Motherboard Selection

[Severance17]

I am looking to build a new computer from the ground up and i am having trouble selecting a board. I will be using it almost entirely for gaming. If any one has any information on a board or any other component in the system it would be greatly appreciated, including ram, video anything. I would love as much capability to change bios settings and have full os control over the board.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Check out this stickie .... PC builders, when asking for input on YOUR projects Please Tell us...

 

[Severance17]

To rewrite my previous post. The rig will b used for games. the only brand preferences i have is asus. my budget is around $2000. I will b buying the parts from the us. I will not be using parts from my previous system. I would like to over clock my system, unless there is no need at the current time. And i have not researched other threads.

 

[Heidfirst]

today only but the IP35 Pro is $100 after rebate at Newegg which is an absolute bargain.

 

[Severance17]

I take back what i said i would prefer ASUS and AMD, now i know AMD is losing the race right now for quad core, but i would really like to sick with AMD unless intel is really that much better.

 

[Winterpool]

If you're willing to spend $2000+, then it will be fairly difficult to justify purchasing AMD kit. Intel really is that much better, and to be honest I'm not sure what you can buy from AMD that will cost > $300 (some Opteron?). I've just bought and installed my first Intel cpu (see link below) since the Pentium III...

Of course even your total $2000 budget is somewhat vague: if you intend to spend $1400 on a 25.5-inch S-IPS panel monitor, that doesn't leave you much for 'the computer'. Let's ask instead: how much will you spend on motherboard + cpu + video card (+ memory too, if you like, but even 4 GB of DDR2 will cost you < $100, so that's probably not a critical budget item)?

Edited to add: if you're still awake, you've an hour and a half left to purchase the Abit IP35 Pro from Newegg. Everyone from the Yanks (AnandTech) to the Russians (X-bit) to the Brits (Bit-tech) have strongly recommended this board; and $170 - 70 rebate is a fairly compelling deal.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: Severance17
I take back what i said i would prefer ASUS and AMD, now i know AMD is losing the race right now for quad core, but i would really like to sick with AMD unless intel is really that much better.

ASUS M3A AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD $97
HT3, 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16

ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX $229.00
HT3, 4 x PCIe 2.0 x16 "CrossFireX", 1 x IEEE 1394a, 1 x eSATA (6 total)

Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8GHz Brisbane AM2 65W $88
with the Egg combo OCZ Gold 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 = $176 for the cpu/ram ($146 after $30 rebate)

It's up to you how far you would like to go with your video card(s) ...

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 $170

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 X2 $408


Not sure when the new Radeons are rolling. Rumahs on the intahnets suggest an X2 5800+ 3GHz 65w Brisbane in the next month or so .... 45nm Phenom quads are due Q4 ... There are a number of AMD 790fx mobos other than the Asus out there ...

 

[3dsm]

I would really advise you stick with Intel and nVIDIA..at least thats my opinion. Benchmarks show that Intel is better now and that goes for nVIDIA also. Its not too wise to stay with one manufacturer, you should try to be open minded and buy the better components, even if you dislike Intel. I had AMD processors for like 6 years, but I`m changing to Intel now, because they are simply better at the moment. That goes for nVIDIA too.
But, of course its your choice, good luck to you

 

[Severance17]

In answer to you winterpool i already have monitor, so all the $2000 will be for the computer it self not any other accessories. I to would prefer nVidia, I like SLI better then crossfire. I would like to have 8gb of RAM but all the games i will probably play will be 32-bit and I don't really wanna use XP 64-bit even though it is so much faster load times because most application will use 32-bit anyways.

 

[krnmastersgt]

If you're using a 32 bit OS, then it won't even see all that ram, also more ram sticks = lower overclock, generally. Good boards to look at if you want SLI, I guess the 780i and 790i reference boards? If you like Asus they have a 780i board out as well, not bad by any means, a lot of people may complain about the limited overclock for the cpu, but unless you bench as a hobby, or you overclock to compete, doesn't really matter in terms of the performance you'll get in game. One big problem with the 780is though, heat generation, get a case like the CM Stacker 830 and you'll be set Even though that case alone is somewhere close to $200, that's a lot of brute air force.