Motherboard suggestions?
JokerJacSun Oct 18, 2009 6:08 pm
I am planning to build a new gaming system. Any suggestions on a good motherboard. Specs i am looking for are:
DDR3 memory
MIN. 2 PCI E x16 slots
min. 6 SATA heads
max. memory 8 Gig or better.
Thanks
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SheepySun Oct 18, 2009 7:37 pm
Motherboard is usually the hardest decision. I suggest going to Newegg.com and narrowing your search options. Like do you want AMD or Intel? Do you want core 2 or core i7? Do you have a favorite brand? I'd suggest EVGA or ASUS. Take your time read the reviews, usually the more the better. Try looking at a range of DDR3 memory will broaden your chooses. Best sellers usually good indicators. Good Luck!
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BullSun Oct 18, 2009 7:42 pm
EVGA e760 x-58 classified is a great board. I've got it and its great! Only thing is its an EATX so its hard to know if your case will handle it. Best check the specs of your case to be sure if you chose it. Note tho that its a bit more spendy but its worth it!
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MlgaBeanSun Oct 18, 2009 8:48 pm
what kind of processor do you want? pick that out and then start figuring out motherboard. I've got an EVGA X-58 motherboard and i love it for the I7 920 i have. very easy to overclock. So what you should do is figure out processor. once you know what processor you want find out what kind of connection it uses to connect to your motherboard. then find all the features you want on the board. I'm a fan of EVGA myself. The next important thing you need to figure out is what Power Supply to buy. find out if the brand of motherboard you went with is partnered with anybody that makes Power Supplies. I have the corsair HX-1000w power supply. its modular so you can remove all unwanted cables to enhance airflow. i can go on forever but i would say figure out your processor and then figure out your motherboard.
My rig as of right now consists of
Intel Core-I7 920 rated 2.66g overclocked to 3.6g
EVGA X-58 Motherboard
Corsair HX-1000w power supply (i had a different power supply at first but the company of the first one sent off odd voltages when powering on causing problems and days worth of troubleshooting.)
Corsair 3x2g DDR3 1333 XMS memory (will get another 3x2 in the future for a total of 12g)
Wester Digital Caviar Black 1TB hard drive (will get another 3TBs later for both Raid 0 and Raid 1 setups)
EVGA 9800gt 512mb Graphics card (Will put in 2 EVGA 260s for 2 way sli with the 9800 for a PhysX card)
Zalman Heatsink
Asus 22x DVD player
Plextor 24x DVD Burner
Apevia Mid Tower case (not happy with it but not dissatisfied with it either)
Acer X223w 22" widescreen monitor (impressed with this monitor I also have a EPSON 6500UB projector 106" screen that i use for a monitor but i don't play FPS on it because its too big to pay attention to everything going on.)
Logitech MX5500 bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse (had some issues at first with mouse lag but moved the USB Bluetooth reciever to a spot hidden under the desk VIA a usb cable and problems went away)
oh yeah also note that DDR3 Memory works best in Triples. find a board with 6 slots for memory and buy your memory in packages of 3. also note you are going to need a 64 bit operating system. 32 bit operating systems can only see 4g of memory which includes the memory on your graphics cards first. example if you have a 3x1g ddr3 mem for a total of 3g and your graphics card has 1.7g of memory on it the 32 bit operating system will only say you have 2.4g memory installed. you can also do something like i did where you purchase the important things to make it run with room to upgrade at a later date. so buy a better CPU, Power Supply, and Motherboard and then fill in the rest with just whats needed to run. then you have room to upgrade down the road. (I have a wife and she doesn't share my enthusiasm for computers so I've been saving $50/month until i can buy the extra upgrades. that is if i don't spend it on video games. lol)
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SheepySun Oct 18, 2009 10:40 pm
Get an aftermarket cpu fan. Ive tried both Zalman and Coolermaster's V8. I had better results from V8, 5c cooler. If you go for V8 get a large tower the thing is a monster. Make sure to blow some compressed air on it once a month.
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BullittMon Oct 19, 2009 7:05 pm
The X-58 classified is a great board. I went with the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2. Easy to use and lots of adjustment. I am running an I7 920 at 3.6 with a Noctua CPU cooler in push/pull. Stays really cool. Also two 285GTX in sli, Ballistix memory. Stable and fast. Enermax Evo 1250 has plenty of power. I went with the P6T due to price and board layout. I needed the PCix4 slot accessible for my Forte sound card.
The P6T has plenty of SATA ports.
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