Which cheap 1150 board?

[angminas]

I'm going to use this RAM (already ordered): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314

And this CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116950

I have all the other stuff...case, psu, hdd, video card (GTS 250), etc. Running XP. Might upgrade the video card and OS early next year.

I want something reliable which will work well with that CPU and RAM. I do not plan to overclock. I may upgrade the CPU someday, but probably not. It will be used for fairly standard gaming and internet. Expansion slots would be nice, but not a big deal...I will probably never use them. I do not currently have a SSD but might pick one up within the next several months. I would consider alternative sockets if you think I should pick a different CPU...that's just the best value I've found so far.

Obviously, this is a budget build...if I could get something worth having for under $50, that would be great. I would go as high as $100 if there were some really ridiculously good reason, but I'd really prefer not to. I haven't bought a motherboard in over five years, and I don't know which small details I will regret passing over.

Thanks a lot for your time and help!

 

[Charlie98]

This ASRock H81 board...

I just got one for a budget PC build, it's my first ASRock board and it's doing very nicely. In fact, I have that G3220 processor on board as well. Understand, it only has the one expansion slot, however.

RAM is OK, 8GB is good if you plan on updating the OS soon... you'll need it.

 

[Maximilian]

I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813131995R

Hasent arrived yet though so no opinion of it. Ticks all the boxes I wanted, low power consumption, BIOS is recoverable if it gets trashed and ive had decent experience with asus boards.

The board charlie posted looks good too, quite a bit cheaper.

 

[angminas]

How about this one? Looks good on the surface. Am I missing anything?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813132044

Hmm, there's this review...does it really mean anything?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?reviewid=3919979

 

[Charlie98]

That board does not have a USB3.0 header on the board. It does have an additional 1x PCIe slot and a better audio chipset than the ASRock board I linked.

 

[angminas]

What's the real-world advantage of USB3.0? I haven't followed USB at all for years. Is it one of those things that's 10% better for certain power users, or am I going to really regret passing it up?

 

[mikeymikec]

What's the real-world advantage of USB3.0? I haven't followed USB at all for years. Is it one of those things that's 10% better for certain power users, or am I going to really regret passing it up?

Connect up a USB 3.0 capable external hard drive, and the result is that you get transfer speeds that are pretty similar to what you get with internal drives (60-120MB/sec depending on the circumstances). With USB 2.0 the speed will be limited to 25-30MB/sec. Very handy when backing up your data, for example.

I remember when I mistakenly bought a board that only had USB 1.1 ports when USB 2.0 was available. It was quite irritating.

 

[angminas]

So if I don't plan to use an external hard drive, I probably won't miss USB 3.0? What are some of the other common uses of it these days?

 

[Charlie98]

The onboard USB3.0 header is for USB3.0 plugs on the case or, optionally, a USB3.0 5.25" panel or something like that. Every modern mobo has USB3.0 plugs on the I/O panel anyway. If your case doesn't have USB3.0 plugs... then you probably aren't going to miss anything... unless you upgrade your case.

Some USB3.0 ports have power going to them even when the PC is asleep or (I think) shut down... for charging electronic devices that don't necessarily require the computer to be up and running. My Gigabyte board has that, but it's always on so I don't know the specifics of it's operation. And, as Mikey mentioned, USB3.0 = faster data transfer.

Just curious... what is it about the Asus board you like that makes you want to pay 20% more for over the ASRock board I listed?

 

[mikeymikec]

So if I don't plan to use an external hard drive, I probably won't miss USB 3.0? What are some of the other common uses of it these days?

That's the most common use of it (ie. I can't think of any others off the top of my head). Considering that you've got a setup running WinXP currently, it seems to me like you want a long-lasting rig, so investing in a feature that could come in handy over the next say several years might be an idea?

 

[angminas]

Well, I ended up getting the 3220 and this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157388

I hope I made the right decision. Thoughts?

 

[Charlie98]

Rock on! I like B75/85 boards over the H61/81 boards... you get a few more features for not too much more money.

 

[DigDog]

Well, I ended up getting the 3220 and this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157388

I hope I made the right decision. Thoughts?

is there a reason why you need all your links to go through tkqlhce ?

 

[angminas]

is there a reason why you need all your links to go through tkqlhce ?

I don't know what tkqlhce is, but ATOT automatically changes those links when I post them. If there's a good way around that, I'm all ears.

 

[[N8]]

I never found any 1150 boards that had XP drivers. Doesn't look like the one you bought does either. Maybe they just don't have them on their website, but I stuck with 1155 for this reason. I wanted to stay on XP. Don't ask why!

 

[angminas]

Grr...that's the kind of information I was looking for to begin with. Never occurred to me they wouldn't bother to make drivers for XP. Hmm...wonder if I can swing an OS upgrade right now...

 

[DigDog]

I don't know what tkqlhce is, but ATOT automatically changes those links when I post them. If there's a good way around that, I'm all ears.

i apologize, i thought it was your thing. i dont get it on all links though .. weird.

BTW - you really want to go to Win7 x64. It's really good. It's as good as XP was when you came from ME. Your mind will be blown away from the total lack of things-going-horribly-wrong. Try it. Trust me.

 

[Charlie98]

BTW - you really want to go to Win7 x64. It's really good. It's as good as XP was when you came from ME. Your mind will be blown away from the total lack of things-going-horribly-wrong. Try it. Trust me.

Yes... you can find W7 on sale often for $79 at Newegg.

That was me... coming from the trainwreck that was WinME. That's also why I was so attached to XP and reluctant to move to W7... but in the end I'm glad I did.

OP, most Vista drivers should work with W7, you could give that a try before having to upgrade your OS. Worth a shot, anyway.

 

[[N8]]

Grr...that's the kind of information I was looking for to begin with. Never occurred to me they wouldn't bother to make drivers for XP. Hmm...wonder if I can swing an OS upgrade right now...

Just noticed you chose 8GB of memory. XP won't use more than 3.25GB of it. If you can swing it, Win7 64-bit would make for a nice upgrade.

 

[angminas]

I'm looking seriously at 8.1 full retail, comes with 32-bit and 64-bit discs (I'd install 64), for $120. Just $20 more than OEM 7. Main reason to pick 8 over 7 for me is continued support of the OS. Thoughts?

 

[[N8]]

I'm the wrong person to ask about Win8...don't care for it much.

 

[Charlie98]

I think W7 is the next XP, supported for quite some time, I'm sure.

Get 8GB RAM, it's reasonably priced and you will need it if you upgrade your OS.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I'm looking seriously at 8.1 full retail, comes with 32-bit and 64-bit discs (I'd install 64), for $120. Just $20 more than OEM 7. Main reason to pick 8 over 7 for me is continued support of the OS. Thoughts?

Considering that corporate adoption of 7 far exceeds adoption of 8, if that's your main reason, then pick 7 over 8.

 

[tamm]

msi z87-g41. cheap and affordable. Bad choice tho if your looking for future SLI or Xfire capabilities tho and any high-po applications

 

[angminas]

Considering that corporate adoption of 7 far exceeds adoption of 8, if that's your main reason, then pick 7 over 8.

Well, I pulled the trigger on 8.1 and a new CD drive before you posted this. I considered the situation carefully and read a LOT of opinions. Thanks for posting yours.

I hope this build goes well. Thanks to everyone who read or contributed. After I get it going, I'll let you guys know if I done a bad thing.