Sazar said:
Then you're set.
Key things I personally look at are quality of the nic and the board layout. Most other things are standard anyways.
Also, make sure the board has decent support.
Companies like DFI, Asus, MSI and so on/so forth release bios updates frequently and do a pretty decent job with their products.
ECS btw didn't get a 20% share of the market with having crap stuff.
They were crap when they first came to the market... I dont remember where but I remember readin an article when I built my first computer, (approx 1994-5) it was a Cyrix 6x86 CPU, and a TYAN mobo... where they (ECS) had as much as 30-35% of their products off the line comeout bad... sadly at that time the standard was like 20% (for ALL manufacturers)
but then again so were many other names which are solid today:
Abit
Tyan
MSI
ECS
they all had manufacturing issues, which meant pumping out more boards and eating the cost of the ones which went bad, because their clean rooms were not yet up to date... andit was cheaper to make more and replace bad ones than it was to QC them properly
I have to say I have NEVER had any issues with an Asus mobo, very few complaints about Abit and Tyan, only had one major issue with an MSI, and personally have never used an ECS board, although my best friend uses them religiously like I do Asus...
Check the mobo for what you want to use it for, ensure it covers all the bases you need, and that it supports any future upgrades you want to do to that machine in the next 6-12 months...
I never seem to have a computer last more than 8 months before I end up upgrading something in it... its the Geek in me, I cant help it