How Much Will Switching Motherboards Affect Performance?

[leongrado]

So I'm thinking of getting a new motherboard this Christmas but I'm not sure if it would actually improve performance. The motherboard that I have right now is an AM2/AM2+ and only supports DDR2 Memory. My processor is a Phenom II which is an AM3 and a Radeon HD 5770 graphics card so I thought my motherboard might be limiting performance. If I buy a new board, I'll probably also buy new memory.
My current motherboard is an ASUS Crosshair II:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131292

I'm planning on getting this motherboard (or a similar motherboard):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

 

[leongrado]

Anybody?

 

[Maziar]

Motherboard doesn't make a notable impact on the performance unless they have different PCI-E slots.In this case,you won't see a difference in games/apps because both of the boards have PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots.
Your current board is great,there is no need to change it.If you need more performance, then tell us your needs and we can help you more.

 

[jsc]

Maziar is right. The two main things determining performance are the CPU and the video card. Up to a point, the amount of memory will also help.

Keeping the existing CPU and GPU and changing the motherboard and memory is not a cost effective way to improve performance.

 

[leongrado]

I'm just worried that because of my older motherboard, my computer components can not live up to their full potential. Plus, my motherboard only supports ddr2 and the new board is able to support ddr3. Does the type of memory greatly affect performance?

 

[geofelt]

The motherboard has virtually no impact on real performance. If you are a record seeking overclocker, then it does.

The type, speed, or latencies of ram have minimal effect on performance in real applications or FPS(1-3%?). Do not be seduced by wonderful synthetic benchmarks. More ram has a much better effect on performance.

If your motherboard has the slots and features you need, then keep it. Most of the time, add-in cards for usb3.0, or sata can be added if you have the free slots.

 

[Maziar]

Right^
DDR2 vs DDR3 won't make a significant difference in performance(neither better timings,speeds do)The main important factor of RAM(regarding performance) is it's capacity size.

 

[SystemDown]

Motherboards doesn't really affect performance, it just helps you improve performance by letting you add more ram to your system, maybe another video card, a better CPU etc...

 

[kovzone]

yes, changing motherboard won't be necessary unless you want to change the processor