Within the next 3 to 5 months I'm going to be upgrading my home PC. I've been researching the possiblity of building my own, and it looks like that is the way that I'm going to go. The reason that I'm looking at building is that I'm tired of the "proprietary parts" found in my Compaq, and in most other high volume resellers. I realise that it will cost me as much or slightly more to build my own system, but the open upgrade construction will be what I'm shooting for.I'm looking to build the system just under the latest and fastest technology. The latest and greatest isn't my goal, but just under the cutting edge which usually allows for the most reasonable costs.The toughest part of this whole thing is trying to figure out which mobo that I need. So, here's the question: Which mobo would be acceptable for an AMD 2400XP processor? Thanks.Tim13

There are many, many mobo's to choose from. Any of the "big name" ones (Asus, Abit, Soyo, Gigabyte, MSI) would probably suit you just fine. I personally have been running the Soyo Dragon boards since they first came out. They are expensive (~$150-$180) but with them I got RAID/LAN/USB 2.0/6-Ch sound all on board. The onboard stuff these days (with the exception of video, IMHO) is MUCH better than it was years ago and will always be much better than a Compaq.So, it comes down to what features you're looking for and how much you're willing to spend.Get a KT400 chipset board if you can afford it (they're the newest), but a KT333 board will run just the same. The only difference is the RAM speed and good luck trying to find any RAM that will support the KT400's speed.I would recommend take a trip over to http://www.tomshardware.com and check out his reviews. He does chipset roundup reviews of about a dozen boards at a time. They're brief, but it's what I used to answer my questions and decide on my board.When you're ready to order, I would recommed http://www.newegg.com. They are out of CA and their service is outstanding, including returns. Very helpful and efficient. They ship FedEx Supersaver and more than once I've ordered stuff on a Tuesday and have had it in my hands by Friday! (that's from CA to South Carolina).So, good luck. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email me or respond here.Chris

Building your own will save you lots of $$$.As for 2400+, and you building it in 3~5 months, so it's to early to jum in conclusion of which one to getas the prices are still high but will change rapidly by the time you buy it.Also question is if you need Audio, USB2, and all those stuff On board.I for one go with cheap motherboards for say $60, and buy sound, USB2, Fieware, etc seperately.That way I can keep all those elements and only upgrade the motherboard and CPU.This allows me to do more often upgrades than buying one over $150 mabo each time and with repeating elements.

I like Asus, MSI and Abit. MSI is cheaper than Asus and ABit is notorious for being overclocker friendly.