Author Topic: Building a new system (Read 776 times)

WhiteHawk · « **on:** February 10, 2006, 06:01:21 PM »

Well, here I go again. I am going to build my second rig and would like to try AMD cpu. Any suggestions for a motheroard? I dont mind spending up to 200 bucks on a mobo, but all I really need is a solid gaming board (I guess that is all anybody really needs;) ) I got the case, I just dont know which way to go from here.

Thnx for any help

Ghosth · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2006, 11:18:09 PM »

What I did, was go to Mwave or newegg.

Look at motherboard bundles for the processor you want.
Pick the speed of the CPU, ie 3200, etc.
Then look at the motherboard options listed.
There should be a long list of available motherboards for that processor.

Copy, paste into google, and read up on the board.
Process of elimination till your down to one that has what you want, that you can afford.

There are a LOT of good boards out there for 50 to 120$ I don't see much need for going a lot beyond that in price.

Mwave will even add ram, and for 9$ assemble and test the whole bundle.
Its the cheapest insurance you'll ever pay to make sure the vital parts are all going to work when you drop it into the case.

Plus you can not put together a combo that won't work.

Drop it into the case, hook up led & switch wires, power, ide/ata cables, and your ready for drives & first boot.

PS I'm partial to Abit boards, virtually no jumpers to set, its all done in bios software. So they are very easy to build, very reliable. My oldest abit board finally failed on me last year after a power surge. It was 6 years old and had been in 3 diff cases/configurations.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2006, 04:41:51 AM »

Sounds like a good plan ..Thanx alot!

Reschke · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2006, 08:11:10 AM »

I posted a higher end setup here and got a really good deal on a CPU/Motherboard combo through Newegg. Its posted in this thread link as well.

http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170288

WindX · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2006, 01:00:32 AM »

Asus, Asus, and Asus my first three choices followed by Gigabyte and Abit. I say this and Im using an Abit board but I have stopped using them because of chipset fan problems (replaced 3 so far on my AG8 in just over a year) on their boards that use the chipset fans I.E. AA8, AS8, AG8. Havent used any of the new Abit boards that use heatpipe technology for cooling the chipset I.E. AW8, but I would think thats why they went to it. I have built several systems with the new Asus boards that use the heatpipe chipset cooling and they are awesome! Other than that Abit makes a great board. PCIExpress and sli support are almost a must with the new games that will be coming out. If your using it for AH only then you really wont need the SLI support.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2006, 01:21:51 AM »

I'm using a Megabyte. It's an Intel chipset though. Still seems to be a very good board and takes the punishment of the n00b builder that I am.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2006, 05:56:57 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by WindX
Asus, Asus, and Asus my first three choices followed by Gigabyte and Abit. I say this and Im using an Abit board but I have stopped using them because of chipset fan problems (replaced 3 so far on my AG8 in just over a year) on their boards that use the chipset fans I.E. AA8, AS8, AG8. Havent used any of the new Abit boards that use heatpipe technology for cooling the chipset I.E. AW8, but I would think thats why they went to it. I have built several systems with the new Asus boards that use the heatpipe chipset cooling and they are awesome! Other than that Abit makes a great board. PCIExpress and sli support are almost a must with the new games that will be coming out. If your using it for AH only then you really wont need the SLI support.

Man i got a abit ic7 max 3 and that thing ive replaced the NB fan 2 times. I hear ya, I think I am going to look at asus. What board would you recommend from asus? I want to up to date with my board. I dont play alot of games, but when the wifes out of town, I like to tear it up. Thnx for the advice.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 12, 2006, 11:25:04 AM »

If you read through some of the online tests and reviews of motherboards for gaming applications, a few names come out on top. Mostly Abit and MSI. Asus is making good stuff too. The top two rated gaming boards are the Abit Fatal1ty A8N and the MSI Neo4 Platinum Edition.

Personally, I read those articles and then go read the reviews from customers at Newegg and Tiger Direct. Amazing how much difference there can be.

While no one really trashed the top Abit board, it cost well over 200 bucks. All the cheaper models (even the other A8N model boards) had numerous complaints about having to RMA bad boards and failing fans, etc.

The MSI Neo board had much better reviews, and was 100 bucks cheaper to boot. Again though, I noticed that there were lots more complaints as you got into the cheaper versions, even with the same chipset.

Hmmm, you get what you pay for?

From all the reviews I read, all the articles I read, and all the research I did, the best I could come up with in terms of reliability, liklihood of it working when you get it, performance and value was the MSI Neo4 Platinum Edition. Take that for what its worth.

38ruk · « **Reply #8 on:** February 12, 2006, 06:51:35 PM »

I'm suprised no one has mentioned DFI , ive read good stuff about them and have setup a few Lanparty boards in the past . They have a very nice bios setup with about every adjustment in the book for overclocking . Id take a look at a few of them , there are alot of review on the net .

WindX · « **Reply #9 on:** February 12, 2006, 07:23:45 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WhiteHawk
Man i got a abit ic7 max 3 and that thing ive replaced the NB fan 2 times. I hear ya, I think I am going to look at asus. What board would you recommend from asus? I want to up to date with my board. I dont play alot of games, but when the wifes out of town, I like to tear it up. Thnx for the advice.

The two boards I use to build most Asus systems are the A8N sli premium which is a Socket 939 AMD board and the P5LD2 SLI Deluxe which uses the Intel Socket T (775) P-4 Processor, I prefer the AMD based boards because the AMD processors are a bit easier to cool. Both have great performance and both have 1000mhz + fsb's and either will make the basis to a great gaming system.

DFI makes a good board but I've had problems in the past with RMA'ing defective boards and here lately same with MSI and Abit. I've never had a problem with RMA'ing an Asus board or a Gigabyte board. As always the choice is up to you and what you want! Good luck and hope you get a killer system! Also my recomendation for ram for the newer boards is the Patriot ram by PDP. Get the dual channel with XBL technology and you wont be sorry! This stuff is rock solid stable and I have been getting really good overclocking numbers with it lately. However if you go with the P5LD2 board youll need DDR2 memory.

stantond · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2006, 11:09:38 AM »

As you may know, going with a major name brand is important. Abit, Asus, DFI, Gigabyte, MSI... in alphabetical order are all good boards and will provide the support and upgrades you need. If you want to overclock, the DFI message board has lots of information about doing that sort of thing with their boards. All things considered, any of the above boards should work and 99% of the time you won't have any problems.

Both Abit and Asus have active message boards where questions can be asked and if the answer is simple, answered. I didn't find a message board for Gigabyte and MSI, but I didn't look very hard. I suggest checking out the motherboard message boards and look for problems that seem to be common.

Good Luck!

Malta

38ruk · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2006, 11:28:22 AM »

Good advise Malta

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2006, 06:05:11 PM »

thanx guys. Im going shopping, I will post my selection. (cuz i'll probably need a boatload of help getting it up and running).

Roscoroo · « **Reply #13 on:** February 17, 2006, 01:17:25 AM »

Asus is sort of the main runner for Amd's, Its pritty hard to go wrong combo wise with them.. .

I went with a A8N for my new work PC , Ive been very happy with it so far .

But as always Do the research ,, and ask tons of questions

(just remember Not all monkeys can build there pc's correctly)

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #14 on:** February 17, 2006, 07:31:25 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
Asus is sort of the main runner for Amd's, Its pritty hard to go wrong combo wise with them.. .

I went with a A8N for my new work PC , Ive been very happy with it so far .

But as always Do the research ,, and ask tons of questions

(just remember Not all monkeys can build there pc's correctly)

I was hoping you would show up. the A8N looks top of the line and newegg has it for close to 200 bucks. I was looking closely at the KN8 by abit, due to the reduced price. About 100bucks. I have some money to spend, just not enuff time to spend at the joystick to justify a top of the line board. So I am going to try to put together a real solid gaming system for a ham-and-egger price. Do you see any downsides to the KN8? The reviews were good, in general. I have dabbled in OC'ing, but it is not a priority with this system.

Thnx