buying a new motherboard

[snakeater89]

hey,
i am buying a new motherboard but i wanted to know, what should i keep in mind before buying it in addition to the slots, the sockets, etc. Thanx in advance.

 

[aliasaid]

reliable brand.

compatibility: some motherboards have issues with a particular cpu or video card.. just read the reviews and make sure it doesn't have an issue with the components you're buying... some motherboards.. for no particular reason have problems with 65nm (intel) cores.. or certain video cards just freeze.. things like that. anomolies!

 

[julz]

Some things you should look out for when choosing your motherboard include:

- cpu socket
- will you need an AGP or PCI-Express graphics card slot?
- built in graphics? sound? networking?
- the memory and hard drive format
- number of PCI slots

Check out Choosing a Motherboard for more information on the above points.

Hope that helps you a bit.

 

[snakeater89]

Thx for the replies. But i still have some questions about all this.

1. I saw on a guide that Intel Pentium 4 has socket 4, 423 and 478. How do i know which one of this sockets my Intel P4 has?

2. I have already a Creative 24-bit Sound card and a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC. Do I have to get a specific motherboard or will it work on any MB?

3. My hard drive interface is Ultra-ATA/100. Will this on a MB that supports only SATA?

That's all. Thx in advance.

 

[aliasaid]

1) if you're only upgrading your motherboard (not sure why..) then google, download, and run cpu-z and it will tell you what socket your processor is.

2) your sound card most likely uses a PCI slot, and i believe all motherboards have PCI slots. as for your ethernet card, its probably also pci so you'll be able to use it, but most motherboards have onboard ethernet and sound so you'll probably need neither of those. if your soundcard is really old, you're probably better off with the on-board, if your sound-card is decent, then it'll be better to use it.

3) most motherboards will have both SATA and PATA (IDE).. so just make sure in the specs it has PATA connection.. i'm pretty sure all motherboards still support ATA.

 

[snakeater89]

thx, i think that's all.

BTW, could you recommend a MB and a PSU. Here are the requirements for the MB:

1) Skt 478
2) Supports at least 2.0GHz
3) On-board sound and network
4) PCI- Express 16x
5) 3 PCI slots
6) Support DDR-333 or DDR-400 (If DDR-400, please recommend also some RAM)
7) Support for SLI technology

For the PSU:
1)550W
2) Supports for PCI EXpress

 

[aliasaid]

sorry there are no socket 478 motherboards with pci-express slots. 478 is simply too old. buying a socket 478 motherboard now is simply not a good idea. how much money do you have to spend? you might be able to get a mobo, cpu, ram, and a psu for a good price. also tell us where you live...

oh and.. just out of curiousity.. what cpu do you have?

 

[snakeater89]

Here are my system spec's

CPUID Output
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of CPUs 1
APIC ID 0
Name Intel Pentium 4
Code name Northwood
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00GHz
Family/Model/Stepping F24
Extended Family/Model F/2
Brand ID 9
Package mPGA-478 (2h)
Core Stepping B0
Technology 0.13um
Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
Features
Clock Speed 1992.1 MHz
Clock multiplier x20.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 99.6 MHz
Bus Speed 398.4 MHz
Stock frequency 2000 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1992.1 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits


Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) MSI
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2700 (166 MHz)
Part number

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
EPP no

Capabilities
AGP Capability
Version 2.0
Status enabled
Transfer rate 4x (max 4x)
Queue lenght 3 (max 32)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) I have a 400$ - 450$ budget. BTW, within this budget there Nvidia 7 series Graphic CArd.

2) I am from the Dominican Republic and i have to pay 33DR$ for 1US$. ANd that's pretty tough. IN case you ask me, i decided not to buy those parts here in the D.R because there aren't good PC stores in here, and the ones that are good try to rip you off.

Here's what i want to buy:
Motherboard
PSU
Graphic Card Nvidia 7 series (Preferably, the 7600)
CPU
RAM

That's it. thx in advance.

OT: Do you play CS 1.6?

 

[aliasaid]

do you know which websites ship to the dominican republic?

newegg is the best one.. but i know they only ship to USA..

if i quote you prices from newegg, then might go and try to buy it and find its more expensive... so which website would you buy from?

 

[snakeater89]

Shipping it's not a problem. I am member of CPS, and they can receive the pieces there in the U.S and bring them to the Dominican Republic.

About the websites, i don't have any preferences, so the website it's up to you... BTW, I'm travelling to the Florida in August, so let me know if the website that you recommend has a physical store... then i would save some $$$ as i wouldnt have to pay shipping.

OT:
And please let me know if you play C.S 1.6, because i have a 400 ping with a 256DSL Modem.

Why is everyone saying that dual cores will be cheaper in a month?