Intel motherboards are fine if you need zombie computers for processing lots of stuff on which you need to get Linux running in less than an hour, otherwise I'll stick to the trusted brands, Gigabyte if you're looking for a quality budget board, ASUS if you're looking for something a bit more high tech, Biostar (from the makers of DFI) if you're looking for most bang for buck combination and DFI if you have lots of money laying around.
I wanted to get a Gigabyte or Asus, but I had a
very limited budget which I had already exceeded. The Intel mobo was the cheapest I could find that had everything I need. I guess I just got what I paid for...
On a side note and slightly off topic, what is happening in the AMD world? Quite a large number of AMD fans converted to Intel after the release of the Core 2 Duo, will they return to the dark side once the AMD Phenom goes mainstream or does Intel have something up its sleeve I'm not aware of?
As long as the Phenom is decently priced, I think the true believers will go back. The performance of AMD's CPUs were overshadowed by the Core2Duo, giving Intel the lead in the price/performance area. I believe the new Phenoms will help get AMD back in the game. Me, personally, I'd much rather use an AMD CPU and ATI gfx card. I've always been huge supporters of those two, even before they merged. But alas, the E8200 was the best I could get in my budget, and the competing AMD wasn't worth it...
