Mobo suggestions please

S

Sancti0n

n00b
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Jul 28, 2007
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I haven't built a rig in over 4 years, so saying i'm "out of touch" is an understatement. I'm not looking to build a screamer, most likely not even a mid-range. I plan on using this for Gaming, such as FPS, MMORPG, maybe some space "sims". Also for surfing, and playing music.

Right now i'm just trying to figure out what to get for a motherboard. My concerns/requirements for a motherboard are:

-Stability/Reliability/Dependibility - This is my # 1 concern

-Must take a quad core 3.0 GHz or better (Intel/AMD - doesn't matter, although I think AMD is generally less expensive yes?)

-I don't want to pay for a bunch of features that I won't ever use, so the less it costs the better. However, I don't want to sacrifice my # 1 concern (see above) by saving money either. I'm hoping there's a happy medium somewhere...

My Boss is pretty relaxed about my gaming/surfing at work, but it IS work. So while I'll need sound, it doesn't have to be the best, so i'm thinking onboard audio will do.

Top-of-the-line graphics are not required, but I do want my games to look ok at 1440x900 (look good = everything runs smooth at low-to-medium settings for games like BF:BC2, MOH, WoW). I don't want to do Crossfire or SLI. One video card will be good enough for me.

This board, and everything I put into it, will run at stock speed. Nothing will be overclocked.

In addition to the mobo, i'm going to have to buy a cpu, ram, psu, couple hard drives and cd/dvd player/burner. I also plan on using win7 as the OS. But for right now, i'm just trying to figure out what would be a really good, STABLE/RELIABLE mobo. Then i'll go looking for the other parts.

Does anybody have any ideas on what would make a good mobo for me?

Thanks in advance for everybody's time and help :)
 
What is your budget for a motherboard?What features do you want
 
I don't know my budget. My budget will be determined by the price of the board that has the things I want. I'm just trying to find out the name(s) of any motherboards that have a great reputation for Stability/Reliability/Dependibility, while running at stock settings. Once I find that out, and how much it costs, then I can figure out if the price is too much, or if i'm willing to spend more, of if I have to make concessions...
 
Yes, Gigabyte and Asus, With Asus though, you will need to really research, they are pricey.
 
Thanks guys. I kinda thought Asus was one of them, wasn't sure about Gigabyte though. On a related note...

Has anybody ever purchased a mobo/cpu combo from Newegg? Particularly if the mobo is Asus or Gigabyte? Although I haven't been shopping for these parts in years, the deals I saw seemed pretty good. Then again, I gotta wonder why they're on sale to begin with... Refurbished mobo's maybe? CPU's that didn't make the Q&A cut but are still "ok"? Again, some of them seem ok, but ya gets what ya pays for,,, Anybody have any experience with buying a combo like this? Was it good/bad? Would you do it again?
 
Sancti0n said:
Thanks guys. I kinda thought Asus was one of them, wasn't sure about Gigabyte though. On a related note...

Has anybody ever purchased a mobo/cpu combo from Newegg? Particularly if the mobo is Asus or Gigabyte? Although I haven't been shopping for these parts in years, the deals I saw seemed pretty good. Then again, I gotta wonder why they're on sale to begin with... Refurbished mobo's maybe? CPU's that didn't make the Q&A cut but are still "ok"? Again, some of them seem ok, but ya gets what ya pays for,,, Anybody have any experience with buying a combo like this? Was it good/bad? Would you do it again?
Click to expand...

Those CPU + motherboard combos are not refurbished parts at all. They're exactly the same parts, both in terms of quality and newness, as if you were to buy the parts separately.

They're on sale simply to help drive sales. Simple as that. Over in the General Hardware subforum (which you really should check out actually), we recommend those CPU + motherboard combos all the time to save money. We haven't had a single problem related to those CPU + motherboards besides user error.

Anyway, in general, Asus and Gigabyte makes some of the more stable motherboards out there. However, you're really gonna have to narrow down what exactly you want in a motherboard. There's dozens upon dozens of motherboards out there that fits your criteria of "Stability/Reliability/Dependibility" at stock speeds. There's really a lot of motherboards like that.
 
Thanks Danny, i'll definately check that sub forum.

As for narrowing down what i'm looking for... I guess i'm just trying to not buy more than I need. I won't be overclocking, so I don't need an overclocking-friendly or enhanced mobo.

I'll be using the onboard audio as opposed to a sound card. It doesn't have to be the best, doesn't even have to be 5.1, but it must work.

I'll be using 1 video card, so I don't really need two slots for sli.

Since i'll be running the stock fan on the cpu, and regular case fans, I guess I need a mobo that can stand running warm/hot (the pc sits under a desk and the heat from it/the room in general tends to collect right there).

It should be able to run 4 GB minimum dual channel ram. And i'll be running Win 7 Ultimate on it.

I just want to add my parts to this mobo with a minimal amount of fuss/tweaking. Minimal during the install/setup, and minimal troubleshooting after the install/setup. While it's definately better to have more than I need, as opposed to having less than what I need, i'm trying to narrow that gap getween the two as much as possible.

I hope that helps clear things a bit. I'll check that other forum now (thanks again for the help).
 
Still doesn't help that much actually because a lot of quality motherboards fit those requirements. In fact, most of the quality motherboard ARE overclocking motherboards. It's usually the cheap relatively low quality motherboards that have no overclocking features or enhancements.

Besides the features you mentioned, which of these features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
 
I don't need RAID, Firewire, Crossfire/SLI (i'll be running 1 vid card only)
Don't need USB 3.0.
Sata 6 would be nice

Maybe my problem is that in the past 3-5 years the manufacturers have actually improved to such a degree that it's no longer an "oddity" to find 1 or 2 mobo manufacturers that are more reliable then all others. Maybe all of them (or the vast majority) have improved to such a degree that, like you say, most manufacturers now offer what i'm looking for as standard (standard meaning their options are of such commonplace that they're not even worth using as an advertising gimmick because EVERYBODY else is now offering those options, and have been for some time).

I think... I think maybe I need to stop thinking so damn much and just get the combo i've been eyeing lol. Maybe I should just resign myself to the fact that i'm going to get "features" that i'm not going to use no matter which board I get. For instance here's one combo i've been looking at over at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.564891 Whaddaya think?
 
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I was actually looking at that one when I read your post about it lol!

I do believe that's the one i'll be getting. It seems as good a base (if not slightly better) to build on as any other, even better when you factor in the price.

Now I must decide on the guts... ssd or traditional platter... 4 gb ram or 8... which vid card... hmm...

Thanks for your time and patience in helping me make up my mind Danny Bui. You helped a lot! :)
 
Sancti0n said:
I was actually looking at that one when I read your post about it lol!

I do believe that's the one i'll be getting. It seems as good a base (if not slightly better) to build on as any other, even better when you factor in the price.

Now I must decide on the guts... ssd or traditional platter... 4 gb ram or 8... which vid card... hmm...

Thanks for your time and patience in helping me make up my mind Danny Bui. You helped a lot! :)
Click to expand...

No prob man. :)

Oh go for a Intel or Crucial SSD for the OS and any really really critical apps + fast Samsung F3 1TB drive for data storage and large application size installations. If only gaming, go for 4GB of RAM. If doing heavy VM work, music editing, photo editing, video editing, 3D rendering, etc, get 8GB of RAM
 
I would take a close look at evga motherboards.
I do not work for them.
I do have three of their boards and couldn't be happier.
Their customer service is second to none.

If you don't want to spend alot, check their P55 offerings.:D
 
I have an old build using a Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 board with the "high durability caps" I paid about $70 for it, not too many fancy features, but everything I need including raid. I have not had one problem yet with this board that wasnt my fault. Ive got a Athlon 64 X2 7750 2.7GHz Black Edition in it ($80) that ive got comfortably overclocked to 3.4GHz. I play Assasins Creed 2, Far Cry, Eve and a few other games regularly, never had any problems with crashing or overheating.

Ive also had good luck with the MSI "Military Class" line as well, one of which Im using for an HTPC that I have had no trouble with even sitting inside my home theater cabinet with the door closed.
 
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