It's not unusual for many users to start getting a little antsy around the holidays as they contemplate various upgrades they might want to make. They say it's better to give than to receive, so we at AnandTech thought it might be nice to give you some good advice for holiday purchases, and if you're lucky you might receive a few choice upgrades.

Motherboards are one of the most important components in any computer system, but at the same time they're one of the most difficult decisions you face when it comes time to upgrade. You might think that going out and spending a ton of money on a motherboard would be a guarantee of success and quality - you get what you pay for, right? -- but as we've discussed recently that's frequently not the case. We have used and abused many motherboards over the past year, and there has been more than one occasion where a significantly cheaper motherboard easily surpassed some of the high-end offerings.

To help out with your holiday shopping, we've put together a comprehensive motherboard guide, looking at everything from entry-level products up to high-end enthusiast offerings. We will be looking at both AMD and Intel options, including the latest X58 motherboards for Core i7 systems. We will have several other component buyer's guides over the coming week, but the motherboard is the heart of any modern system so we felt it would be best to start there.

Meet the Contenders

Intel has been on a roll since the introduction of the Core 2 processors and P965/975X chipsets over two years ago. Since then, we have seen the launch of the Intel P35, P45, X38, X48, and a whole slew of G-series chipsets for the IGP market. Out of those, the P35 and X48 were probably our favorite chipsets, although the P45 has turned into a decent chipset after some teething pains. Just last month Intel launched the Core i7 and X58 combination, ushering in a whole new set of hardware and changing many of the rules when it comes to Intel platforms.

In the meantime, NVIDIA got a chipset license and brought the 680i, 780i, 650i, 750i, and 790i products to market for the Core 2 series, along with their GeForce 7xxx and 9xxx IGP products. If you wanted to run SLI on an Intel processor, your only choice up until the X58 chipset was to go with an NVIDIA solution. We found their products to be very good at times… and not so good at others. Still, we have been extremely impressed with their GeForce 9xxx series chipsets and would gladly choose it over the Intel G45 any day of the week.

At last count, we noticed over 400 motherboards for sale for current Intel processors. It has been very difficult for us to whittle down the list for today's guide -- so much so that we will probably have another motherboard guide early next year so we can properly address all of the various categories and price points. Our recommendations today will provide a look at the boards that have impressed us during testing. We probably missed a couple of favorites but without spending a good ten pages on suggestions we did our best to quickly hit the top choices.

AMD based systems are still a compelling value in the entry to midrange markets. The chipsets are mature, driver support is very good, and the price to performance ratio is excellent. While the Phenom launch was not as successful as AMD (or we) wanted it to be, the X3 series offers very good performance in a particular niche. We should also see some interesting competition in the midrange market when Phenom II launches next month.

How that launch and product lineup will affect the current Phenom series is something we are still trying to nail down. The manufacturers are still working on full Phenom II compatibility across their product lines, but we know at this point that the vast majority of AM2/AM2+ motherboards released this year will be compatible with nothing more than a BIOS update. We will be recommending boards that are currently compatible with the Phenom processor series as that should ensure compatibility with the upcoming processors. However, it's possible some motherboards will be neglected and not get the necessary BIOS updates.

On the supply side there are not nearly as many AMD platform boards as Intel options. Where we could find over 400 different currently shipping Intel boards, there are only about 160 AMD boards. Quantity does not necessarily equate to quality and fortunately for most users, most of the AM2 based boards are solid. That said, let's take a look at the boards that impressed us.

Entry-Level Motherboards

We'll start at the bottom, with motherboards priced at around $50 or less. Obviously features are going to be cut at this price point, and quality/support might suffer as well, but you can still get some very reasonable options without breaking the bank.

Intel

If you only have $50 to spend, then we suggest the ZOTAC N73PV-Supreme based on the GeForce 7100. This uATX motherboard features HDMI output, Gigabit LAN, four 3Gb/s SATA ports, 10 USB ports, HD audio, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and support for 4GB. This board is offers excellent stability and performance for the money. Pair it up with an E5200 and 4GB of DDR2-800 and you have a solid SOHO system or base HTPC, although H.264 hardware acceleration is not featured on this chipset.

Our other under $50 choice is the ASRock G31M-S motherboard based on the Intel G31 and ICH7 chipsets. This uATX board features 10/100 LAN, four 3Gb/s SATA ports, 8 USB ports, 5.1 HD audio, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and support for 8GB. ASRock also worked their magic on the BIOS so it supports the full range of Core 2 processors. Also included is ASRock's excellent Instant Boot technology; yes, it really works as advertised.

An honorable mention goes to the Foxconn G31MV-K that can be had for around $43. Performance is equal to the ASRock board but we gave the nod to ASRock based on features and BIOS support.

AMD

On the AMD side we have a couple of interesting choices. The $48 ASRock N61P-S has been a solid, no frills, uATX SOHO board for us and features the GeForce 6150SE and nForce 430 chipsets. The board supports 8GB of memory and provides 10/100 Ethernet, 5.1 HD Audio, four 3Gb/s SATA ports with RAID 0/1/0+1/5, VGA output, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and ASRock's excellent Instant Boot technology.

Our next board is the Foxconn A74MX-K 740G uATX board featuring the AMD 740G and SB700 chipsets. This board is a very good option for a basic SOHO build and provides Gigabit LAN, 5.1 HD Audio, 4GB memory support, DVI-D output, 12 USB ports, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, four 3Gb/s SATA ports featuring RAID 0/1/10.

Budget Motherboards

For those with around $60~$75 looking for a solid SOHO board, we recommend the following products.

Intel

On the Intel side of the fence, one very interesting board is the ZOTAC NF630i ITX. Featuring the same GeForce 7100 chipset in our entry level selection, you also get two SATA 3Gb/s ports, a PCI-E x1 slot, 4GB memory support, 5.1 HD Audio, DVI/VGA output, and 8 USB ports. If you are looking for a basic ITX board, this one should be at the top of the list.

A couple of honorable mentions in this price range go to the XFX GeForce 7150 uATX board and the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L. Both boards offered above average performance for the price range, a high degree of quality, and very good support.

AMD

The 780G chipset is one of the best budget IG designs we have worked with over the years. This is the chipset that made integrated graphics relevant again. One of the best boards in this price category is the ASRock A780FullDisplayPort (whew, long name) based on the 780G and SB700 chipsets for $70. ASRock throws in a DisplayPort card and a DVI to HDMI convertor besides loading the board out with six 3Gb/s SATA ports featuring RAID 0/1/10, 5.1 HD Audio, Gigabit LAN, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, and support for 16GB of memory. This board has been rock solid for us and will be AM3 ready.

We also like the NVIDIA 720a based Foxconn 720MX board that features Gigabit LAN, 7.1 HD Audio, four 3Gb/s SATA ports with RAID 0/1/0+1/5, VGA/DVI-D output, one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, Hybrid SLI, and GeForce Boost technologies. This board has been very stable during testing and would make for a great SOHO system.

A couple of honorable mentions in this price range go to the MSI K9A2VM-FD, JetWay JXBlue-N78V, and ZOTAC GF8100. These boards offered good performance for the price range, a high degree of quality for the price, and very good feature sets.

Budget Performance and HTPC Boards

We are looking in the $75~$115 range in this category, with a bit of extra wiggle room for the HTPC picks.

Intel

For the Intel side, two boards stand out amongst the others. First up is one of our favorite budget performance boards we have tested in the last few years, although nothing on this board really screams budget. The $115 ($100 with MIR) Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R features the P45 and ICH10R chipsets. Gigabyte also tosses in the Realtek ALC 889a HD Audio codec, Gigabit LAN, 16GB memory support, six 3Gb/s ports capable of RAID 0/1/10/5, two additional 3Gb/s SATA ports, IEEE 1394A, 12 USB ports, and Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 technology. The BIOS caters to the overclocker and this board just performs great. Our E8600 easily reached 540FSB if that is important and did it a very stable manner. Gigabyte also tosses in their EasyTune 6 application along with their DualBIOS technology. All in all, this is one of the better "budget performance" boards we have used in a long time.

Our second board is a favorite also. The $97 ($82 with MIR) ASUS P5Q SE Plus based on the Intel P45 and ICH10 chipsets. The board features one PCI-E x16 slot, two PCI-E x1 slots, three PCI slots, 16GB memory support, Gigabit LAN, 7.1 HD Audio, 12 USB ports, six 3Gb/s SATA ports, and an 8-phase power delivery system. Overclocking has been very good with our E8600 easily reaching over 500FSB -- more than enough for most buyers in this category.

Honorable mentions go out to the Biostar TP43D2-A7 P43 based board, MSI P43 Neo3-F, Foxconn P45A-S, and the ASRock P43 Twins1600.

AMD

The $75 to $115 range is extremely crowded on the AMD side and there are numerous boards not listed here that we would recommend for a variety of reasons ranging from performance to features to support.

First up is the $90 ASUS M3N78-EM based on the NVIDIA GeForce 8300 chipset. The board features one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, 8GB memory support, NVIDIA Gigabit LAN, 7.1 HD Audio, 12 USB ports, five 3Gb/s SATA ports with RAID support, IEEE 1394a, one eSATA port, HDMI/DVI/VGA output, and full support for the Phenom 140W processors. This board offers overclocking capabilities along with being a top notch HTPC capable board. We highly recommend the GF8200/8300 series for the HTPC market due to hardware accelerated BD playback, multi-channel LPCM output, and very good application performance.

Our second board is based on the 790GX chipset. The $100 Biostar TForce TA790GX features the 790GX and SB750 chipsets. Biostar also tosses in 64MB DDR2 Side-Port memory, Realtek ALC 888 HD Audio codec, Gigabit LAN, 16GB memory support, six 3Gb/s ports capable of RAID 0/1/10/5, 10 USB ports, two PCI-E x16 slots (dual x8 CF), two PCI-E x1 slots, and two PCI slots. The BIOS caters to the casual overclocker and this board just performs very well in a variety of tests.

Honorable mentions go out to the JetWay JPA78VM3-H-LF, Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3P, and MSI K9A2 CF-F V2.

HTPC

We have two favorites right now in the Intel category. The $135 Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H and $110 ZOTAC GF9300 feature the NVIDIA GF9400 and GF9300 chipsets respectively. We favor these chipsets over the Intel G45 in the HTPC arena due to superior video playback and overall system performance. Expect to see reviews of both boards shortly as we gear back up in our look at IGP systems. On the AMD side we favor the GeForce 8200/8300 chipsets and particulary like the ASUS M3N78-EM.  If multi-channel LPCM is not important, most of the 790GX and 780G boards would make good choices.

Midrange Performance

Moving on up in price, we have the midrange performance segment, with prices stretching from $125 to $200. Yes, like GPUs we now include $200 motherboards in the "midrange" price segment. Just remember that similar to graphics cards, for many people there's no reason to look beyond the midrange offerings.

Intel

Honestly, after using the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R, we wondered what boards could be recommended in the $125 to $200 range. We found a couple, mainly based on excellent performance for the active enthusiast and of course great feature sets.

A top P45 board for overclocking the Wolfdale dual-core processors is the Biostar TPower I45 that is currently selling for around $160. This board easily reaches 600+ FSB with a good E8600 while offering a very good feature set.Without spending over $200 on high end P45 or X48 boards, this is the board to use if overclocking is of prime importance to you. Our only knock against the board is that it does not overclock quad-core processors as well as the Gigabyte or ASUS boards.

The big brother to the UD3R in our budget category is the $137 Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P that has a similar feature set but adds a second x16 slot (in place of a PCI slot) for dual x8 CrossFire operation. The board provides an excellent overclocking platform along with great stability.  If the second x16 slot is not important to you, we suggest sticking with the UD3R.

We really like the $144 ASUS P5Q-E that features the P45 and ICH10R chipsets. ASUS provides the ADI AD2000B HD Audio codec, dual Gigabit LAN, 16GB memory support, six 3Gb/s ports capable of RAID 0/1/10/5, two additional 3Gb/s SATA ports, IEEE 1394A, 12 USB ports, 8-phase power design, and Quiet Thermal technology. Overclocking has been very good with our E8600 reaching a 540FSB level and stability has been excellent also.

Honorable mentions go to the unique uATX based DFI LP JR P45-T2RS, MSI P7N SLI Platinum, and EVGA 750i FTW boards.

AMD

This a tough category as there are several very good boards grouped in the $140 range; however, we did not find any boards near $100 that performed as well as boards in the $150+ range, unlike in the Intel section. As a user, you must make a choice between an NVIDIA or AMD chipset if you ever plan on running a CrossFire or SLI setup.

On the 780a SLI front we really like the ASRock K10N780SLIX3-WiFi and Foxconn Destroyer boards. The ASRock 780a SLI offers a balanced combination of features, performance, and support while the Destroyer is one of the top AMD overclocking boards we have in the labs now.

We think the $190 price tag is too much for a 790FX/SB750 setup, but we cannot deny the fact that the ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe is one of the most loaded and best performing AMD boards we have used this year. ASUS loads the board with Gigabit LAN, ADI AD2000B 8-channel HD audio, IEEE 1394 support, four PCI-E x16 slots (dual x16, tri x16/x8/x8, or quad x8), two PCI slots, a single eSATA port, and six 3Gb/s SATA ports featuring RAID 0/1/10/5. The BIOS is fully featured for overclocking and we easily reached 3.5GHz on our 9950BE.

Although expensive for a 790GX board, the DFI LP JR 790GX-M2RS is a uATX board designed with overclocking in mind. We really like this board for a fast small form factor setup. Our other two 790GX choices are the Biostar TA790GX3 A2+ and Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H.

Honorable mentions go to the MSI DKA790GX Platinum, Foxconn A79A-S, and the extremely impressive but not widely available J&W MINIX 780G-SP128MB. The J&W board is based on the 780G and is not considered a performance board, but its cost places it in this category. However, if you are looking to build an AMD based ITX form factor setup, this is a great board to purchase.

High-End Intel Motherboards

AMD really can't compete at the upper echelon of performance, so when we move into the high-end range we currently only have Intel recommendations. To further complicate matters, we have two platforms that we need to address: the old guard Core 2 boards, and the shiny new X58 offerings. It is hard to justify the high-end Core 2 options with the recent introduction of the i7 and X58 products, but if you have already invested in a Core 2 processor and DDR2 these boards still make sense. Any of these boards provide excellent performance and some recent price drops have made a couple of boards more interesting than the mid-range selections.

Core 2

Now priced at $170, the X48 based DFI DK X48-T2RS is great "bargain" at the upper end of the S775 market. This board offers an excellent feature set, great overclocking performance, and is just an extremely stable platform to utilize for a gaming rig or personal workstation.

At the other end of the X48 spectrum is the ASUS Rampage Formula board based on the X48 and ICH9R chipsets. The feature set is almost endless and the board is extremely solid and overclocks like a cheetah on steroids. This is one of the best boards we have utilized in a long time and if it were not for the i7/X58, it would be at the top of our list.

Honorable mention goes to the ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi for a unique combination of features, performance, and price in an X48 platform. Foxconn contacted us today and told us they are running a web special on their X48 based BlackOps board that received an Editors Choice award from us earlier this year. The price has been reduced to $229.99 and an additional $60 rebate is available bringing the price down to$169.99. This board is for the tweaker at heart (we mean tweakers) and based on the price reduction we recommend it.

Core i7/X58

We recently reviewed several X58 boards and still have a few additional boards to report on. We are working on a separate i7/X58 performance guide, but in the meantime we recommend the ASUS P6T-Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, and after a BIOS update this weekend, the EVGA X58 SLI. The Biostar TPower X58 looks like a winner in early testing and we think the DFI X58 and Foxconn Bloodrage boards will appeal to the upper-end enthusiasts.

Wrap-Up

That takes care of our motherboard recommendations for the time being… ah, but what should you then install in your bare motherboard? Stay tuned for additional coverage this week of various computing components and peripherals. In fact, we have a memory gala planned for tomorrow.