Introduction

We know that you've been waiting patiently for a new edition of our Motherboard Price Guide, awaiting information regarding the latest and greatest. We would like to start off with a quick reminder to check out the RTPE system for unbiased, up-to-date hardware pricing information.

Along with everyone else, we're also anxiously anticipating (uh, sure) the release of the new i975X based motherboards. Performance-wise, we are expecting much better results than the 955X based motherboards while going for roughly the same price.

On the Socket 939 front, we see that most of the boards have increased in pricing, perhaps due to the increase in sales with the Opteron 1xx processors. Our editor Kristopher Kubicki seems to believe that Socket 939 Opteron is going to disappear from the retail box market, but a few gray market tray processors are going to stick around.

The new GeForce 6150 nForce 430 based motherboards have finally been introduced into the mainstream Tier 1 market and at very competitive prices.

Athlon 64 - Socket 939

The theme for most of the socket 939 SLI boards this month has been an increase in price, ranging anywhere from $2 to $30 more. We're noticing that a few boards were cheaper just last week, many of which were at their lowest price, and have increased back to their mean price point very recently.

We recommend that you look into the Epox 9NPA+SLI [RTPE: EP-9NPA+SLI], which has many overclocking options, going for just over $130.00. You can see from the graph below that this motherboard is currently at its lowest price and has been there for the past couple of weeks.

EPoX nForce4 SLI (939) 9NPA+SLI

Another excellent motherboard to consider is the DFI NF4 SLI Infinity [RTPE: DFI Infinity] on sale for approximately $115.00. The Infinity line is a stripped down version of the pricier LanParty series, yet it is still highly tweakable at a significantly lower cost. One more board to look into is the Gigabyte nForce4 SLI GA-K8N-SLI [RTPE: GA-K8N-SLI] at about $90. For the performance and features of this board, especially at this price, we recommend that you keep this one in mind.



The price leader this week, once again, is the nForce4 Ultra boards. The Chaintech VNF4 Ultra VE [RTPE: VNF4 Ultra VE] is going for just under $72.00 shipped. From the chart below, you will see that this motherboard has actually been fluctuating up and down every week or so over the course of the past month.

Chaintech nForce4 Ultra (939) VNF4 Ultra VE

For those not looking to spend too much on a motherboard, there are many nForce4 Ultra boards to consider that are at or significantly under the $100 price tag. The Abit KN8 Ultra [RTPE: KN8 Ultra] is an excellent popular choice, which is at $100.00 shipped.





Motherboards with the VIA K8T890 chipsets are also decent performers, although not as great as the nForce4 based boards. Nevertheless, their pricing is fairly competitive with the NF4 motherboards, trying to hang in there with the sparse number of boards using this chipset. For a stable and inexpensive suggestion, the Abit K8T890 (939) AX8 [RTPE: AX8] is a decent alternative that is on sale for $80.00. VIA announced a K8T900 chipset recently, but there are no motherboards available in the channel based on this chipset.



Currently, Asrock is the only manufacturer producing boards with the M1695 chipset that supports both AGP and PCI-E cards. The Asrock M1695 939Dual-SATA2 [RTPE: 939Dual-SATA2] is on sale for about $72.00 shipped, the lowest price that it has been at since its release.



Next up are the boards with the nForce3 Ultra chipset. For a new build, we recommended against these as they only include AGP slots. Leading the pack is the MSI nForce3 Ultra K8N Neo2-F [RTPE: K8N Neo2-F] going for $85.00.





More AMD Motherboards

On the Socket 754 front, prices are hovering in the vicinity of about $70 to $75, a price which the Socket 939 boards are nearing. Since the last price cuts approximately a month ago, the prices haven't changed except for the ASUS nForce4 4X K8N4-E Deluxe [RTPE: K8N4-E Deluxe], which has gone up about $10, bringing it to just under $100. Although, there are many other options as you can see below that are well under $100.



For basic office computers, integrated graphics is usually ample to get your work done. The new MSI Xpress 200 RS482M-IL [RTPE: RS482M-IL] is on sale for $80 shipped, which has seen a price reduction of about $10.





The Asus A8R-MVP is still on pre-order only, but expect it to hit retail stores very soon. As reviewed here, we were pleasantly surprised how well this average priced board was able to perform.



During the past month approximately, the DFI Xpress 200 CrossFire LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR [RTPE: LP UT RDX200 CF-DR] has been dropping slowly, but surely. Although, currently, it has gone up about $13, bringing its price back up to $190.

DFI Xpress 200 CrossFire (939) LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR

On the other side of the integrated graphics alley, NVIDIA has recently introduced the 61x0 series. Fairing very well is the Biostar nForce 410 GeForce 6100 TFORCE 6100-939 [RTPE: TFORCE 6100-939], which is going for $73.00.



Biostar is still the only manufacturer of the 6100/410 socket 754 board. The Biostar nForce 410 GeForce 6100 GEFORCE 6100-M7 [RTPE: GEFORCE 6100-M7] is priced at $64.



Since last month, the Gigabyte nForce 430 GeForce 6100 GA-K8N51GMF-9 [RTPE: GA-K8N51GMF-9] hasn't seen much change. It is currently still at roughly the same price it was then; just about $78 shipped.



The recent addition to NVIDIA's integrated graphics boards is the GeForce 6150 nForce 430. We've been waiting for this board to start shipping and it finally has. We recently had the opportunity to review one of the first versions from Asus. Check out Wesley's inclusive analysis of the Asus A8N-VM CSM.

Even more recently, Gigabyte entered the market with their socket 939 GA-K8N51PVMT-9 [RTPE: GA-K8N51PVMT-9], sporting the 6150/430 chipset as well. At the moment, it is priced at about $87, competitive to Asus' version.





Intel Motherboards

On to the Intel boards, be sure to pick up a board cladding the 975X chipset due out sometime this week. With this chipset, you have the multiple PEG support, Presler EE, Presler and Cedar Mill core support, up to 8GB of RAM including ECC memory, 533/667 DDR2 RAM and the Intel Memory Pipeline Technology.

Price-wise, we’re expecting the 975X based boards to be roughly the same as the 955X based motherboards. However, the 975X will not support the Yonah, nor the Conroe. The support for those two will be for the 945GM to do so, but not until around Q1 of next year.

Read more about the Yonah in Anand’s elite preview: Intel Yonah Performance Preview - Part I: The Exclusive First Look at Yonah.

The boards featuring the 955X chipsets haven’t seen much of any price fluctuations since the last price cuts, approximately one month ago. They are still fairly expensive and are meant to replace the 945P, but aren’t doing such a great job of it. We suggest that you hold out on this until the 975X chipset rolls along into the market.



If you are looking into going with a cheap dual-core CPU, an i945P based motherboard would be a decent choice. By the way, the 945P and 955X both support the Presler and Cedar Mill cores as well, but will not support the Presler Extreme Edition.

For features, value and performance, the Gigabyte 945P GA-8I945P-G [RTPE: GA-8I945P-G] is an excellent choice going for about $107. As you can see from Gary Key’s article, there still may be hope with the newer 945P based motherboards.



For 2D home office work, a motherboard with the 945G chipset is one to consider. Leading the pack this time around is the ASUS 945G P5LD2-VM [RTPE: P5LD2-VM] on sale for $108. We also suggest that you consider the Gigabyte 945G GA-8I945G Pro [RTPE: GA-8I945G Pro] or the MSI 945G Neo-F [RTPE: MS-7176-040].





More Intel Motherboards

Since our last guide, the boards featuring the nForce4 SLI chipset have stayed about the same price. The cheapest one that we’re seeing is the MSI nForce4 SLI P4N SLI-FI [RTPE: P4N SLI-FI] going for about $124.



The boards featuring the 915G chipset are still available for really low prices. If you’re looking at going with a basic setup, something like this may be ideal.