Which Motherboard

[gonemtbiking123]

So I am building a PC to run various CAD programs for school along with a little gaming, this is what I have so far:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (zalman cooler)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
ASUS Black Drive
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V
Thermaltake Element T VK90001N2Z Case

Either
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD
or
GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s

and also if anyone has some suggestions on a good hard drive(s)
Thanks...back to studying

 

[iRaiden]

I would prefer the GIGABYTE in that case.

Check out the WD Caviar Black series for a good HDD.
Check out the Crucial C300 series or the Vertex 2 series for a good SSD.

 

[davcon]

The GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H ATX AMD Motherboard is the comparative mobo to the ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%2050001314&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=22%7C13%2D131%2D646%5E13%2D131%2D646%2DTS%2C13%2D128%2D444%5E13%2D128%2D444%2DTS
Any of these HDD's are fine the WD being slighty better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%2050001077&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=14%7C22-148-433%5E22-148-433-TS%2C22-136-533%5E22-136-533-TS%2C22-152-185%5E22-152-185-TS

 

[gonemtbiking123]

I saw the GA-880GA-UD3H but was looking at the GA-870A-UD3 simply b/c it was getting better reviews on newegg. Would u still say get the GA-880GA-UD3H?

 

[Emperus]

You've not mentioned which GPU you are going to use.. Anyway, for the motherboard i'll recommend getting the Asrock 890GX Extreme3.. If you need one of from those of your choices then i vote for the Gigabyte model.. No compelling reasons though.. I generally recommend Gigabyte boards for AMD builds.. As for the hard drive, WD is expensive.. I'll recommend the Seagate Baracuda 7200.12 or Samsung SpinPoint F3..

 

[gonemtbiking123]

Why do u recommend the asrock? Thinking about it I also have to buy the ($18 shipped) Enzotech MST-88 C1100 for the gigabyte. Which puts the price up to $130 shipped (more than the Asrock). I was leaning towards the WD b/c for $20 you get SATAIII and 2 more years of warranty but am not sure. As far was the GPU I was planing on taking a 8800gs out of an older computer and see how it hangs.

 

[davcon]

I saw the GA-880GA-UD3H but was looking at the GA-870A-UD3 simply b/c it was getting better reviews on newegg. Would u still say get the GA-880GA-UD3H?

The 870 has the older northbridge 790 i suggested the 880 cuz it's newer but whatever i'm sure they are both good.
I prefer Gigabyte boards personally i think they make the highest quality.

 

[Emperus]

Check around the web for reviews as to why i recommended the Asrock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard.. Personnely, i've successfully completed two builds using that motherboard and i am extremely happy with it.. It has got a nice look, has all the required features and performs very well.. Its also based on a better (890gx) chipset..