This is very typical of a cpu/north bridge launch Av. If you try to get in on the very beginning of a new launch you're typically going to pay more because demand and manufacturers putting their high end boards out first. A good example of demand, look at the ddr2 prices for instance, they have jumped up 50% because of everyone wanting to build/buy a core 2 system.
Also manufacturers put out their low cost/stripped down alternatives a few months later. By January/Feb you will see lots of 100.00 boards for core 2.
If your overclocking you usually pay more because the boards come equipped with better bios options and better heat sinks for the north/southbridge and better capacitors etc.
If you want to overclock very much the least you can pay right now for a decent o/c board is:
The Gigabyte DS3 and the Asus P5B-E are about 150.00 on newegg. They are both your lower end clockers.
If you just want a board for your core 2 that may be able to overclock a bit and be cheap at the same time look at the Asus p5b and the Gigabyte S3. They both can be had for around 115.00
Gigabyte is leading the charge in the more cost effective/overclocking core 2 boards right now.
As far as service, I have built 40+ systems and never used the service from a board manufacturer once. If the board is bad, just RMA it with newegg in the first couple weeks you have it.
The most important thing when you get a new board for a new north bridge chipset and cpu that have only been in circulation a couple months is look at memory compatibility. Make sure and get memory that is compatible as newer board are picky until bios revisions come later.
(ask law)
Is looking at all this a headache? Yes.
Does it save you over 800-1000 dollars to do it yourself anyway... Yes.
Your core2 system is going to cost you about 400-550 just for the mb/ram/cpu depending on your choices. Obviously you can spend much more and go full on Rom style. Your new board takes ddr2 memory so you can't bring your old with you.
You will also have to buy a new video card because your new board is a pci-e. For a decent card you will need to spend an additional 150.00 at least imo for a good one.
Your new board also only has 1 idi port for a total of 2 drives, 1 hd and 1 optical. This is a limitation of the p965 chipset not the boards as the p965 boards have 1 ide and about 5 sata ports.
Do you have windows? There is another 100.00.
do you have a psu that will handle the newer, higher powered cards? That could be another 100.00.
You can build an amd system much cheaper right now. Well intel too but don't touch the older cheaper p4 systems as they just aren't up to par with the similarly priced amd systems.
You could get a 65.00 amd 939 board and an 80 cpu with some cheap memory, maybe even the mem you have and build very cheap and possibly even skip the cost for needing a new video card by getting and agp board and using your current one.
So many decisions, so little time before ut2k7.
