GIGABYTE motherboards are good motherboards that are fairly cheap. I have a gigabyte motherboard.
Speaking of motherboards, splurge on the motherboard. Since everything revolves around it, it's good to have an awesome one. Plus it'll give you more flexibility with the processor selection.
Some points:
1) I agree that GIGABYTE makes good, solid products. I have an UD3R myself, and it was well priced and, well, durable, as it claimed.
2) I disagree that you need to "splurge" on the motherboard. Your motherboard should be a solid, mid-budget part. While it is, arguably, one of the most important parts of your computer, there is nothing that having an uber board over a "sufficient" board will get you besides, possibly, better overclocking results. Assuming we're not talking overclocking here, though, because then we're going to need a whole new set of parts...
Everyone has their own opinion, especially on graphics cards. ATI is perfectly fine, but I prefer nvidia. Just make sure that you don't spend too much money. Like I said before, I would splurge on the motherboard. Not necessarily on the craziest one, but mainly just in terms of performance. i understand that most hard core motherboards are pretty much just b.s. for the uneducated buyer. GIGABYTE is a trusted brand with decent warrenties. I would suggest that brand and would NOT suggest buying motherboards from companies that produce graphics cards (aka Nvidia). They charge you more money for a motherboard that isn't really any better than others of the like. Basically you're paying for the brand.
Unless you are going to use SLI, avoid NVidia chipset boards. They are plagued with stability problems, or were, and frankly I don't trust them from all of that. AMD makes decent products for a decent price, but for performance I still prefer Intel. Contrarily, AMD's ATi division currently has the graphics card market locked down in my eyes - they provide one driver update per month and have the highest performing cards, the best value cards, really their current products run the gamut from most efficient to most powerful. There is no price bracket where ATi is not competetive or superior to NVidia's current offerings. That may change with the release of the G300 architecture from NVidia, but we will just have to wait and see. If you don't want to wait, then buy ATi according to budget and you won't go wrong.
You don't need crazy motherboards and graphics cards even for hard core gaming. I am the definition of a hard core gamer and I can run CRYSIS on ultra with my single 275 card at 40 fps. Don't get pulled into the web.
The GTX 275 is one of the most powerful graphics boards in the world, it's no wonder it can run Crysis on Ultra with 40 FPS (I'm assuming minimal or no AA here). Crazy motherboards, despite what you yourself suggest (irony much?) are definitely not necessary.
The order of importance for items in a gaming machine by budget are:
1) Graphics Card. No graphics card means no games. The more powerful the better, expect to devote up to 50% of your budget on graphics.
2) Power Supply. No power means no computer, end of story. Get a solid, proper wattage power supply with a decent efficiency rating. PSU death can mean the death of EVERYTHING, do not cheap out on the power supply.
3) Processor. The only other part that provides large bonuses to gaming framerates, but generally in threshold levels (if it limits the GPU it hurts your FPS, if it doesn't, you will see minor gains from increasing clockspeed). Either way, after graphics and power, CPU is next.
4) Motherboard. Should be solid, if it goes you have problems.
5) Everything else. RAM, HDD, Case, Fans, blue LEDs, duct tape, a burger and fries from McDonald's. None of this will drastically affect your gaming performance, it can all be pretty much on the cheap side if you don't have the money for it.
I agree but everyone has their own opinion. I prefer nvidia and intel for my graphics card and processor...plus nvidia is cheaper than ATI but the cards are better.
That is a horrifically inaccurate generalized statement. NVidia and ATi are fairly competetive at most price and performance points, with ATi currently holding the top performance crown and generally with more selections in the mid-range cards while NVidia has put their innovation focus primarily on the upper high end, where ATi is also fairly competetive, but has fewer offerings.
