What do I need to know if a motherbroard is the best

[fantasyx72]

What do I need to know if a motherboard is the best because I never learned about hardware that much because now i'm planning to build a new system and need to know what to find in a good motherboard(like a spec)and all the stuff I need to know.Thank you for reading

[marine63]

1st youll need to no what sort of things your going to do with this computer. since everything connects to the motherboard buying the most expensive and greatest performance wont be necessary for office work or web surfing and things like that
first you need a knowledge of basic motherboardness
1. processors
-pick out which processor you want amd or intel (amd is cheaper however intel has better performance [athlon 64 x2 vs core 2 duo])
- which type of processor athlon 64 x2 for amd and intel core 2 duo are the now and great
- also what fsb or front side bus you need and which processor the motherboard can run (core 2 duo would be 1066 and the newer ones coming out tomorrow 1333 for amd is i believe 1000 or something) also theres going to be a huge price drop for core 2 duo tomorrow also i hope you can wait till then :P
- also the motherboard may not run the processor youve chosen. either look at the specs or go to the manufacturer's link of the product and it should tell you exactly which one will run.

2. optical drives (cd/dvd burner/player) and hard drive (HDD)
- you need which data connection you want. (SATA or IDE, get sata 3.0)
- you'll need how many sata and ide connection it has. (optical and hard drives) youll most likely need one for dvd burner (one that can read both dvd and cd i think they all do anyways) and and one for hard drive but thats about all i think most will come with like 3.
[i recommend 320GB sata seagate harddrive and a lite-on 20x sata dvd burner)

3. floppy disk drive (fdd)
- you dont need one. most newer motherboard will not have fdd so dont worry about it because its becoming quickly out of date

4.ram
-1st you need wat type of ram (sdram/ddr1/ddr2/ddr3) the best one would be ddr2 since ddr3 its new and expensive like heck (remember what dvd players used to cost :P)
-youll need to know how many sticks of ram you want. if your planning to play games and use vista get 2GB but 1GB should be enough for anything else)
- youll need to know what speed it can use itll probably let you use 2-3 different speeds but the motherboard will only let you use one speed at a time. (677mhz would aqueduct but 800mhz will be better for high gaming)
(i recommend corsair ram. for 677mhz valueselect kit would be nice and the xm2something for 800mhz is good)
- also youll need dual channel. this will increase the performance between 2 similar ram sticks. so its better to buy 2 512mb than 1GB stick.
-also the max amount the motherboard can use.
5. size and type
you need to know what size the motherboard and what type. the best would be atx. the size and type will matter when picking out the case. dont get micro atx b/c itll will have less expansion abilities than the atx.

6. power supply
when picking out a power supply you'll need to know what connection it has. it should say like 24pin


7.video card
you need what kind of video card you want. this will determine that motherboard slot youll need. agp or pci-e the newer video card will run on pci-express or pci-e for short.
youll need one pci-e for the video card. if you plan on using sli dont. its better to buy a good one now like 8800 which will take w/e you throw at it and buy a new one when the nvidia 9 series or something comes out.

8. sound card
onboard will be fine

9. lan
onboard will be fine

10. internet
ieee boardband or cable
modem dial up . if you have dial get cable or board band ( I HATE LAGGERS!!!!! >:-( )

11. device connections usb serial etc...
usb would be better and youll need to know how many usb youll need

12. features
different motherboard may have special features to enable greater performances. motherboard may have overclocking abilities but you may not need to.

13. packaging
youll know what things will come with the motherboard probably sata connections and such.

14. chipsets
these things control everything on your computer get good ones.

15.
good brands and reputation
ask around like hmmm on this forum :) and look at comments on the products

asus p5b is a good motherboard so is p5k. ill probably get a p5k b/c it can run 1333mhz processor which im getting :) well peace and also go to build computer and we'll help you on your build... o and by the way welcome to the forums :D

[Cricket]

What do I need to know if a motherboard is the best because I never learned about hardware that much because now i'm planning to build a new system and need to know what to find in a good motherboard(like a spec)and all the stuff I need to know.Thank you for readingWhen you find a motherboard that seems to fit your needs come back here and tell us the make and model and we'll tell you if it's a good motherboard or not.

:) Cricket

[fantasyx72]

Thank you so much guys especially you marine63 but can you tell me what I have to look for in a good motherboard and graphic card and I cant get that nvidia 8800 to much money and you know that for a guy thats making his first computer

[blue60007]

You'll want to be sure and get good quality - brand names like ASUS and Intel are top quality. If you go for the Intel Core 2 Duo - get a motherboard with an Intel chipset (965, P35, etc.). As long as you stick to top brands and the motherboard has the features you need/want and supports the CPU you choose as well.

A couple of good choices are the ASUS P5B and their P5K. There are several variants of each, but that's a good place to start.

nVidia also has some lower end cards such as the 8600GT you might look at.

[marine63]

yeah im teh best >:3
ditto to what blue600007 said
asus p5b and p5k seem to be a favorite use those... the difference is how much money you want to spend and how much performance and future proof you want. if your interested in performance and high stuff and future proof get the p5k but for a $27 less for a p5b is decent and good. i recommend the p5k for the future proof and its not like a $100 difference. with the p5k you get the ability to use the newer 1333mhz intel processors e6650, e6750, and the e6850. these processors are quite good and alot cheaper than their formers selves :) $271 for a e6850 1333mhz FSB 3.0GHZ what a steal! (mwave.com if you want this processor get it soon might run of stock soon D:) p5k also let you use 1066mhz speed ram. Youll may only need 677mhz speed if your running a 1066mhz fsb processor. (im not sure about the new ones but im sure youll want them for top performance.) and 1066 mayb a bit much. also p5k gives you an extra pci-e slot... anyways p5k is more advance and more futuristic. it all depends what you want to do with your computer.

8600gt maybe good but 8800gts have a better chance of future proofing your investment. consider that.

also what is your budget and what your going to do with your computer? these computer are very important to ask yourself b/c it would be extremely helpful for us to help you build ur computer of ur dreams :P

btw me just typing and typing and typing is what i live for :D
... NOOOOOOOOOOO e6850 at mwave got sold out... it was a good price T_T $5 above market value T_T

[Cricket]

fantasyx72: Tell us how much you want to spend on this computer, what you plan to use it for, if you have a preference for AMD or INTEL and we can help you pick out the right parts that will build up into a nice solid performer.

:) Cricket

[systempat]

Like Cricket said give us a budget number and tell what's important to you. These other guys are giving good advice but taking you more to the top end. I'm more of a budget builder myself, and generally keep the Motherboard to around $100 and a CPU in the same area. And I'm not a hard-core gamer but then my twitch reflexes are gone anyhow.

Tell us what will work for you, especially dollars and you'll get some good advice.

[marine63]

.... thats what i said 2 times already :l