Which Mobo to Buy?

[__Xzyx987X]

I's about time I upgrade my comp. I'm running a P4 1.7GHZ CPU and a Geforce 3 atm. Right now though, I'm not really sure which mobo to get. Here are my criteria:

1. Has to support Geforce 6800 Ultra cause I'm buing one as soon as the price drops a couple hunderd dollars
2. Has to be good for overclocking since I'll be getting a water cooled case and it'd be a shame not to make good use of it
3. Has to support DDR RAM as I will probobly be stuck using my current RAM in it for a while to cut the upgrade cost.
4. Onboard sound is a plus. I've been using my current mobo's onboard sound since I got it, and I don't have anything decent to replace it. I do have an old soundblaster card I could stick in, but it's sounds kinda crackly for some reason.

Other then that the decision rests on the CPU I get with it. At this point I'm leaning to an AMD64. Even though not a lot supports it right now, it interests me as a programmer, and once the support begins to materialize it'll be like a second upgrade . So unless you know of a very good reason to go with an Intel chip, the mobo has to support an AMD64.

Edit: Here is the excact CPU I was looking at.

[__Xzyx987X]

Well, after doing some research of my own it seems the nForce3 250 is the way to go. Here is the model I'm gonna go with unless someone knows a better one. Now all I gotta do is get some more $$$ .

[eternal11]

isn't aopen a crappy mobo brand? if you wanted reliability i'd go with either abit or asus.

[bahamut_2006]

AFAIK Aopen isnt crappy, its considered to be one of the more well known mobo manufactuers after Abit and ASUS. My personal mobo preference is Albatron, cheap and rock solid. But they dont seem to make a mobo that uses the nForce 3 chipset. Course if you aint sure of Aopen's reliability, you could always go Abit or ASUS as eternal11 said.

[__Xzyx987X]

I've had an AOpen Geforce 3 for a while now and despite the fact it's horribly obsolete now I've never had trouble with it's performance. AOpen is lesser known, but they make quality products. I'll look into some of the other brands you guys mentioned though to see if I can get a better deal.

Edit: Hmm... well actually this ASUS board has the AOpen beat in the audio department, which is a big concern since I want to avoid buying a sound card if at all possible. It cost's a little more but I guess it's worth it. Ok, I got a credit card out and I'm gonna order now. Too bad I can't get a CPU for it so I can actually use the thing until christmas, but at least the price may have gone down by then.

[eternal11]

well if you arent planning to get the cpu until december, hold off on the mobo too, because that may go down as well.

[__Xzyx987X]

Meh, it's not a big deal. I'm getting the mobo as a birthday present so it's not like I'm the one paying... Besides, it's the same thing with all computer parts, if you wait for the price to go down then you'll only get tempted by the new technology that came out while you waited.