How do you know what mobo to get?

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icantwinn

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im starting to buy all the compents to build me a pc, and im stumped on how to figure out what mobo i need for what im wanting to do with the pc. the pc will be used for gaming and other basic pc things. ive been looking at this mobo because of its price (seeing how im kinda on a tight budget) and reviews. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130443

also if its not to much trouble could someone finish my list of what i need to have all compents needed. just to make sure i know im getting everything i need. no need to suggest hardware on the list just tell me if im missing anything.

-video card
-power supply
-modo
-ram
-hard drive
-processor
-fans
i already have the case cd/dvd drives and floppy drive

thanks in advance
 
The motherboard you are looking at is from a very reputable company, so that's a possitive, but let me just give you some food for thought.

If you are buying a motherboard, it is usually a good idea to get one that will allow you to expand it the future. You don't want to have to buy another motherboard in a year or so because it won't allow you to put any newer hardware in it.

It seems to me that your main two concerns are gaming and price. If that is the case, I'm wondering if you have looked at AMD based systems. Bang for the buck, AMD beats out intel cleanly, and I don't think anyone here will disagree with that.

For example, this motherboard is cheaper than the one you are looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152053

and it supports socket 939 processors (the current latest and greatest CPUs for AMD based systems).

It also supports PCI-e x16 video cards which again, is the latest and greatest for video cards (the mobo you are looking at above only supports AGP8x which is one generation behind).

There are plenty of BETTER 939 motherboards, but for the price I think this one is an excellent deal.

And it's not that you have to buy the latest and greatest NOW, but a motherboard like this will give you the option to upgrade to these parts in a year or so when your parts start becoming dated.

Other than that, your list above looks complete. I'd suggest listing the parts you are looking at before buying them to get people's opinions on your choices. Always good to have a number of people review to save you possible headaches.
 
I have an eMachine T2080 an my MB just died on me. I replaced the powersupply and it still has the same problem. I am trying a new MB for my PC but there are so many to choose from. Below are the specs for my machine. Please Please Please Please help me find one that will work with my PC

BOM for : T2080
Part Category Description Part Number
CPU Fan Type: CPU FAN SOCKET 478
Power Supply: PS 250 WATT
CPU: CPU AMD ATHLON XP 2000
MB: MB L7VMM MBEM1722L7VM
Memory: Mem, DDR-RAM 512MB (Max. 2GB)
 
hmmm thanks man i think im gonna switch to that board or onr very simular to it. the one thing i liked out the other board was it came with all the round wires but i priced the wire and there only 3 bux a peice. plus this way to i can get the wires the color i want em seeing how im going with a red and black theme.

almost forgot if i get a AMD based board i need to change my processor selection to a AMD correct? (sorry for my ignorance this is my first build and i dont know much of anything about hardware)

wheatp i wish i could help ya man but im clueless on mobo's too im sure someone will come along and help btw Welcome to TechSpot
 
icantwinn said:
hmmm thanks man i think im gonna switch to that board or onr very simular to it. the one thing i liked out the other board was it came with all the round wires but i priced the wire and there only 3 bux a peice. plus this way to i can get the wires the color i want em seeing how im going with a red and black theme.

Most (well, ALL actually, if it is a good motherboard) come with all the wires included.

almost forgot if i get a AMD based board i need to change my processor selection to a AMD correct? (sorry for my ignorance this is my first build and i dont know much of anything about hardware)

Yes, you have to match what is called the "socket" of your motherboard with the CPU type. So if you get a "socket 939" motherboard, this tells you what type of CPU will fit in it. For a budget gaming system, you should be looking at the Athlon64 series. Great CPUS.

Here is the list: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ce=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=343&Submit=Property

The 3700 SanDiego is a great one for the money ($233), but if it is out of your budget, there are cheaper ones to be had (starting as low as $136)

wheatp i wish i could help ya man but im clueless on mobo's too im sure someone will come along and help btw Welcome to TechSpot

Actually wheatp, it's probably best to start a whole new thread dedicated to just your own situation to avoid confusion.
 
DonNagual said:
Most (well, ALL actually, if it is a good motherboard) come with all the wires included.

i know but i want the round wires instead of the flat wires because i was told it will help with air circulation. im using last years model of the dell deminsion 3000's case that ive moded so its some what of a small case. im gonna be running atleast 3 fans plus the 2 on the power supply im getting so it probly wouldnt matter much but every little bit would help i guess. plus i like the look of the round wires the look wouldnt matter if i didnt have a big window in my side panel.
 
that seems like a nice board only fault i see in it is that it doesnt have a AGP slot, and im wanting to use AGP for my video because ive been told that AGP is better than PCI-E for video.
 
whattttt!!!

If you are doing games, you have to have a PCIe graphics card. I cant think of anyway AGP is better. The PCIe graphics cards can have a bandwidth of 8GBps insted of AGP's 2.1GBps. AGP is rapidly going obsolete.
 
icantwinn said:
that seems like a nice board only fault i see in it is that it doesnt have a AGP slot, and im wanting to use AGP for my video because ive been told that AGP is better than PCI-E for video.

I agree with spartanslayer. You have been mislead.

PCI-e 16x type cards are better than AGP8x, although performance wise, not by much. If you look at the benchmarks, PCI-e16x does beat the AGP cards, but not by too much.

The main difference is, the newest cards are not available for AGP slot, and video card makers will not be making anymore AGP cards it seems.

AGP is out of date. Dead. Old news. If you are buying a new system, you really should be gettting PCI-E 16x video otherwise you are shooting yourself in the foot for future upgradability.
 
AGP is out of date. Dead. Old news. If you are buying a new system, you really should be gettting PCI-E 16x video otherwise you are shooting yourself in the foot for future upgradability.
AFFIRMATIVE!! :bounce:

AGPX8 is a bus interface that works like the equivalent of X8 PCI.
Now the PCI interface hardware techies have fought back and they have a PCI-E X16, which means..you guessed it, X16 the normal PCI bus interface speed.

You on AGP: :blackeye:
You on PCI-E: :giddy:
 
16x is the way to go!

I would even go as for to say get yourself a SLI PCI express (SLI = 2 graffix cards much better rendering and frames per sec are almost doubled) MOBO because the new games coming out this year have extreme requirements I like asus or abit fatil1ty boards but there are other good ones as well but I can personally vouge for these 2 companies.

Here is my setup:

Fatal1ty a8n sli
amd 4000+1 meg cache
600w power supply
2 bfg geforce 7800 gt oc
2 gig Corsair 2-2-2-5 latency ram 4-512meg
xp pro sp2
WD HD sata 120 gig 8meg cache

Hopefully this info will benfit you!

p.s.
AGP is half the speed of pci express whoever said that to you is clueless!
 
oh well thats good to hear and to think a computer tech told me that :suspiciou i dont think ill be taking my pc there if i need something done to it. now i gotta find a differant video card that pci-e and still in my budget. anysugestions on cards no more than 130.00? btw this pc isnt being built for the newest latest games out/coming its for what i already own/play. im going to build me a reeaaallll nice machine for that in about 6 months that im going to spend atleast 1500$ on. just right now my budget is tight because i just started a company and i dont wanna get carried away on spending money just yet, i cant spend anymore than 600 bux on this pc and i havent bought an os for it yet and im already at 530$. heres what ive been looking at.

processor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112199
mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130454
video card- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127164
real cheap psu- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163018
ram (only getting on stick of 512 for now)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820223009
fans (getting atleast 3)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835117018
hard drive- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144203

and i was thinkin about changing the processor from the celeron to a pentium 4
 
Processor

If your going to build a awesome computer in a while, I wouldn't spend much now. I would go to newegg and find an intel thats on sale. Your graphics card looks good, but if possible buy one from XFX, BFG, or eVGA. Good Luck.
 
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