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I'm fed up with all the nonsense my computer's been giving me, so I've decided to rebuild it. I want to switch out everything except the case. Right now I'm looking at motherboards and there's a plethora to choose from. My problem is I don't know what kind I need. Can anyone help?
First you chose the CPU Type, then you can chose the MoBo and after that the rest.
AMD or Intel? Answer that and we can give you several economical suggestions that still offer plenty of value. If you give us a budget to work inside of, even better.
One word though, if you decide to build an Intel rig, know that both Socket 1156 and Socket 1366 are both evolutionary dead ends since Intel will be releasing new ones next year...again. If you have to get one now, though, get something with the 1366 since it is infinitely more useful than the crippled 1156.
Ok, Intel for me. My budget is fairly limited, but I'm willing to save up and take time because I want a powerful computer. At least powerful enough to run design software and games without any problems.
How limited is said budget?
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Do you have a preference for AMD or nVidia for the video card? If AMD, I'd suggest the HD5850 for budget and if nVidia I suggest either the GTX460 1GB or the GTX470...one performs slightly under the HD5850, the other slightly over it.
I work at Food Lion as a cashier. So fairly limited :P
e: But these are really nice options. I can get them with a little saving.
If you want to save a good amount of money, but still have a powerful machine, look below.
This is an actual build I built for my uncle:
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 2.66ghz Quad-Core LGA1156 - $194.99 US
This CPU is absolutely great for the price, except one of the main downsides is that Hyper Threading is not enabled. On the upside, there is a good amount of room to overclock this bad boy and easily outperform the i5-760 while maintaining cool temperatures.
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D P55 Chipset LGA1156 - $134.99 US
This mainboard dishes out some good performance and features for the price. CrossFireX utilization is possible on this board.
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600mhz - $86.99 US
This RAM set has won awards and there is no question to how good it is for the price. Quite impressive set of modules there. I wish I could get some of those for myself lol, but my motherboard doesn't support DDR3.
Something else you should know about the RAM in combination with the motherboard I chose. It didn't immediately start using 1600mHz. It was running at 1333mhz, but I've heard of this happening before on motherboards so I went into the BIOS to fix the issue. Lo and behold there is an option in the BIOS to override the motherboard's default RAM setting. Easy.
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 5830 1GB DDR5 - $179.99
I cannot find a better video card at this price. The performance is just awesome on this thing. It still beats of the GTX 460, but is only $10 more than an EVGA variant. Also, you get a free copy of the new Aliens Vs Predator game along with a double lifetime warranty. The double lifetime warranty means that you are fully protected when buying this card, and if later down the road if you want to sell the card, the next person to get it also gets the lifetime warranty.
The CPU, MB, and RAM add up to $416.97. You'll save $218 from the build warsaw posted, and you can put some of that towards the video card which will bring you up to $596.96. That's a damn good start.
Now add the rest of the stuff you want and you'll have an amazing system for cheap.
Note that all the components I've listed here are very high rated items, with the exception of the ASUS motherboard which is because some retards don't know how to install their CPUs properly and fuck up their internals (probably due to static electricity). I can personally vouch for the reliability and ease of use of this ASUS motherboard.
Just to comment on your build:
The HD5830 beats the 768MB GTX460, but the 1GB GTX460 passes it (since that is what it and the GTX465 were designed to do). For $180, though, it's a good buy. One thing we should all recognise though is that the Bart series is literally months away (that's the HD6770 and HD6750) and they perform at the level of the HD5850 and HD5870 while being priced at mainstream.
As for the RAM stuff: Most RAM with either high clock speeds (=> DDR3 1600) or low timings needs to be adjusted in BIOS after installation. I think the manufacturers do that for stability reasons when setting up and testing your system. I can vouch for G.Skill, since I've used their RAM in two builds now; I just have a problem recommending RAM with a timing of 9-9-9-24. I try to get 7, but 8 is acceptable too.
Finally, the CPU. Sockets 1155 and 2011 are both on the way from Intel, again in a few months. Whether you go 1156 or 1366 now, you are investing into a dead end platform. If you're going to be dumping on a dead end platform, at least get the one with more features (triple channel, support for both Crossfire and SLI, support for real i7s and not those glorified i5 chips, etc.).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103851
all i'm gonna say. how big is my dick? it's 6 cores son. turbo budget power GO.
BOOyah.
Not Black Box. Is no good without Black Box.
:mech: