Ok, I'm not really clued-up on PCs nowadays (not built one for over 2 years) and am stuck on which motherboard to get for my new system.
I'll be using it for watching videos and TV, rendering video files to DVD, playing games, music, CAD and some MatLab as well as the basics, word processing, internet etc.
I'm thinking about a Core2Quad, maybe a Q9400S, for my processor but when it comes to my motherboard, I'm a bit stuck on choosing the right one...
Ideally it will have: 2x PCI-E for my GPUs, at least 2x PCI for my network and TV cards.
Also, I'm not sure what RAM to go for. Is it worth getting one with DDR3 (making it "future-proof") or stick with DDR2?
Cheers.
Steve
What Motherboard?
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jessekopelman
- Posts: 1406
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:28 pm
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Re: What Motherboard?
Stick with DDR2. DDR3 still has a long way to go before the price is right -- by then you may be ready to upgrade the MB. Really, to make the MB future-proof it would have to support one of the new Intel sockets like 1366 (i7) or 1156 (i5). Unfortunately, socket 775 is in the last year or two of its mainstream-useful life, so I'd be wary of spending too much on such a MB.steevie_b wrote: Also, I'm not sure what RAM to go for. Is it worth getting one with DDR3 (making it "future-proof") or stick with DDR2?
For the same reason, I wouldn't bother with the Q9550. The i5 should be out before the end of this year, so why spend a lot on what will soon be a previous generation processor? I think unless you really need cutting edge power, it is always better to buy something just powerful enough to get by for a couple of years (which will be in the pricing sweet spot) and just keep upgrading as it makes sense to do so. Since we are still at least a year from the i5 stuff being a good deal, stick with your socket 775 based plans, just stay more to the midrange and accept you will likely want to replace CPU, MB, and RAM all together. Q9400 will serve you fine for many years on the entertainment front, so the real driver for when you next need to upgrade is going to be the CAD and Matlab. You may even want to consider if you wouldn't be better served with an E8400 -- faster for some usage cases than a Q9400 and much less expensive.
jessekopelman has a lot of good points, I'll add and reinforce some.
Don't bother with a quad-core unless you have an application that can actually use it.
DDR3 isn't really future proof, since, without doubt, the speeds will go up by the time you upgrade.
DDR3 isn't really faster than DDR2 for Socket 775:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory ... undup.html
Right now I think the choices are DDR2/dual core if on a budget; DDR3/ i-7 if you need better performance and have more to spend.
Don't bother with a quad-core unless you have an application that can actually use it.
DDR3 isn't really future proof, since, without doubt, the speeds will go up by the time you upgrade.
DDR3 isn't really faster than DDR2 for Socket 775:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory ... undup.html
Right now I think the choices are DDR2/dual core if on a budget; DDR3/ i-7 if you need better performance and have more to spend.
Plug into your nVidia board: One USB keyboard. One USB mouse. One USB joystick. One USB steering wheel. One USB microphone. Watch as it flaps about and fails to recognise them all.Koomoo wrote:I see.
I've had nVidia chipset motherboards in the past and i also have one currently at the moment.
and none has given me any of the problems you described.
I would still take nVidia chipsets into consideration.
=]
-KooMooX
I have
1 usb keyboard
1 usb mouse
1 usb headset
1 usb external hard drive
1 usb printer
1 usb webcam
connected all at once
I usually plug in and out my Thumb drives and also a MicroSD Reader for my R4 for my Nintendo DS.
No problems so far.
I'll let you know when a problem does occur.
nVidia chipsets are nice.
I would still recommend them to anyone =]
-KooMooX
1 usb keyboard
1 usb mouse
1 usb headset
1 usb external hard drive
1 usb printer
1 usb webcam
connected all at once
I usually plug in and out my Thumb drives and also a MicroSD Reader for my R4 for my Nintendo DS.
No problems so far.
I'll let you know when a problem does occur.
nVidia chipsets are nice.
I would still recommend them to anyone =]
-KooMooX
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~El~Jefe~
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Eh, I believe the nvidia chipsets draw more wattage.
shrugs.
I would go with an Asus board. p45 chipset. p35 is lower wattage but over a year older. p45 is now a year old. p35 is great though.
I use a p5q se2. its a slim atx board. I have 2x2gb of ocz ram at 1066 with 5 5 5 15 timings. e8400 chip. plays games like a rocket ship.
ddr3 can ONLY be bought in sets of 3 to use in the new i7 systems. buying 4x2 ddr3 would mean you need to be a 3rd chip for i7.
ddr2 1066mhz ram. go look for a great brand and maybe a lower voltage rating on the 1066 speed. I use mine at 2.2volts. I could go lower, but its rated at that and I dont want to see errors for .1 or .2 voltage difference on a minor wattage part.
shrugs.
I would go with an Asus board. p45 chipset. p35 is lower wattage but over a year older. p45 is now a year old. p35 is great though.
I use a p5q se2. its a slim atx board. I have 2x2gb of ocz ram at 1066 with 5 5 5 15 timings. e8400 chip. plays games like a rocket ship.
ddr3 can ONLY be bought in sets of 3 to use in the new i7 systems. buying 4x2 ddr3 would mean you need to be a 3rd chip for i7.
ddr2 1066mhz ram. go look for a great brand and maybe a lower voltage rating on the 1066 speed. I use mine at 2.2volts. I could go lower, but its rated at that and I dont want to see errors for .1 or .2 voltage difference on a minor wattage part.