Hey guys, it's been a long time. bring me up to speed!

[iamsostupid]

What's the best nForce2/Ultra whatever board? I've checked up on a bunch of models and read reviews that neoseeker's fetched for me, but the success rate seems to fluctuate a ton on every top-tier model I've researched. I guess I'm looking for just a basic run-of-the-mill nForce2 board. AGP 8x, DDR400, SATA, you know what I mean, all of that stuff that these boards come with. My only concern is overclocking. I want to be able to hit at least 230-240MHz FSB, but that depends on if I'm able to adjust the multiplier on my Barton. Are there any Bartons that come unlocked by the factory?

Moving on from that, am I stupid to think about buying a K7/Socket462 platform when it is so close to being thrown out? Is there anything else that anyone can convince me is better? Prescott and Clawhammer seem to be somewhat interesting but I haven't been motivated enough to just read and read and read about stuff. You know how Intel designs and releases their platforms so that you have to rip out everything and replace it every 10 months or so if you want to stay "up to date" (not exactly an interest of mine anymore, but they're still bastards. whatever happened to scalability?).

So, what do you guys say?

Overclock 2500+ Barton on nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard
-or-
Overclock Pentium 4 2.4C on i865P motherboard (and migrate to Prescott later?)
-or-
take a chance with K8/nForce3


Debate and inform me please! However let us keep dignified the spirit of intelligence. I remember the last "Intel vs AMD" threads from a couple years ago around here. Were quite violent! yar har, and thank you


EDIT:

I see sapasion and Mandorallen! Who else is still here? Arcadian? How is everybody?