Any reason not to consider.... (really need advice)

[Nodscene]

I'm hoping someone here can help me out, or at least say why it isn't a good idea to get any of the following boards.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0

One of the only boards that has 2 nics and TI firewire chipset with a rear panel connection. Not too sure why this combination is so hard to find. It seems to be pretty hard to find but they carry them at Kooya computers.

Foxconn Mars

While it may not have two nic cards it does have the TI firewire chipset and seems to be a pretty good board overall.

I didnt' think I would have a hard time finding a mobo with 2 nics, firewire (TI chipset), at least 6 usb in rear panel. A bonus would include an eSATA in the back and more than 6 sata onboard. Is there such a beast that can be hard around $200?

I could really use some help!

Thanks

PS: I wasn't all that happy with my Asus P5K-E Wifi board.


Here is what I've just ordered...

XFX 8800GT XT $200
Seagate 750gig 7200.11 $137
Auzentec Prelude $149.99

[Babrbarossa]

I'm sure most people would recommend the Gigabyte- a solid board- good overclcoking, inexpensive, and well build with solid capacitirs

[SugarJ]

Myself and many others on this board have had great experiences with the Giga-byte GA-P35-DS3L's. the DS4 just has a few more options like Raid, Crossfire, and DES. I think you'd be happy with it.

However, this board only has 1 ethernet port. You were looking for something with 2? or 2 firewire ports?

[AkG]

I use the Gigabyte DS4 for most of my reviews, it is easy to use, easier to OC than a ASUS Maximus, and all round stable as a rock...but it only has one rj45 connector not 2. If you need two Ethernet ports you are much better off getting a pci/ pci-e nic card as an after market addon, as it will cost you less than going for an uber-$$$ board.

[v0maru]

if you add a pci eternet port
wand you have one onboard

can you use both?
would that result in double the bandwidth?

[AkG]

YES and NO. What you are talking about is Network Teaming (aka Load balancing / network redundancy ...etc etc) and it is impossible to do in XP. In Server 2003 you can do it, same goes for some Linuix distros, but it is mainly OS dependent (you would also want two of the same nics not strictly necessary but does reduce wonky errors that can be a real PITA to trace / toubleshoot). Its usually done only with & for servers, and gets really interesting when you are talking about 4 NICs. ;)