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What Motherboard??


scottay

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Hey all. I'm in the process of picking out parts for a new gaming build and the hardest part for me always seens to be the MB... I find myself on Newegg looking at all the boards and the reviews that follow - all seem to have some good stories and some horror stories (DoA issues, various components covering ports up, etc)... Also, prices are so varies... I've seen well reviewed board for $100 all the way to $350 (newest sockets - AM3/LGA 1366).

 

Anyone have any suggestions on how to pick boards??

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: This topic may be better suited in the MB section. If so let me know.

Edited by scottay

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First off don't use the newegg customer reviews at all they are pointless and 9/10 people who post review just go on about how awesome it is or how terrible it is. Use something like the newegg search and narrow your choices down to 4-5 boards and then Google them for credible reviews, this will give you a much better idea as to how those boards perform against each other and the drawbacks they come with.

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Thanks Flar, that's a good idea. I'll do that.

 

Scott P, thank you for your reply as well. I was asking for tips on picking specific boards over others, as I know CPU sockets must match the board's socket.

 

Also, what about cheaper vs more expensive MB's? Are there certain features or specs I should be looking at to determine the right board?

Edited by scottay

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Well If you must Know here are my opinions.

 

Boards I know and heard tale to stay away from. Biostar, Elitegroup,

Boards that I have heard good things about. gigabyte, DFI, Msi (remember those are the here says)

Boards that I know Are excellent for me. Asus, abit. The two boards I still have from my first build's live today..... Tough as nails :)

 

The best way to choose a board is to first choose the chip as Scott p said.... intel I7 will be fastest But the most expensive. Phenom II will be cheaper and Will perform Just a few notches below the I7. Pick your chip then figure out what your going to do with your system. I.E. Gaming, editing, overclocking, folding ect

 

1: After you select the chip You now know its socket. find a board you would like and go to the manufactures website and ensure it supports the chip. See the below on a how too.

 

2: what bells and whistles does the board need. If you want to Do SLI with nvidia cards you need an Nvidia chipset that supports it. If you want Crossfire X then go with the AMD chipsets that supports it. (If you don't fancy Multi Gpu the the choise is yours) What kind of features does the Motherboard need to have, what kind of Mosfet and NB coolers does it have on it, What does the I/O panel have to it, onboard video and Sound or not(if you run a discrete card then don't bother getting onboard video), Overclocking, the list goes on.

 

If money is no Object then get something Nice, IMHO. Buy an asus If you go phenom

AMD chipset

Nvidia 980A Chipset

 

As far as intel goes, sorry, But I don't know A darn thing about them. Hope this helps.

Edited by boinker

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First I would determine my total budget and what would this build be used for. After the budget is determined then I pick the CPU and the GPU. Then I find what motherboard fits my budget and which chipset meets my needs.

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Awesome replies, thanks! Thanks boinker for letting me know what boards to stay away from, that's the meat and potatoes of what I'm looking for with this post.

 

I'm not a total noob, I know that picking the CPU comes first. I more concerned with what do look for once that part is done. Also, I know to look at features such as SATA/eSATA ports, onboard USB ports, etc. Things that I'm not totally sure of (that I am a noob with) are things like the various chipsets, FSB speeds, BIOS options and stuff like that. Do the more expensive boards have more bells and whistles?

 

Example, boinker pointed out that ASUS makes a good board... for the Phenom II processor: ASUS makes this board for $80 and also this board for $200. Other than the components ON THE BOARD like number of PCIe slots (both have 2 for SLI option), memory slots, USB ports are there any huge advantages in chipset, BIOS settings (for overclocking etc), FSB speeds, etc?

 

Thanks again!

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The $200 Asus Crosshair III certainly has more bells and whilstles. You get the Supreme FX sound card, 2 16x PCIE at full 16x bandwidth, the overclocking LCD poster, DDR3 1600 support, 790FX northbridge, 750 southbridge which has ACC that can unlock cores from dual core and tri core processors(you mileage may vary from CPU to CPU success rate), the MemOK RAM testing, CPU level up, and on and on. There's a reason it costs $120 more. It's a premium product. Any of the Asus boards that bare the ROG(Republic of Gamers) tag are a little more feature-rich.

 

The $80 Asus M4A78+ is a good motherboard it just doesn't have all of the features of the Crosshair III and is DDR2 comppatible. It's also a different chipset. Either would be a fine choice. You just have to decide which features you want and if you are willing to pay for them.

Edited by rourkchris

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Definitely get a 790X/790FX/790GX (and make sure it has the 750 southbridge) and get am2+ ddr2. ddr3 isn't beneficial, and get a 940 x4 to go with that.

These are nice boards :Biostar 790GX/SB750 and Gigabyte 790X/SB750

I'd go with the Gigabyte if you want crossfire or the Biostar if you want to save money.

 

Perhaps you should ask what his budget is, what resolution and which games he will play (if any) before making such suggestions

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Perhaps you should ask what his budget is, what resolution and which games he will play (if any) before making such suggestions

Aye aye, then I offer up the x3 720 or x2 550 if the x4 940 is out of budget :P. Either way, he shouldn't be looking at DDR3 setups

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Either way, he shouldn't be looking at DDR3 setups

 

Really? It might be true for AMD, and even then, DDR3 is barely more expensive now. However, what about an Intel i7 or even i5 build?

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