Mobos are beyond me ... please recommend me one!

[malefic]

Hi,

My PC self-destructed yesterday, so I need a new one, both to use and to hook my old HDDs to in order that I may salvage the data off them.

The intricacies of motherboards are way over my head, to put it simply. I have a system 90% put together, and if someone could recommend me a compatible motherboard, that would be splendid.

If you happen to notice that any of my pre-chosen components are not compatible with one another, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know; but otherwise I am not really looking for suggestions, because I've chosen them out of a limited selection from a local retailer within the confines of my budget (plus I'm in Canada, which makes things more expensive and more difficult to find).

Here goes ... I'm just pasting the component info off their website, so I trust all the necessary information will be included.

CASE:
Enermax ECA3162-B Phoenix Neo ATX Mid Tower Case

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Quad-Core Socket LGA775, 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm (Retail Box) (BX80580Q9400)

MOTHERBOARD:
????????????????????

MEMORY:
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) 240pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (TW3X4G1333C9DHX)

HARD DRIVE:
Seagate Barracuda (ST31000528AS) 7200.12 SATA 3.0Gb/s 1000GB (1TB) 32MB Cache (OEM)

VIDEO CARD:
BFG GeForce GTX 275 (BFGEGTX275896OCE) Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 Chipset (Mhz) Shader Clock (Mhz) 896MB GDDR3 (Mhz) Dual Dual-Link DVI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card

SOUND CARD:
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card (VARPak) (30SB104200000)

POWER SUPPLY:
Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 600W Power Supply (RS600-PCARE3-US)

CPU COOLING:
Scythe NINJA 2

WIRELESS ADAPTER:
D-Link DWA-552 Xtreme N Desktop Adapter - Network adapter - PCI - 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft)

CD/DVD:
LG GH22NS30 Black SATA DVD-Writer 22xDVD+R/-R 8xDVD+RW/6xDVD-RW 16xDVD+R DL 12xDVD-R DL 48x CD-R 32xCD-RW OEM

O/S:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit (OEM)

----------------

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tcsenter]

Dual PCI-E x16 slots:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128369


Single PCI-E x16 slot:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128371

 

[malefic]

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but what's the difference between those two? How do I know which one I want?

 

[jandlecack]

Do you plan on running SLI anytime in the future? With that same motherboard you're getting now?

That's how you know.

Edit: Or Crossfire. That board actually doesn't appear to be SLI certified. Might still work though.

 

[malefic]

I found it for $131.99 Canadian at my local place:

Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR Socket 775 Intel P45 + ICH10R Dual-Channel DDR3 2000+/1333/1066/800Mhz GigaLAN 7.1-Ch HD Audio 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s Support 1600Mhz FSB ATX

- or -

If it's in the budget, would this one be better for $172? (I'm kind of arbitrarily assuming more expensive = better in this case, but ASUS is a more familiar brand to me)

Asus P5Q PRO Turbo Socket 775 Intel P45 + ICH10R Chipset Dual-Channel DDR2 1300/1200/1066/800MHz Gigabit LAN 8-Ch HD Audio 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slots 5x SATA 3Gb/s 12x USB 2.0 ATX

 

[jandlecack]

Well if you've settled for P45 then SLi is most likely a no-go but Crossfire might work. Ultimately it depends on what makes more sense to you. Do you want dual graphics cards at any point or not?

If that's a no, then I'd rather go with the Gigabyte because of the price difference. The P5Q Pro Turbo is a tad bit too expensive in comparison. The P5Q Pro by itself would be the better choice in any case though.

 

[oseven]

Hey - instead of starting a new thread, I'm just gonna hi-jack this one, as we are in the same boat, malefic All other components I can grasp, if I spend enough time reading tech-articles, but motherboards are difficult.

I am a gamer, so as I understand it, my money is better spent on GPU, memory etc., than on the motherboard - so the exercise is choosing the exact motherboard that won't inhibit performance from the rest of my rig.

But the articles often seem to praise motherboards for their ability to overclock, sli/crossfire-compatibility and for compatibility with future CPU's. These are all qualities, that I don't care about: I don't (i.e. know how to) OC, I'm probably never going to try sli/crossfire, and when I do upgrade my CPU, I upgrade my motherboard at the same time.

I'm planning on an Antec P182 case, with a CPU Phenom II X3 720 BE and GPU probably an overclocked radeon 4870, maybe a 4890. Memory comes after the motherboard.

Any tips on what I need? Maybe pointers to any up-to-date "motherboards-for-dummies"-articles?

Thanks in advance.

 

[elconejito]

@malefic
!!!!!! The P5Q turbo you have listed supports **DDR2** RAM, not **DDR3** which you have listed in your first post.

If you are going to go with DDR2, then I'd highly recommend the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R. The Asus P5Q series is very nice too though.

If you stay with DDR3 RAM then you can't go with that particular Asus.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: oseven
Hey - instead of starting a new thread, I'm just gonna hi-jack this one, as we are in the same boat, malefic All other components I can grasp, if I spend enough time reading tech-articles, but motherboards are difficult.

I am a gamer, so as I understand it, my money is better spent on GPU, memory etc., than on the motherboard - so the exercise is choosing the exact motherboard that won't inhibit performance from the rest of my rig.

But the articles often seem to praise motherboards for their ability to overclock, sli/crossfire-compatibility and for compatibility with future CPU's. These are all qualities, that I don't care about: I don't (i.e. know how to) OC, I'm probably never going to try sli/crossfire, and when I do upgrade my CPU, I upgrade my motherboard at the same time.

I'm planning on an Antec P182 case, with a CPU Phenom II X3 720 BE and GPU probably an overclocked radeon 4870, maybe a 4890. Memory comes after the motherboard.

Any tips on what I need? Maybe pointers to any up-to-date "motherboards-for-dummies"-articles?

Thanks in advance.

you're better off starting a new thread. he's building an intel system, you are going AMD.