Hi all,
I tried to search for an updated thread that might answer my question, but with no luck, so if there is one, forgive this thread. I want to build a desktop somewhat on a budget, but I don't want to skimp on the motherboard. Basically, I'm happy to use a cheap CPU for now and upgrade in the future, but I'd like to get the best motherboard for my needs. Keeping this in mind, I have seen the Asus Crossfire IV and the Maximus Gene III (I'd ideally build an mATX machine). So ultimately, my decision comes to AMD versus Intel. With AMD, I can buy a cheap Athlon or Phenom II CPU for now, and then hopefully drop in a Bulldozer-based CPU or Phenom II X6 in the future, but with Intel I'm forced into a more expensive (up-front, at least) situation. As foolish as future-proofing is as a concept, do you think one of these scenarios would be better? Also, if I wanted an mATX build in either case, what mobo would you suggest? I do game, but it's only occasionally (SC2, Football Manager, etc), while most of my work will be regular/heavy multitasking and some engineering computation. This would be my first build, so I'm not really sure what I need to look for in a mobo, but I would like to at least have USB 3.0 support. Thanks for reading the long post and I appreciate any response!
Cheers.
I tried to search for an updated thread that might answer my question, but with no luck, so if there is one, forgive this thread. I want to build a desktop somewhat on a budget, but I don't want to skimp on the motherboard. Basically, I'm happy to use a cheap CPU for now and upgrade in the future, but I'd like to get the best motherboard for my needs. Keeping this in mind, I have seen the Asus Crossfire IV and the Maximus Gene III (I'd ideally build an mATX machine). So ultimately, my decision comes to AMD versus Intel. With AMD, I can buy a cheap Athlon or Phenom II CPU for now, and then hopefully drop in a Bulldozer-based CPU or Phenom II X6 in the future, but with Intel I'm forced into a more expensive (up-front, at least) situation. As foolish as future-proofing is as a concept, do you think one of these scenarios would be better? Also, if I wanted an mATX build in either case, what mobo would you suggest? I do game, but it's only occasionally (SC2, Football Manager, etc), while most of my work will be regular/heavy multitasking and some engineering computation. This would be my first build, so I'm not really sure what I need to look for in a mobo, but I would like to at least have USB 3.0 support. Thanks for reading the long post and I appreciate any response!
Cheers.