I can't decide, I am a student (so i'm poor). I am looking to build a cheap computer, and pretty much anything is an upgrade from the crap I am using now. I want a dual core, plan on OCing it a bit and pushing some performance out of a Pentium Dual Core (also need to buy one) but my question is which of these motherboards, or any in a similar price range (up to $60 preferably this includes shipping but doesn't have to) is the best? I am leaning to the ASUS but want some outside opinions. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131288 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186140 Thanks, Colt 45 J
Go with Foxconn. - HDMI (open options) - better video card (drivers wise, power wise it's about the same) - Vista Ready, even possibly Windows 7 - nForce, nice for performance - Ability to view HD movie (with nvidia purevideo) Quality should be same as this is the very low end of ASUS. And RMA service for ASUS America is not very good. So I don't' think you lose anything on either mobos on the service.
Your joking right? OK maybe that statement is more fitting with nvidia's top end motherboards, where problems are common. If your on a tight budget i suggest finding a second hand Intel P35 motherboard on ebay. When you go cheap you take a chance of either getting a good stable stock performance board or so flaky you feel sick about wasting the cash on it. The motherboard can make or break a good system build, and this is where i would invest my money, then find the cheapest 775 chip around, and 2GB of memory can be had on the cheap, as long as its DDR2-800 you'll be fine.
Well if are buying a new computer, on budget, get a Dell. No, seriously. You always lose building a custom build PC on very small budget like yours. Dell has the ability to go "Ok, well we are not selling our old stock, let's sell it at 1/3 of the price each part" or something similar in that idea. It's Dell, it's not bad at all. As a STRONG believer in custom build computer, I must say, from experience, I never gain anything by doing myself on a small budget. I always lose, lose A LOT. And remember you can discuss price with Dell via the phone, and shipping is FREE. Look at these: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-hybrid?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-mini?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspndt_530s?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
Buy dell, then rip the OS off to re-partion the drive for maxium space and slap windows back on. When i bought my Acer Laptop i did the very same thing after one day of testing just in case it was a RMA job. Freed up 15GB of HDD space doing that.
To reply to GoodBytes first post: Well the Foxconn also does not have dual channel.. its single channel DDR2. Figured I would point that out. As for dells: My experiences with Dells have been many and have hated every time... too many limits on it and customer support is ass. My current computer is half the speed of my younger brothers dell, and loads everything much much faster, with about the same amount of ram.... so yea.... no dell please? Finally: As I said, I want to OC the board... I can scrounge up the money just give me a good motherboard for around $60 I just want a nice stable board, that is overclockable to a decent extent. HDMI and audio are not an issue, as I still use a nice 22" CRT (haha ghetto, but I can't afford a panel, rather spend on a new computer first, then the monitor.) As for speakers, I have just a standard set of computer speakers. So decent audio would be nice, but surround sound is not a must. Any ideas? I have a video card if you can't find one with onboard video. Also I prefer to build a system, just because I am majoring in engineering, and its kinda what I enjoy doing . Also helps me know exactly what stuff is in my system, and that if need be I could push it farther. So any more suggestions?
as i previously said, save up and push your budget up on the motherboard. I would go for GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G GIGABYTE GA-EP31-DS3L both gigabyte i know and both using P31 chipsets, may i point out that this ins't a bad thing, the P31 actually started out as a X38, but after testing it was found to not be up the X38 spec, so then its called P31. Basically the intel chipsets are made the same way as there CPU's they all start out the same, and are tested for there optium speed vs stability. And towards the end of production there making them virtually all the same and that why there are some great overclockers to be had. AMD's opty 144 and 165 for example. PS, you yanks are so lucky to have a nice selection of brands to pick from, LGA775 ITX boards are so expensive here!
How is this one? Its a 3100 chipset as well, and a gigabyte. From the reviews it looks like it is a good overclocker and a sound board. Thoughts? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128338
Gigabyte = no problems its a micro ATX motherboard which isn't a problem, just means less PCI slots. Big bonus is that you could build a nice small machine, with pleanty of power!
eh don't brand bias please? I know Gigabyte is a good brand, but don't just say "great board cause it's a gigabyte" elaborate please? As for less pci slots, no problem, I don't use many anyway, in my current rigs, I have only a USB 2.0 card in one, and the other has none. So yea pci=no problems. I am looking to build a nice powerful rig on the cheap so any particular advice on any of these motherboards?.
ok i am a gigabyte fanboy, but for good reason. They build solid performance hardware, which has never let me down, and many others will swear by there build quality. Asus tend to come to market with brand spanking new cutting edge hardware, but in this attempt to beat others to market there quality control lapses and there are pleanty off posts on many forums of people having problems with them. I too have had nothing but trouble with asus, but thats my personal expierence. Gigabyte tend to fall down with general board layout and colour choices, but these can be over looked, as its usually daft SATA port locations, which can leed to awkward cable management, but nothing some cable ties can soon fix. And if your colour blind then the colours they picked arent so bad. lol! You must understand that low budget components may result in low overclocking results, but real gems can be found.
