I am always quite sceptical about motherboards,  i can see the points of having a very expensive one with super fast FSB etc, lots of fast RAM slots, expandability via lots of USB and PCI slots etc, so when my last board gave up the ghost and decided that it was going to load Windows in around 15 minutes, it was time to enter the world of looking for another new board.

Of course I had gone through all of the usual trawling of message boards, computer magazines and all other normal routes.

However, of all things a trip to PC World for me to build a new computer for a friend turned up a real gem. The Gigabyte 965P-DS3 Skt 775 QUAD Core 2 Duo Motherboard.  As soon as i installed it and got it running, i was jealous.  I finally had my answer to which board I wanted. 

So, being the pennypincher that I am, i came to ebay to chance my arm on getting one a little cheaper than PC World's £79.99 price tag.  Not too high for a decent board of course, but you can always get things cheaper online...........

Within 3 or 4 days i had one, and delivered.  Within an hour after getting home from work I installed the board into my machine, and burst into life much faster than it had ever done.  It seemed to have a new lease of life, much more responsive, faster to boot, internet was faster due to the super fast built in ethernet adapter, and sound was great with the 7.1 on board provided.

Driver installation was also unusually smooth.  The Cd finds all relevant drivers and software relevant to your new board, and installs them seamlessly.

All in all, i cant praise this board highly enough.  I have since built 2 more PCs and their new owners have been delighted with the board.  Its very Overclockable, with windows software to help you do it very easily, and can boost your CPU speed by 20%.  Its also possible to overclock your memory etc etc etc.

In short, if your looking for a top motherboard, but not looking to pay top dollar, you cant go wrong with the Gigabyte 965P-DS3 Skt 775 QUAD Core 2 Duo Motherboard.