Hello.

I am getting a couple of upgrades for x-mas and I may need to buy a new mobo to support them all...

Here is my current system

Athlonxp 1800
Giga-byte 7a-dx mobo
512(2, 256 sticks)mb ddr pc2100
80 gb + 10 gb ata100 5400rpm drives
32mb geforce 2mmx

Here is what I am getting

Maxtror 120GB 7200rpm ata133
GeForce4 ti4600 128mb ddr
another 256mb pc2100 ddr dimm

I would like to get a mobo that also has usb2.0 support, 3+ dimm slots (for the extra dimm) and RAID (if I need it). I plan on making the 120 GB ata/133 7200rpm drive the master and the 80GB ata/100 5400rpm drive the slave on the same cord. Is that possible?

What would be the top 3 mobos that you guys would recommend to me? I can spend 75-125 bucks.

Thanks so much in advance!
-jonathan

if u're looking for AMD mobo, look no further than the nForce2 chipset... Asus, Leadtek, and Epox are making great boards based on this chipset... for example the A7N8X is Asus' nForce2 board... loaded with features that fit ur need... only has 3 Dimm slots but the board supports Dual DDR... unless u need the extra 256MB u are planning to buy, u can use ur current 2 sticks and save that money u were originally spending...

the 120GB and 80GB on the same channel is fine... as long as u stick with 4 IDE devices u won't have issues...

I would list the top 3 but basically it would be nForce2 based mobos... ur other option is VIA KT400 or KT333 chipset mobos... Asus makes a great A7V333, or the MSI KT3 Ultra2... I don't know if it fits ur criteria of 3+ Dimm or USB2.0...

the nForce2 may not be out yet where u are so check around... also it may be worth waiting a little bit to see if any issues pop up with this chipset and they have to revise it...

As for IDE devices, remember that the way IDE works is regardless of whether a device is master or slave on a particular channel, BOTH devices on that channel will operate at the "lowest common denominator" - That is, your ATA133 drive will be operating at ATA100 speed, maximum. Although no hard drives really exist that can even push that much sustained, it's something to think about.

Setting up two devices on one channel is very easy - On the disk you wish to make slave, near the IDE connector there will be a set of jumpers. Usually on the HDD cover will be printed a diagram to it, or near the pins you will see letters corresponding to (S)lave, (M)aster, or (C)able Select. Simply short the slave jumper, and plug the devices in.

You should consider placing the hard drives on seperate IDE channels.. one primary, one slave. That ensures most efficient use of the bandwidth / much more efficient transferring between two devices. Unless the limiting factor would be a slow/older CD/DVD IDE device, of course.

Thanks for the advice!

I am not too worried about not fully realizing the 120gb ata/133 drive's abilities...I just want a system that won't cause me headaches

I decided to go for the Asus A7N8X board. So far, I haven't heard or read anything negative about it. So, having 3 256 MB pc 2100 won't make that much of a difference with that board? Interesting. But still, I will be a happy camper soon.

Thanks again