Can anyone guide me on which motherboard to get ?

which is the fastest (when not overclocked) board out there for P4 3.2 w HT. which is the best board with maximum stability when overclocked - ie good overclocking - not worried about the user friendliness of overclocking.

Price around ~$200, not more.

should one wait for new chipsets/mobos ? ie with pci express ? will they support the current P4, i dont mind changing the graphics, but would like to keep the processor, memory.

Futile is resistance, assimilate you we will.

How soon are you going to buy your new puter?

i can wait if new stuff is coming out withing 1-2 months...
but if this new stuff will require me to change the processor - like socket 77?? - i would rather buy a 875P mobo now, bcos i dont plan to change the processor.
If new mobo are supporting current p4 and 1-2 PCI slots...i wouldnt mind getting a pciexpress graphics card.

Futile is resistance, assimilate you we will.

I'd get the Abit IS7-G, as it seems to be more stable than the IC7-G, performs about the same, and puts an extra space between the video card and PCI slots.

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I would wait for PCI-Express. It should be out soon.

yeah, i want to do that.

but will those mobos support current generation CPUs and memory. I am not interested in upgrading those.

THG had the sneak preview for <A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040301/index.html" target="_new">Intel Alderwood/Grantsdale Chipsets</A>, it seems thats the next chipset but doesnt look like it has socket 478 P4 support.

Futile is resistance, assimilate you we will.

Fastest? Has to still be the MSI 865PE NEO-FIS2R. I still think you're better off buying a 2.8C and clocking-up to get there. JMHO, but EVERYTHING becomes faster and there is little stress on the 2.8C to get there.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

overclocking will never get you to the stock speed of the CPU u are overclocking up to. U'll get speed increase, but it will not be the same as you would run factory clocked chip at that speed.

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Right you are Senor', but after 2.8 the higher multiples get much hotter when FSB is raised. You'll pay an extra 100 bucks for a 3.2C stock and you won't get near the overclock plus you'll have to water-cool that pig. The O'Cd 2.8C @ 3.2 will be close enough to stock 3.2 performance the average dude ain't gonna know the difference. It's all price/performance right now.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

Now how long to you plan on getting your next upgrade after you buy your new stuff? The reason is I upgraded my toy last July. Was going with Tejas from Intel. But since Intel canceled Tejas. Plus with 64 bit coming plus PCI. My next upgrade looks like sometime 2006. Because more software out to support 64 bit. But who knows how fast they all bring 64 bit out. Plus Intel will be launching dual core Cpu soon. Don't know how long soon is.