First time ever building and So worried about Motherboard

[yocheco619]

Hello everyone, so yeah this is going to be my first ever build. I'm operating on a small budget of $700. I have been looking at the System Builder Marathons like crazy and after a month of trying to figure out what motherboard to get, I simply cant decide. The reason is that every time I come across one, I look into the reviews and their are a good amount of people who rate the motherboard horribly. So, I figure lets give this a shot and ask all of you:
What mother board is:

1.
At a decent price (less than $130 preferably)

2.
Crossfire ready, I want to be able to double up the graphics card in the future and overclock when the need arises. Only looking to handle Empire total war, CS:source and Left4dead as of now.

3.
Compatible with the E8400 core 2 duo

The case I have landed on is the Rosewill Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P YE, the same one they used in the $1,250 System Builder marathon (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-2-overclock,2146-4.html)

Also the memory sticks I idiotically already purchased are the 4 GB G.SKILL HK DDR2-800, the same memory in the $1,250 system builder marathon.

I'm not gonna lie, I am pretty freakin scared of building one right now all the bad reviews of these motherboards.
Thanks for your time guys, any insight would be great.

 

[battlemarz]

Asus P5Q Pro or Gigabyte UD3P. Both great boards.

 

[MykC]

Either of those boards are fantastic.

Have you bought the system yet? If not AMD offers more performance at the same price at the price range you have. If not, let us know and will help you out. A lot has changed since the $625 build was posted.

By filling out this questionaire you will be helping us help you.

1. What is your budget? Does this include shipping and taxes?
2. What will you be using your comptuer for? Games, what type of games? Casual usage internet, movies, music, MS Office? Work related, Photoshop, video editting, CAD?
3. What parts do you already have? Keyboard/mouse, speakers, Windows OS, monitor (what size is it)?
4. Are you able to order from www.newegg.com? If not, what country will you be ordering from?
5. Do you have any brand loyalties? AMD vs Intel, ATI vs Nvidia, Asus vs Gigabyte or are you a best performance for my money
6. Will you be overclocking your CPU?
7. Do you want a system that supports crossfire or SLI?
8. When do you plan to build it?

 

[dirtmountain]

^ good choices. You really have to take the Newegg reviews with a grain of salt. You'll see someone saying "this is my second/3rd/4th board that was DOA i'll never buy from them again!" or in other words "i can't buy a clue and actually reading the manual is too much work for me"
Get a quality motherboard, read and understand the manual, take things one step at a time and you'll be fine.

 

[yocheco619]

Either of those boards are fantastic.

Have you bought the system yet? If not AMD offers more performance at the same price at the price range you have. If not, let us know and will help you out. A lot has changed since the $625 build was posted.

By filling out this questionaire you will be helping us help you.

1. What is your budget? Does this include shipping and taxes?
2. What will you be using your comptuer for? Games, what type of games? Casual usage internet, movies, music, MS Office? Work related, Photoshop, video editting, CAD?
3. What parts do you already have? Keyboard/mouse, speakers, Windows OS, monitor (what size is it)?
4. Are you able to order from www.newegg.com? If not, what country will you be ordering from?
5. Do you have any brand loyalties? AMD vs Intel, ATI vs Nvidia, Asus vs Gigabyte or are you a best performance for my money
6. Will you be overclocking your CPU?
7. Do you want a system that supports crossfire or SLI?
8. When do you plan to build it?

Thanks for the guidance. Extremely appreciated.
1. My budget is to top out at $700 counting shipping (no tax in Florida)

2. I will be using this PC for games such as World In Conflict, Empire Total War, Left4Dead, and CounterStrike Source. Also, Internet(movies,social-networking,yahoo), Itunes, MSStudent and thats all.

3. I need to get keyboard&Mouse (I'm not to picky have been using dell mouse for gaming that came wit old pentium), Speakers dont need have headset, My friend can hook me up with OS, and the monitor is the ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor.

4. I have pre-picked some stuff from newegg already and have ordered the monitor already from them.

5. No brand loyalty. I am however sold to the E8400 for 169.99 on newegg.

6. I eventually plan on overclocking as the need arises.

7. A would prefer a system with crossfire support as I have been seeing that ATI gives good bang for the buck. However, If cost efficient, Ill go with SLI.

8. Well I am getting close to building it, Hopefully start building by at least early April.

 

[yocheco619]

Asus P5Q Pro or Gigabyte UD3P. Both great boards.

Will the memory sticks I purchased already work with those? =/ (the ones I bought are ddr2 800, While both Mboards have a standard thats higher, Also the Gigabyte one does not say it supports crossfire. =/

 

[yocheco619]

^ good choices. You really have to take the Newegg reviews with a grain of salt. You'll see someone saying "this is my second/3rd/4th board that was DOA i'll never buy from them again!" or in other words "i can't buy a clue and actually reading the manual is too much work for me"
Get a quality motherboard, read and understand the manual, take things one step at a time and you'll be fine.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it tremendously.

 

[battlemarz]

Will the memory sticks I purchased already work with those? =/ (the ones I bought are ddr2 800, While both Mboards have a standard thats higher, Also the Gigabyte one does not say it supports crossfire. =/

DDR2 800 will work perfectly, when the motherboard lists higher it just means it will support up to those. And the UD3P will do crossfire, it doesn't list it on Newegg, but a quick Google search will show you it can.

 

[yocheco619]

DDR2 800 will work perfectly, when the motherboard lists higher it just means it will support up to those. And the UD3P will do crossfire, it doesn't list it on Newegg, but a quick Google search will show you it can.

What does it mean when a motherboard specs, such as the Gigabyte UD3P, show that

"2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16
(one running at x16 model, another one running at x8 model)?"

 

[battlemarz]

What does it mean when a motherboard specs, such as the Gigabyte UD3P, show that

"2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16
(one running at x16 model, another one running at x8 model)?"

That means that one graphics card will run at x16 and when you add the second it will run only at x8. All p45 boards are like this. It isn't a large difference when running two cards at x16 as opposed to one at x16 and one at x8. If you want to have two running at x16 then you have to go x48 and that will be over budget and not worthwhile, especially because you will need DDR3 and at that point you might as well go i7.

 

[Why_Me]

Hello everyone, so yeah this is going to be my first ever build. I'm operating on a small budget of $700. I have been looking at the System Builder Marathons like crazy and after a month of trying to figure out what motherboard to get, I simply cant decide. The reason is that every time I come across one, I look into the reviews and their are a good amount of people who rate the motherboard horribly. So, I figure lets give this a shot and ask all of you:
What mother board is:

1.
At a decent price (less than $130 preferably)

2.
Crossfire ready, I want to be able to double up the graphics card in the future and overclock when the need arises. Only looking to handle Empire total war, CS:source and Left4dead as of now.

3.
Compatible with the E8400 core 2 duo

The case I have landed on is the Rosewill Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P YE, the same one they used in the $1,250 System Builder marathon (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-2-overclock,2146-4.html)

Also the memory sticks I idiotically already purchased are the 4 GB G.SKILL HK DDR2-800, the same memory in the $1,250 system builder marathon.

I'm not gonna lie, I am pretty freakin scared of building one right now all the bad reviews of these motherboards.
Thanks for your time guys, any insight would be great.

With your budget I would be looking at a single vid card rig. Smaller psu is needed, less expensive mobo, and smaller case all means less money.

 

[yocheco619]

That means that one graphics card will run at x16 and when you add the second it will run only at x8. All p45 boards are like this. It isn't a large difference when running two cards at x16 as opposed to one at x16 and one at x8. If you want to have two running at x16 then you have to go x48 and that will be over budget and not worthwhile, especially because you will need DDR3 and at that point you might as well go i7.

How about the processor I choose. I read some people post that the E8400 cooling fan by itself is not powerful enough to keep it down. Not planning on OC'n until I have to. Should I get a aftermarket cooling fan?

 

[battlemarz]

How about the processor I choose. I read some people post that the E8400 cooling fan by itself is not powerful enough to keep it down. Not planning on OC'n until I have to. Should I get a aftermarket cooling fan?

If you don't OC you do not need an aftermarket cooler. You will get lower temps with one regardless, but the processor will perform just as well at stock speeds with stock cooling as aftermarket.

 

[yocheco619]

If you don't OC you do not need an aftermarket cooler. You will get lower temps with one regardless, but the processor will perform just as well at stock speeds with stock cooling as aftermarket.

What power supply would you suggest? I know 500w would not be enough for crossfire (will be shopping for radeon cards in the ~100 range, maybe wait for the rv740), and all the 750w seem so overpriced

 

[battlemarz]

What power supply would you suggest? I know 500w would not be enough for crossfire (will be shopping for radeon cards in the ~100 range, maybe wait for the rv740), and all the 750w seem so overpriced

Corsair 750TX is a pretty insane deal right now at 110 and 90 after MIR. Not to mention one of the top brands for PSUs.

 

[yocheco619]

Corsair 750TX is a pretty insane deal right now at 110 and 90 after MIR. Not to mention one of the top brands for PSUs.

Awesome pick. It also combos out with the motherboard you suggested. So right now, my setup looks like this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

Rosewill Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P YE Dual 120mm Cooling Fans and Mesh Design Front Panel Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBHK - Retail

ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail


KEY NOTES:
I already purchased the Monitor and Memory (idiotically), and am now stuck on the Hard Drive, Dvd Drive and Graphics Card (I think like I said I might wait for the rv740), what do you suggest??? For the Hard drive I'm only looking to have at most 4 games on there at a time (Empire Total War, CSsource, and Left4dead as of now), and I do plan to have some doc files and few pics on there.

 

[battlemarz]

WD Caviar Black 640GB or WD 320GB.

Any inexpensive SATA DVD drive should do.

And for the video card it all depends on what is left in your budget. Generally it is a good idea to get the best single card you can, and then a few months down the line you can pickup a second identical card to crossfire. Stick with ATI so you can crossfire, as P45 doesn't SLI.

 

[Why_Me]

If and when you get want to OC that cpu, it will do an easy 3.5Ghz @ 1333 fsb (10.5 x 333). The case has good cooling ( 3 x 120mm case fans, side air duct, vented front). The vid card kicks but for it's price range. That rig down there will play your games just fine, and it's at your intended $700 budget.

http://techgage.com/article/evga_geforce_gts_250_superclocked/ <=== test results for the gts 250 1 gig

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16504 <=== more test results

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/913/1/ <=== more test results

http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/palit_gts250 <=== more test results

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/msi_geforce_gts_250_N250GTS-2D1G_review/ <=== and one more just for fun.

http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?products_id=84 $22.99
Centurion 534 Black Mid Tower, W/O window, W/O PSU - Refurbished

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150070 $4.99
MASSCOOL FD12025S1L3/4 120mm Case Fan - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $79.99 Free Shipping*
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $84.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://techgage.com/article/evga_geforce_gts_250_superclocked/ <=== test results for the gts 250 1 gig

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 $119.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233001 $24.99 ($19.99 after $5.00 Mail-In Rebate)
XIGMATEK HDT-S963 92mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233019 $8.49
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127421 $159.99 ($144.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate)
MSI N250GTS-2D1G-OC GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231219 $41.99
G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152 $23.99 Free Shipping*
LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

Total: $699.36 (not including shipping and rebates)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236050 $169.99 ($149.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 5000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail

 

[yocheco619]

WD Caviar Black 640GB or WD 320GB.

Any inexpensive SATA DVD drive should do.

And for the video card it all depends on what is left in your budget. Generally it is a good idea to get the best single card you can, and then a few months down the line you can pickup a second identical card to crossfire. Stick with ATI so you can crossfire, as P45 doesn't SLI.

Right on. Yeah looking at the whole price of things, I went with the second hard drive you said, and a $20 dvd drive, I have around $120 for a GPU. What do you think when wanting to play games like World in Conflict and Empire total War on at least MidDetail? Thanks for your help btw.

 

[battlemarz]

Right on. Yeah looking at the whole price of things, I went with the second hard drive you said, and a $20 dvd drive, I have around $120 for a GPU. What do you think when wanting to play games like World in Conflict and Empire total War on at least MidDetail? Thanks for your help btw.

A 4850 512MB would fit around that price point. That should perform decently at the 1680x1050 your monitor would use. If you could scrape together some more and get lucky you may be able to find a 4850 1GB for under 150 or even a 4870 512MB after their price drops some more.

You will want to look up specific benchmarks for those two games with whatever card you are considering, I know Tom's uses WIC for a lot of their game benchmarks, so you should be able to compare 4850 512MB and 1GB for your resolution.

 

[yocheco619]

http://techgage.com/article/evga_geforce_gts_250_superclocked/ <=== test results for the gts 250 1 gig

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16504 <=== more test results

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/913/1/ <=== more test results

http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/palit_gts250 <=== more test results

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/msi_geforce_gts_250_N250GTS-2D1G_review/ <=== and one more just for fun.

http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?products_id=84 $22.99
Centurion 534 Black Mid Tower, W/O window, W/O PSU - Refurbished

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150070 $4.99
MASSCOOL FD12025S1L3/4 120mm Case Fan - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $79.99 Free Shipping*
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $84.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://techgage.com/article/evga_geforce_gts_250_superclocked/ <=== test results for the gts 250 1 gig

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 $119.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127421 $159.99 ($144.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate)
MSI N250GTS-2D1G-OC GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152 $23.99 Free Shipping*
LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

Total: $683.90 (not including shipping and rebates)

Thank you for going through that whole setup m8. It looks like a great setup. However I have become very fond to the E8400 processor for its stock performance and its ability for OC. I have built a lot around that idea and a future crossfire setup when it will be needed. Perfect pricing though

 

[yocheco619]

A 4850 512MB would fit around that price point. That should perform decently at the 1680x1050 your monitor would use. If you could scrape together some more and get lucky you may be able to find a 4850 1GB for under 150 or even a 4870 512MB after their price drops some more.

You will want to look up specific benchmarks for those two games with whatever card you are considering, I know Tom's uses WIC for a lot of their game benchmarks, so you should be able to compare 4850 512MB and 1GB for your resolution.

Should I be looking for any type of Manufacturer? and what did you think about the case?, Is the antec 300 or the case the other m8 suggested good as well for my need?

 

[Why_Me]

Actually i forgot to add memory so I edited my post/build up above. But what exactly is your budget? You said something about $700 but no way can you build what you want for that price.

 

[Why_Me]

Should I be looking for any type of Manufacturer? and what did you think about the case?, Is the antec 300 or the case the other m8 suggested good as well for my need?

The Antec 300 is too small for Crossfire. Your best bet would be the CM 690 (Cooler Master) for somewhere around $80 on newegg.

 

[battlemarz]

+1 to the RC690. Make sure to shop around for the case, sometimes you can find them cheaper at random sites and with free shipping. You may also be able to find a cheap Antec 900 now that the 900 two is out or whatever.

Most manufacturers for video cards are pretty good. Suggestions for ATI Video card brand would probably be: Sapphire, HIS, ASUS, XFX, MSI in that order.