Is this Mobo enough for my needs?

[Guest]

Hey guys I'm looking to buy a AM3 motherboard for my gaming build, I already bought an x4 955BE (and a Radeon hd 6770), I'm on a tight budget so I'm considering this one:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A78LM_LX_V2/#specifications

I'm not a hardcore gamer but i still like to be able to play games such as black ops and gta IV with good fps. I won't be doing any overclocking or sli/cfx configuration, i will also be using a 19" monitor (1366 x 768) so will this board bottleneck the game-play?

I also have another question: in general, how does a motherboard affect gaming experience?

 

[o1die]

No. The board will work fine; but you may want to get one with an hdmi and dvi port instead. I use biostar boards, though they have fewer boards certified as am3+. Your video card and cpu are the main factors for gaming.

 

[Guest]

No. The board will work fine; but you may want to get one with an hdmi and dvi port instead. I use biostar boards, though they have fewer boards certified as am3+. Your video card and cpu are the main factors for gaming.

Well there is this one with dvi and hdmi and usb 3.0 : http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A78LMUSB3/

it'll cost me about 20 bucks more where i live, is it worth it? I don't need usb 3.0 and btw what are the hdmi/dvi ports used for? the gpu i'm considering already has dvi/hdmi and i rather put the 20$ somewhere else if i'm not gonna be using all those ports anyway, what do you think? Thanks.

 

[o1die]

That second asus board is good, plus it has a newer chipset. If you need the dvi and hdmi ports, then I would get it. Don't be in a hurry to flash the bios; if it works well, I wouldn't do it.

 

[Guest]

Emm, it says in the specifications that they both have the same chipset: 760G

 

[o1die]

My mistake. I was thinking it was the 880 chipset, which is what I have in both my biostar boards. The 880 has the 4250 radeon video chipset, but it's not much faster than the 3000. My old foxconn board had a special 3300 chipset. If you don't plan on upgrading to the am3+ bulldozer, then it may not matter for the + rating. If I knew your vender, I might recommend something else. I use newegg.

 

[Guest]

I'm buying the parts from a local shop, i don' live in the usa so no newegg for me! also the 880 and 870 are out of my budget, i think i'll just buy the cheap 780 one! also what are the dvi/hdmi ports in the MoBo used for? are they the same as the GPU ones?

 

[Inferno1217]

The DVI HDMI ports would be for the on-board graphics chipset and is a great backup if your graphics card fails. The on-board graphics are not good for gaming but would get you by if for some reason your card fails.

 

[o1die]

DVI port is on newer LCD monitors, and has a brighter look to it, bypassing some adjustments on your monitor. HDMI is used for blueray playback if your pc is used to play dvd's, but many newer video cards have this port, so you may not need it.

 

[Guest]

The DVI HDMI ports would be for the on-board graphics chipset and is a great backup if your graphics card fails. The on-board graphics are not good for gaming but would get you by if for some reason your card fails.

I can see how that can come handy! thanks for the info.

 

[Guest]

DVI port is on newer LCD monitors, and has a brighter look to it, bypassing some adjustments on your monitor. HDMI is used for blueray playback if your pc is used to play dvd's, but many newer video cards have this port, so you may not need it.

I see, well i guess i won't need those motherboard ports as my GPU is already offering them, so i'll just go with the cheap one! Thanks for all the info, much appreciated.