Best Current mATX 775 motherboard for OSX 10.6.x

[fuzzylollipop]

What is the best mATX 775 solution for a Vanilla as possible 10.6.x Core 2 Duo, preferably DDR2 ( but DDR3 is acceptable ) motherboard ( a PCI slot would be a big plus ) that is current and on sale right now via some easy to find source. I have Googled and Googled but all the mATX suggestions are discontinued.

 

I want to reuse my Core 2 Duo, its DDR2 memory to make this as cheap a build as possible.

 

The Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 is what really fits my bill but it is unavailable or expensive if available. The few that I found are ridiculously priced used boards that kind of defeat the goal of an in-expensive build using as many existing parts as I can.

 

Is there a better 775 alternative that is available now to the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2?

[ntsmkfob]

ASUS P5e-VM (I have an unused one here (UK).

[agrajag]

What is the best mATX 775 solution for a Vanilla as possible 10.6.x Core 2 Duo, preferably DDR2 ( but DDR3 is acceptable ) motherboard ( a PCI slot would be a big plus ) that is current and on sale right now via some easy to find source. I have Googled and Googled but all the mATX suggestions are discontinued.

 

I want to reuse my Core 2 Duo, its DDR2 memory to make this as cheap a build as possible.

 

The Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 is what really fits my bill but it is unavailable or expensive if available. The few that I found are ridiculously priced used boards that kind of defeat the goal of an in-expensive build using as many existing parts as I can.

 

Is there a better 775 alternative that is available now to the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2?

 

I think the Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L (or whatever variant is available where you are) would be about the best bet for this. Looking at the specs on this MB it looks like it should all work- the audio chip (888b) would be a bit more work but the procedure is pretty well documented. the predecessor version of this board was/is quite popular. I had built a hack around the GA-G31M-ES2L and it worked fine aside from the LAN chip on the rev 2.0 version (1.0 variant worked oob apparently). I used the Apple USB-LAN adapter (from the Macbook Air) to connect it. I believe there is now a driver for the version 2.0 board also, but I sold that one before it was available so can't comment. Both of these boards are still available here in Canada (NCIX for example).