Hey,
I've been reading the forums here as well as articles on AnandTech and other sites THG, etc. I'm a first-time PC Builder but I'm an embedded software engineer by trade so am very familiar with CPUs themselves but not much else in a desktop setup.
Intended use: Programming, Web, and moderate gaming such as Warcraft, etc...not really into shooters but might play occasionally. I will not be overclocking either.
After reading for about a week I've decided on an Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester core and now need to try and find a good motherboard. I have decided to go with a chipset that offers PCI Express but want to get confirmation from you pros out there that this is a good idea over AGP. THe reason I ask is that elsewhere I read that since the boards that support PCI express are new this might not be the best idea.
Assuming you agree I should go for PCI Express, it seems that from what I read two of them stand out- the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum and the Gigabyte K8nXP-9. The gigabyte seems pricier but I wouldn't mind buying that if you guys suggest it is worth it. What motherboard would you guys recommend, even if it's not one of the two above?
On a related-note, if I want to buy a case with front USB ports what kind of support do I need from the mobo to allow for this?
Thanks for your time and help!
I've been reading the forums here as well as articles on AnandTech and other sites THG, etc. I'm a first-time PC Builder but I'm an embedded software engineer by trade so am very familiar with CPUs themselves but not much else in a desktop setup.
Intended use: Programming, Web, and moderate gaming such as Warcraft, etc...not really into shooters but might play occasionally. I will not be overclocking either.
After reading for about a week I've decided on an Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester core and now need to try and find a good motherboard. I have decided to go with a chipset that offers PCI Express but want to get confirmation from you pros out there that this is a good idea over AGP. THe reason I ask is that elsewhere I read that since the boards that support PCI express are new this might not be the best idea.
Assuming you agree I should go for PCI Express, it seems that from what I read two of them stand out- the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum and the Gigabyte K8nXP-9. The gigabyte seems pricier but I wouldn't mind buying that if you guys suggest it is worth it. What motherboard would you guys recommend, even if it's not one of the two above?
On a related-note, if I want to buy a case with front USB ports what kind of support do I need from the mobo to allow for this?
Thanks for your time and help!
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