Looking for a motherboard

[alfa147x]

So this is the first time in almost 7 years i am looking to put together a new PC
(I have a macbook, and a PC running an AMD 1500+)

Ok so any recommendations will be loved
Big intel fan here
Im going to get an C2D
around 70$ ish (can be more)
it would be nice if OSX X86 ran smooth on it but thats not a biggie
full size ATX
Not going to be over-clocking
my budget is 70$ for the mobo

Im looking at the E8400 for a cpu
a recommendation on the cpu would be nice too!
thanks!

 

[krunt]

well, p35 boards may be a bit out of the price range, depending on what cpu you go with, but I just finished a post on the budget P35 boards here

Bottom line as far as P35 boards go, if you are not overclcoking, then they all perform the same. Just go with the price (rebates) / features you want.

As for CPU, anything that starts with an E and is followed by four numbers is probably what you want. They scale pretty evenly with price/performance.


E2200 and a Abit IP35-E = ~$190 and has a $30 rebate. Just an example, not a die-hard recommendation.

 

[alfa147x]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819117103 i like that CPU

and this mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121313R
and looking at
2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820211063

and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822152022
all with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127292

 

[krunt]

What are you going to be using this computer for?

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: krunt
What are you going to be using this computer for?

um just some video editing, file server, F@H, a game once in a while...

Should I go with a core 2 duo instead of a xeon ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5004%2CN82E16819117103

 

[krunt]

Originally posted by: alfa147x
Should I go with a core 2 duo instead of a xeon ?

All else being equal, usually yes (or at least it won't hurt). In that case I would take the e6400. I am not familiar enough with the Xeon line of C2Ds but my guess would be that they are almost exactly the same, but the Xeon would have one or two features disabled.
So take the e6400.

As per your other component choices. I am not going to too critical because I do not know the brands that well, the Ram for instance may be fine, but i usually go with a more name brand. Kingston, crucial, etc...

Only part i can comment on is the motherboard. For whatever reason the intel boards are rarely as good, features and performance wise, as the other companies. Never used one myself, just going off of reviews and what i have read on forums and the such.

Lastly, take any newegg review with a grain of salt. Could be the poster knows their machine inside and out, could be that they just figured out how to install ram. Who knows.... At least the folks who come to this site are a self selecting group. They still may not know a damn thing (myself included) but there is a better chance they have a clue.

If you are doing any gaming, go with something on a p35 chipset, at least you have room to upgrade graphics cards and cpus. Alternativly, if you are on a very short budget find something with a semi-decent onboard VGA. Save you some bucks and it should still be able to run some games (obviously other games will be beyond the reach of such cards,)

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: krunt

Originally posted by: alfa147x
Should I go with a core 2 duo instead of a xeon ?

All else being equal, usually yes (or at least it won't hurt). In that case I would take the e6400. I am not familiar enough with the Xeon line of C2Ds but my guess would be that they are almost exactly the same, but the Xeon would have one or two features disabled.
So take the e6400.

As per your other component choices. I am not going to too critical because I do not know the brands that well, the Ram for instance may be fine, but i usually go with a more name brand. Kingston, crucial, etc...

Only part i can comment on is the motherboard. For whatever reason the intel boards are rarely as good, features and performance wise, as the other companies. Never used one myself, just going off of reviews and what i have read on forums and the such.

Lastly, take any newegg review with a grain of salt. Could be the poster knows their machine inside and out, could be that they just figured out how to install ram. Who knows.... At least the folks who come to this site are a self selecting group. They still may not know a damn thing (myself included) but there is a better chance they have a clue.

If you are doing any gaming, go with something on a p35 chipset, at least you have room to upgrade graphics cards and cpus. Alternativly, if you are on a very short budget find something with a semi-decent onboard VGA. Save you some bucks and it should still be able to run some games (obviously other games will be beyond the reach of such cards,)

great help, for the cpu ill post in the cpu section

thanks!

 

[alfa147x]

ok i know to look for the p35 but does it support E8400?
any recommended mobos for it?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Why are you looking for a P35 with 45nm support? o.o I think an x48 is a wiser choice since you get ddr3 and the 45nm support.

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Why are you looking for a P35 with 45nm support? o.o I think an x48 is a wiser choice since you get ddr3 and the 45nm support.

I thought the p35 was the best chip set available
i have no idea what x48 is...
thanks for helping

 

[krnmastersgt]

Lol after reading the rest of the posts, you're trying to build a budget system? X48 boards tends to be a little pricey since they are the newest Intel chipset boards. Telling me an estimated price limit would help me recommend a board + compatible cpu o.o

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Lol after reading the rest of the posts, you're trying to build a budget system? X48 boards tends to be a little pricey since they are the newest Intel chipset boards. Telling me an estimated price limit would help me recommend a board + compatible cpu o.o

Oh ok

im looking at 70$ ish on the motherboard
i was told by the people on the CPU forum to get the E8400 when it comes out
im fine with using open box things from newegg

 

[krnmastersgt]

Mmmm for 70 I'd have to say Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, really stable board and not too expensive, a tad more than the 70 you were shooting for but stability is pretty important, also the performance for the price is pretty nice too since you don't plan on doing any heavy gaming. As for compatibility with the Wolfdales, I'm not sure if they can support 45 nm chips, you should ask someone that ones the board and see if they've tried maybe with a BIOS flash or something. And what was the price you were aiming for on the cpu anyways?

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Mmmm for 70 I'd have to say Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, really stable board and not too expensive, a tad more than the 70 you were shooting for but stability is pretty important, also the performance for the price is pretty nice too since you don't plan on doing any heavy gaming. As for compatibility with the Wolfdales, I'm not sure if they can support 45 nm chips, you should ask someone that ones the board and see if they've tried maybe with a BIOS flash or something. And what was the price you were aiming for on the cpu anyways?

I was really looking for 250$ for both but I can do 270$

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well the board seems to be about maybe 100 if you count shipping? Depends on where you buy it from I suppose, maybe a retailer that carries it for a low price, anyways that leaves about 150-170 for the cpu but you could probably suffice on an E2140, easily overclocks to 2.4+ from what I hear, you should probably invest a tad more in a higher quality ram since ram can be the cause of a massive headache. However if you don't want to overclock and just want to run the cpu at stock speeds I'd have to say the E4500. Hope that helped a bit :x

Edit: Seems like the GA-P35-DS3L is compatible with 45nm, so if you want you could get this board and the E8400 up to you on how to spend your money though ^^

 

[krunt]

Well, i went away for a bit and you went from dirt cheep cpu's to the same high end one i am building a system around. Well, high end as in reasonably priced high end. If you are set on going with the e8400 then take a look at the post i originally linked too. To sum it up here, your choices are basically

Gigabyte GA-p35-DS3l
DFI Infinity p35 BLOOD IRON
ASUS P5K variant
MSI NEO2-FR/FIR p35
Abit IP35-E

All can be had for around $70-$120 depending on rebates and the like. By the way, not to jump into the CPU discussion, but the E8400 is not that much better, though it is better, then the E6850 and E6750, which should fall in price once the E8XXXs are established. Whether that is a week or a month i don't know, but as you started out on a budget rig you may want to save some money that way.

Of the 5 motherboards, at stock settings they are virtually indistinguishable. Furthermore they all overclock well. (someone is going to jump in and say that the XX board only does a push to 520mhz fsb while YYY does 580. Ok, when the stock settings is a 333 I call it a great job for all of them. I think we can say that on air cooling, they will all overclock just about the same. Therefore the only difference is features and some compatibility issues.

Anandtech is coming out with a review soon on the five boards. The gigabyte abit and MSI are the favorites. They have already given a silver award to the MSI and that review will give awards to the gigabyte and the abit as well. You may want to wait for the review to come out before you decide, but who knows when that will be.

I like the Neo2 FR because it has the features I want in my board. There are pros and cons to each of them though, for me i wanted eSATA and the others either did not offer it or had some other problems I did not want to deal with. In the end, if you cannot decide which board is best for you then it is because the small differences they contain don't matter to you so just pick one and you will be fine.

Almost forgot to ad, from my research I have it on good standing that the NEO2 will boot a 45nm on the out of the box bios. Other motherboards may or may not. See, they all have new bios, but the boards may ship with an old bios on them. If the bios is too old it may not recognize the e8400. In which case you can't flash the bios without jumping through more hoops, basically getting an older cpu in there just to flash the bios. This is an issue that I did not want to deal with and I am confident that the NEO2 will not have this problem. The other boards, you will have to look into it.

 

[alfa147x]

wow thanks for the help
but a question more

How can I figure out if a mobo has 45nm support?

 

[krnmastersgt]

They tend to advertise it on the ads or the box if it has native 45nm support, however if you can't find that out from the ads then you could always google reviews of the board and see if it has a bios update to be 45nm compatible.