Old fart needs 1155 MOBO advice and education

[garyhope]

If I'm just doing simple things on my future 1155 and i5 Sandy Bridge build, like surfing the net and my financial trading (stocks and currency which mostly uses a lot of 2 D charts etc.) with my PNY Quadro NVS 440 graphics cards which I run 4 monitors with, do I need a lot of slots that I'm most likely not going to be using? My current build just has my graphics card and a Creative Audigy sound card.

I'm not a gamer.

Does it matter if I use a micro ATX mobo as opposed to a regular ATX card with more slots and lots of those cool looking colorful, sculptural, swoopy heatsinks? I might buy one of those SSD's that fits in a slot but they seem problamatic from what I've read and I might just go with a regular SSD.

What's the difference between a micro ATX and a regular ATX mob except for the size and if the micro ATX still has 4 RAM slots? Any less speed or functionality? I'd save a few bucks with a micro ATX, but in the long run I don't know if that matters that much compared to my need for speed.

I might go for a 2500K i5 so I can overclock this build but I don't know if it's really necessary for what I use the computer for.

Thanks all.

 

[o1die]

The atx P67 boards require a separate video card. The H67 cards can use the onboard video with the 2500K, but may have fewer bios adjustments. If you don't overclock, get one of the cheaper h67 boards with 4 ram slots and try the onboard video. It may be all you need. Not many board reviews yet, but this website, anandtech, and motherboards.org all have at least one. You can get (4) 4 gb sticks for around $170 for a total of 16 gb for windows 7 64 bit. For the 32 bit version, you can get by with a 2x2 gb kit. For SSD, get a newer Intel or Kingston. Both work fine. The latest versions run at about 145 for write and 250-285 for the read speed. Crucial has a brand new ssd at newegg that can take advantage of sata 6.0; it's read speed is over 350 mb/sec on a board with sata 6.0.

 

[garyhope]

Thanks O 1 Die. Yes, I would keep my separate Quadro NVS 440 Vid card to run my 4 monitors. And probably go for a P67 mobo and maybe/probably OC. I don't know if I would start with 16 gig ram, more likely with 8.

I wasn't sure about the SSD card yet but thanks for your recommendation. I'll look into it.

Yes, I read anandtech reviews also. Haven't checked into mobo.org but will.

Thanks.
Thanks again.

 

[Crashman]

If I'm just doing simple things on my future 1155 and i5 Sandy Bridge build, like surfing the net and my financial trading (stocks and currency which mostly uses a lot of 2 D charts etc.) with my PNY Quadro NVS 440 graphics cards which I run 4 monitors with, do I need a lot of slots that I'm most likely not going to be using? My current build just has my graphics card and a Creative Audigy sound card.

I'm not a gamer.

Does it matter if I use a micro ATX mobo as opposed to a regular ATX card with more slots and lots of those cool looking colorful, sculptural, swoopy heatsinks? I might buy one of those SSD's that fits in a slot but they seem problamatic from what I've read and I might just go with a regular SSD.

What's the difference between a micro ATX and a regular ATX mob except for the size and if the micro ATX still has 4 RAM slots? Any less speed or functionality? I'd save a few bucks with a micro ATX, but in the long run I don't know if that matters that much compared to my need for speed.

I might go for a 2500K i5 so I can overclock this build but I don't know if it's really necessary for what I use the computer for.

Thanks all.

Micro ATX has three slots missing from the bottom. The rest of the board is similar, sometimes identical. Of course you get the advantage of using a shorter case with Micro ATX, which is great if you like your case to sit on the desk.

I noticed o1die recommends Intel and Kingston rebranded Intel drives. I think the best "deal out there" is probably the A-Data S599 drives, these are screaming fast. I just had a conversation with Intel concerning its drives however, and it claims to be one of the few companies with enough redundancy in its architecture to allow a failed chip not to cause data loss.

 

[garyhope]

Thanks Crash.

So there's not much difference between some mobos (same Manuf. and socket and chipsets) in speed, just the number of slots, cost and size? I'm not gaming or SLI'ing, etc. just "ordinary" financial trading etc., computing.

Seems like an SSD would be good for overall computing speed.

Thanks again.

 

[Crashman]

Thanks Crash.

So there's not much difference between some mobos (same Manuf. and socket and chipsets) in speed, just the number of slots, cost and size? I'm not gaming or SLI'ing, etc. just "ordinary" financial trading etc., computing.

Seems like an SSD would be good for overall computing speed.

Thanks again.

Yes, there are even game-system-oriented Micro ATX motherboards around
:

 

[o1die]

The new crucial ssd was only $121 for 64 gb, last time I checked newegg. I've used kingston and patriot ssds (which I'm using now) so I have some personal experience with them.

 

[garyhope]

Best answer selected by garyhope.