Best Of Tom’s Hardware: Beginner’s Guide To Motherboard Selection

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Seeing how I just built my first computer a couple days ago, this article came a little too late for me 😛

Could've made my purchasing alot more quicker and painless.
 
Top choices for motherboards right now: Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI. Gigabyte is really the way to go, but there are a few Asus and MSI configs that you might prefer.
 
[citation][nom]quantumrand[/nom]Top choices for motherboards right now: Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI. Gigabyte is really the way to go, but there are a few Asus and MSI configs that you might prefer.[/citation]

What about EVGA?
 
[citation][nom]quantumrand[/nom]Top choices for motherboards right now: Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI. Gigabyte is really the way to go, but there are a few Asus and MSI configs that you might prefer.[/citation]

ah yes i got a got a msi 790fx gd70 with a combo from newegg (phenom II 955)and i absolutly love it. The best part is the overclocking utilities
you can overclock fuckin everything in 5 min or less. Then i got another motherboard from zotac for 60 bucks (before rebate) and it died on me in less than a month and i'm still waiting on a rebate.
 
[citation][nom]one-shot[/nom]What about EVGA?[/citation]

I'll let you in on a little secret: EVGA motherboards are a pain to overclock. Since that's EVGA's market, it's kind of a big deal. As an inexperienced manufacturer they're learning quickly, so hopefully we'll see the kinks worked out pretty soon.
 
Great article for beginners. A quick browse through newegg, and I've built with every brand except EVGA, ZOTAC, and XFX (EVGA and XFX for graphics cards though). I've consistently gone with ASUS for my own and Gigabyte for customers when at all possible. I prefer ASUS for the best overall quality and Gigabyte usually provides the best value. I'm seeing a lot of comments for MSI lately, though I've never put them in the same league.
 
This is a great reference article Crash. Lots of great info about chipsets, but I think the spot for socket type should be made long before choosing a mobo when spec'ing a rig. Is this part of Pauls "Balanced" articles?
 
it takes long time to read all the information here but its all good to know for 1st time builder, love it. will there be some other advice like how to keep the case cool ( how to point the fans and where )?
 
Very good article, currently I have a MSI K9A2 Platinum and works very good with my X4 955. I'm waiting for Fermi to change my mobo and RAM, and I would get an ASUS or Gigabyte...or maybe the 790FX-GD70.

EVGA build excellent mobos, the problem is that only are for Intel processors and are very expensive ($499.99), with that price you can get the half of a good rig.
 
I had that Gigabyte X48T-DQ6... twice. Both had some kind of error that screwed up my internet connection, so I finally switched to an ASUS P5Q Deluxe. No more problems since.
 
I've had excellent results from ASRock, who seem to offer pretty high bang/buck. Even Foxconn is using more solid caps now, and doing so is probably what has allowed MSI to improve its quality image.
 
I ones got a MSI board (like 5 years ago) and it was superb for reliability never dies and then I sold it. Now I got an EVGA and it is good.

Waiting for USB 3.0 to go mainstream in boards to upgrade my mobo. I think right now is the best choice for future proof.
 
Very nice article. It does include considerations when making a purchase and includes many details about components and all sorts of choices. Already forwarded it to a few people for reading - mostly people who want to know more, but no idea where to start.

I hope you keep up this series - detailed articles to help beginners make decisions. This could be the starting point for many people

Thanks again.
 
Thank you so mch for this article, I was just writing a list of parts that my uncle should by for a good gaming rig, and i got totally lost on the motherboard selection. I ended up choosing a P55 mobo because everyones says its a good one for i5 (MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard). I dont know if I'll change it but I'll use this great article to review my list.
THX:)
 
EVGA ftw... you can't beat them for features and their warranty support\customer service -at least that has been my experience.
 
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