corsair ram. you have many choices for ram brand, which is why this area is a bit difficult. when i was researching hardware for my system, i decided to simplify things and ONLY consider corsair ram (they're such a reputable brand, that you really can't go wrong). if you go over to corsair's website, they have guides and lists that give the recommended ram. since i'm not an OCer, i'm going to buy the corsair xms 512 mb pc3200 ram. i'll get two of them, but not in the twinx package (the twinx package costs a tad more, but the ram is optimized for dual channel... a64s can't dual channel). anyway, if you want to get corsair ram, you should check out their main site (www.corsairmemory.com I think it is), and follow their advice.

Thanks guys for the input,
since im in no real hurry to buy right now i guess ill just wait for the platinum MoBo to come out and get it.
since its' chipset is better for ocing, anyone know how much more power you can get(or expect to get) out of the 3000+ while still being stable? that would really be quite helpful!

K8NS Pro

Doubt you could go wrong with this board. I have the nf3 150 version and It's great. MSi products have left me less than satisfied, So personaly I recomend gigabyte.

Could you elaborate why MSI left you less than satisfied? And why you prefer the Gigabyte MoBo? It'd help.

A vast majority of the reviews i've heard from MSI products are very good BTW.

First let me say this is my opinion, and we all know what opinions are like. Second this is based off of the 1 MSI product I owned so take what you will from it. That product was a videocardthat even though it's still running today has given me fits since day 1. Buggy MSI drivers, and wierd effects when doing clean installs. ( dont about 5 with said card till i learned to drop my vodoo3 PCI in for installs) Did not have any replies from their tech about it so I just went on with it. Looked through there support forum and didn't find many happy customers there either. So I decided to stay away from them.Again just my opinion of them.

Why gigabyte? This board has been stable with all I do to it, and I'm pretty hard on em. You like to overclock I see so this is a great board for that. Even without an official PCI lock I have had no issues pushing my A64 upto 2700MHz. ( vapor cooled not air) and it still worked with above mentioned PCI videocard.
The dual bios is helpfull when OC'ing the A64 cus if you go too far a corruption COULD happen and that always drops ya back to default I.E. no opening case to clear CMOS. Also I point to you the Nforce 3 250 version of my board cus it has oficial PCI locks. Thats important since with mine clockgen is normaly used to OC, and with the next gen board More traditional methods of OC'ing Should not have issue like with my version.

Lastly ( again opinion) the MSI boards you talk about have VIA chipsets. All via CHIpsets that I have owned have been quirky in one way or annother. Nforce seems better in that department.
If above statement about chipset vender for your board chioce is wrong then dissregaurd statement.

There ya go my WHY