Choosing a Motherboard

[Sprooty]

Hey,

I will be upgrading next month and i am looking for a good mother board.

With this motherboard I will be running a AMD X2 3800+ and a 7800GTX or a R520 depending on price and performance next month.

i do not want an SLI motherboard because i see no reason for it.

My limit is $200 AU and i will be purchasing all the parts from this site.http://www.centrecom.com.au/

heres the link to the motherboard page
Here
(Please pick a motherboard from this site)

This motherboard will need to have LAN,Audio, be able to handle mild overclocking and good for gaming.

Please do not suggest a DIF motherboard because that site dose not sell them and i dont want a DFI.

 

[Tro1086]

Well they have a pretty limited choice on that site, so I chose the Asus A8N-E. Everyone here hates the Asus boards for some reason but they never give a reason why. Im not sure if this one comes with onboard sound, like you want, you could look it up on newegg thou or somethin, its 3 in the mornin and im too tierd to be lookin at specs now! On NewEgg the Asus A8N boards are getting good reviews except a lot of em had bad chipset fans but it sounds like they took care of that now and you shouldng have to worry about it, I dont know if it was even on the non-sli boards anyway. They are ranked right up with the DFI (which everyone arround here praises like its a god) and MSI boards in the benchmarks Iv seen. Asus won a few catagories and DFI and MSI won a few catagories but I would say overall they came out even.

Im actually glad to see someone say they dont want DFI, practicly everyone here has a DFI board and there not willing to look at anything else. I know the DFIs have a lot more settings when it comes to overclocking, but for people who dont focus there life soley on overclocking there computer, a lot of other boards will do just fine.

Well thats my input. I dont know about any of the specs of the Gigabyte boards because all iv reasearched is the Asus A8N's really. I would sudgest Asus, DFI, or MSI right now, so I chose the Asus because thats all that site has out of the 3.

 

[Syphanx]

Gigabyte GA-K8NSULTRA-939 motherboard, looks really nice. $158 is a fairly good price for it as well.

However do remember that SLI will eventually be the way of the future (or basically already is). But most upcoming games will only be played at their full potential through SLI or something similar. I myself am thinking of upgrading and tossing up between a nice AGP card or PCI-E. But am not a "hard-core" gamer, therefore I am leaning towards AGP as it will handle the games I play.

Just have a think about it. Your comp is easily good enough at the moment to play all the top games.

 

[Sprooty]

yes, but if i want to go SLI i would like a good SLI board not a cheap SLI board, and i dont really have money to spare to a good SLI board


There is the Gigabyte GA-K8NPRO-SLI motherboard

but i really dont know if a cheap SLI motherboard is really worth it.

I also have a question about SLI, if i get a Leadtek 7800GTX (for example) will i need to buy another Leadtek 7800GTX to be able to run SLI? or could i run SLI with a Leadtek 7800GTX and a Sparkle GTX?

in short im asking to run SLI do u need the exact same card?

 

[Syphanx]

Nup im pretty sure that you have to have the exact same card. But as I said before if your not a hardcore gamer I'd go with the AGP, because realistically do you have the money to buy two really good graphics cards that both retail at about $750AU each??? that's $1500 on gfx cards.

The GA-K8NPRO-SLI is a vrey good SLI motherboard though.

 

[Raekwon]

well sadly i don't think the 7800GTX's are made in AGP, so thats dashed the thought right out the window. I'd have to agree with Tro1086, Asus is your best choice out of that lot. There's nothing wrong with gigabyte, i just think Asus makes better boards overall.

 

[Sprooty]

anyone else got some input?

 

[Tro1086]

Dont buy an AGP board, there phasing out AGP cards, if you notice they dont even make some of the newer cards in AGP, only in PCI-E. Why would you limit yourself to AGP when there gona stop making it? It would be smarter to go PCI-E now that way when you need to upgrade your graphics later down the road you will have a much better choice of cards and wont have to worry about getting another motherboard too.

AGP = History

Even thou you dont plan to SLI right now, you might want to think if you would ever want to do it in the future, if you think you might go SLI in the future you should save up a little extra cash and get an SLI board so that you have that option in the future without needing to get a new mobo. If you just save and pay a little more money now and get an SLI board, youll end up saving money later because youv only bought one motherboard instead of two. And I think you could wait a little longer, like the other guy said, the system you have now should play about any game thats out. All you really need is a new GFX card, and you could play anything. Thats the only outdated peice of hardware in your system. If I were you, personally I would just get a new graphics card for that machine you have now, like a 6600GT, then keep saving up your money for your next build.

 

[Sprooty]

yes but i have $3000 that needs to be spent, its part of the conditions for me getting it.


My question now is

Is a $180 SLI Board really worth it?

 

[Sprooty]

bump