Motherboard recommendation

Stainless_Steel

Hi all,

First build coming up!! Looking for a recommendation for a mobo. I already have a case that I want to use and it only takes a micro ATX.

I plan to use the machine for gaming at some stage in the future when funds allow for a decent GPU.

I am willing to spend 500 yoyos. As i said i have a case and a Samsung F3 so for the money I need:

- Motherboard
- CPU
- RAM
- GPU
- DVD burner
- Windows 7

Buying a component every fortnight so priority for now is the mobo!

Thanks!

Stainless_Steel

Really need help...getting bogged down with the different combinations!

Do I need to get a board with SATA600 to take advantage of a possible future upgrade to SSD? Is it worth getting one with USB3.0 capability?

Telchak

USB 3.0 seems to be taking a long time to filter down to consumer devices (and may be made redundant if Thunderbolt picks up), and are you really going to be doing that many big file transfers from peripheral devices?

SATA-600 may be a better investment, as SSDs are fast approaching the limit of SATA-300. So if you plan to get one a few months down the line, it may help performance (:

Stainless_Steel

Thanks for the reply!

Youre right about my need for USB...very rarely move files to am external disk...at least not in a hurry.

I have been looking at this Asus board:

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=CkMiq3rrqw3yqO5H

It has 2 x SATA600 connectors which is good. Also has a display port and HDMI output. And an eSATA too. I'm aware this model with onboard video is not good for over clocking but it's not something that worries me.

Should I hold off given the chipset issues???

IrishMetalhead

tbh with your budget you should look into getting a phenom set up its more value for money

Monotype

What about the MSI 880GMA-E45? Where are you buying? I see the 880GMA-E55 (difference seems to be an extra audio port and firewire) on hardwareversand.
It has USB 3 and SATA 6Gbps. I think it would be a good idea to consider USB 3 from now on. I'm seeing plenty of hard drive enclosures in stock now and flash drives are starting to make an appearance too.

When you say that you plan to use it for gaming in the future, what do you plan to use it for now?

Stainless_Steel

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

tbh with your budget you should look into getting a phenom set up its more value for money

Thanks.

Or is it worth bumping up the budget another bit to go the Intel i5 route???

Stainless_Steel

Monotype wrote: »

What about the MSI 880GMA-E45? Where are you buying? I see the 880GMA-E55 (difference seems to be an extra audio port and firewire) on hardwareversand.
It has USB 3 and SATA 6Gbps. I think it would be a good idea to consider USB 3 from now on. I'm seeing plenty of hard drive enclosures in stock now and flash drives are starting to make an appearance too.

When you say that you plan to use it for gaming in the future, what do you plan to use it for now?

That board seems to have all I need!

For now I would be just using the machine as a file/media server and doing the usual web, music, video tasks so nothing major. To be honest I'd go straight for the gaming setup if i could afford the GPU right now but i can't.

So the general consensus seems to favour the AMD platform?

Monotype

I'd say to skip the GPU now so and put it towards processor or your next GPU. The 4250 on that board is actually quite reasonable and can handle older games (e.g., source engine) at 720p easily enough.

Windows 7 64-bit HP OEM
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29181
€85

Phenom II X6 1055T
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=34042
€145

MSI 880GMA-E55
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=42047
€83

DVD drive
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=27402
€17

4GB-Kit GEIL DDR3-1600 CL8
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38484
€42

Delivery €30

That's €400 total. You could get something like a 5770 to make the €500, but you might be better off saving and getting a €200 GPU in a few months.

Stainless_Steel

Thanks very much monotype!

400 is in the price range and I'm pleasantly surprised with the spec it achieves.

IrishMetalhead

out of curiosity what case have you chosen for this build?

Edit: also you should defo get a cpu cooler aswell when you go for your future gpu set up
(Recommend a hd6850, hd6870 or gtx560 for gpu upgrade)

Monotype

Also, what about the PSU?

Stainless_Steel

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

out of curiosity what case have you chosen for this build?

Edit: also you should defo get a cpu cooler aswell when you go for your future gpu set up
(Recommend a hd6850, hd6870 or gtx560 for gpu upgrade)

The case is an Antec P180 mini tower. Got it from a friend who didn't want to go ahead with his build. Tis a high quality case (based on my little knowledge admittedly).

Thanks for the recommendations and advice on the cooler!

Stainless_Steel

Monotype wrote: »

Also, what about the PSU?

Woooops!!!! I totally forgot about that!

Corsair or soundflower? What rating would make me future proof in terms of possible high quality GPU and headroom for a couple more HDDs?

old_aussie

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Really need help...getting bogged down with the different combinations!

Do I need to get a board with SATA600 to take advantage of a possible future upgrade to SSD? Is it worth getting one with USB3.0 capability?

The faster SSDs plug into PCIe.

Definitely get USB 3.0

Get a Sandy Bridge MoBo and new series CPU, much better performance.

Gigabyte MoBo's are usually good value.

Monotype

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Woooops!!!! I totally forgot about that!

Corsair or soundflower? What rating would make me future proof in terms of possible high quality GPU and headroom for a couple more HDDs?

Superflower? If you're shopping with hardwareversand, you might as well get the 550W Superflower amazon.
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30069

That would give you plenty of room for a decent GPU.

Corsair's lower end are rubbish.

Stainless_Steel

Yep meant superflower!

Thanks for all your help, will revert as I progress!

IrishMetalhead

woulkdn't listen to old aaussir about getting a sandy-bridge instead because while they are good cpu's they wouldn't exactly be ideal for your budget plus they abit overpriced atm imo because amd havn't released there bulldozer cpu's yet so as of yet the sandy-bridge has no compition so they havn't priced them right yet

dolihalix

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

woulkdn't listen to old aaussir about getting a sandy-bridge instead because while they are good cpu's they wouldn't exactly be ideal for your budget plus they abit overpriced atm imo because amd havn't released there bulldozer cpu's yet so as of yet the sandy-bridge has no compition so they havn't priced them right yet

it's a bit off-topic, but do you reckon they'll go down with the prices? They started off at around 220 and are now down to 180, but once the new motherboards are everywhere I'd think they will go back to around 200..i5-760, as great as it is was selling for 180 even after sandy bridge came out..I mean, it still does.

IrishMetalhead

there prices will defo drop to a realistic price when amd's bulldozer line comes out but that won't be till this summer, while they have dropped in price since they first came out i still can't see myself spending that much money when you consider where each model is supose to fit in there line so myself i'm gonna wait for the price to drop more or for 2011 socket boars at the end of the year =P

old_aussie

dolihalix wrote: »

i5-760, as great as it is was selling for 180 even after sandy bridge came out..I mean, it still does.

i5-760 will not fit in a Sandy bridge MoBo

i5-760 is 1156 pin and Sandy Bridge is 1155 pin.

OP you better off buying new technology than buying something that is several years old.

Monotype

I believe that it was a reference to the fact that 1156 prices haven't really dropped. They don't drop the price of old technology especially after production of them has stopped/curtailed. There's good money to be made from people upgrading from i3s etc.

Fnz

Monotype wrote: »

I'd say to skip the GPU now so and put it towards processor or your next GPU.

Tired, so I'll just mention "Sandybridge" and leave you to figure out my question/suggestion...

Basically, would Stainless be better off with the Sandybridge chipset due to its impressive onboard graphics performance?

Might be way more expensive... I haven't done the math.

Edit: looks like I didn't read the whole thread.

Monotype

Well I suppose you could go down the H67 route and do without the graphics card at the moment, but in my opinion, the greatest strength of sandy bridge is the overclockability of the 2500K + P67. If you were to go down the 2500K + P67, it would cost more and you'd also need the GPU. You could still go down the H67 route without the GPU and have a good future of upgradability. I'm looking forward to Z67 to get the best of both worlds.

IrishMetalhead

only down side to the h67 it takes away the amazing overclockability that you get with the sadnybridge so i'd just go with the phenom we suggested earlier as the onboard video isn't bad atll in regards to media use plus you can use the spare cash you saved to save towards an amazing gpu