The Ultimate Dream Computer

Gigabyte makes some good boards and that's a good price. I've heard some bad reports on boards with ULi chipsets. I've not used any, so I can't say personally. It's a lot cheaper than the Epox on Amazon though.

 

Amazingly, I just got an email saying that Gigabyte board has shipped. I'm not so sure about the Uli chipset either, but that's what the afore mentioned ASRock board used. The main advantage to the ASRock board is that it has AGP and PCI Express. I don't really expect anything super for $50.00. If anyone is still looking for a 939 pin AGP board, http://www.ewiz.com might be worth checking out. There really isn't much to choose from. I guess I'll know in a few days if this was a worthwhile endeavor.

Dave

 

Good luck with it and let us know how it turns out. I think a lot of those complaints on the ULi boards were from performance gurus wanting high performance from a budget board. As long as you're not OCing or trying to make a bench racer, you'll probably be okay.

 

guys which mobo benchmark is better ASUS, Gigabyte, Biostar, EVGA, MSI...most preferably intel mobo...i was thinking of Biostars TF680i mobo or EVGA striker extreme mobo...

 

My favorites for good boards are Asus, DFI, EVGA, and Gigabyte. They all make some good boards. My personal preference in the past has been Asus. They're usually safer for the novice. Choose the chipsets and extras wisely. List a particular board and we could probably give an opinion on it. Just discussing brands, like I said, there's a number of good ones.

 

ok...which mobo do u prefer...gigabytes 6-Quad mobo/S series,EVGA's striker extreme mobo or ASUS extremem striker???

 

I'm not all over extreme mobos personally, I don't see what's to be gained for the extra £60-£100 over the higher midrange boards like the Gigabyte DS3 and the Asus P5N-SLi. While I'm sure there are advantages, I don't really see how you get what you pay for, unless you're a Crossfire/SLI user.

 

I can't see how anyone can justify over £230 for any board, so the Asus STRIKER EXTREME is off my shopping list.
Both my DQ6 and P5WDH support Sli, I just have to use the doctored drivers instead of the official ones.

 

Well, I purchased the P5N-SLI and an Arctic Freezer 7, using Corsair XMS2 PC6400 CAS5. That should get the E4300 to 3 gig or so should it not?

 

GTR35
As I said in my post, my preference usually goes to Asus, but the others are good. I've used more of the Asus and don't need to look at the diagrams as much.

You don't need the top end boards unless you're an extreme user and can justify the expense. Pay attention to power management, with SLI you want full 16X, and be sure the chipset properly supports the CPU and has a good track record.

 

thnx for the tips guys...now i dont need to spend too much money on mobo...

 

Building a PC on a decent budget requires putting the money toward the best overall purchases. A well balanced system often performs near what the uber systems do. Some people pay big bucks for a small advantage when it comes to highend performance. Look for stability as well as reliable performance from a PSU, get a good mobo and CPU combo, use good RAM and make sure you have what you need. As you know not all RAM is equal. Pay attention to your drives as well. SATA hard drives are better for the new platforms. You don't have to have SLI or even the top end graphics card, but get a decent one. Go more upscale as your needs or wants require and your budget allows.

 

Everything up there seemed rather budgetless..
so say... you were given $10 000 dollars to upgrade/build your ideal sytem... what would it be~?

 

LOL I'd keep my current PC and sink the bundle in a motorcycle upgdrade or invest in a new highend entertainment system. My woman wants a Hawaiian vacation. LOL If it was a forced deal though I'd go with SLI or Crossfire and use the high end GPUs. The Striker or P5N32 would be the board choices with an X6800 CPU. Add a couple of GB of Corsair Dominator RAM or highend OCZ (depends on GPU). Heck, may as well go with 4GB with Vista looming. Then probably add something like a couple of EVGA 8800GTX GPUs. Then add a good liquid cooling system and a highend case. We don't want to save any money here. LOL Just to make sure I spend as much money as possible I'd get something like a Samsung 320P monitor. Throw down about $85 on a Kensingtion Trackball and I'm sure I could find some ridiculous deals on the peripherals in order to blow some more money. LOL Gotta throw some money on a high end sound card and some outrageous speakers so I can hear the tunes and the whistle of bullets in the games. If I tried hard, I think I could spend more than $10,000.

 

10k id keep curernt my current its great.
I have a Yammaha YZF 600
I enjoy motorsport more then pc's so id do sometyhing wiith it there.

 

lol...i'll get the best computer with that money...the rest i'll save it...in case i need it in the future

ok i have a 250W PSU...will i be able to power 7600gs(AGP) with no problem...

 

Probably not. I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

 

well...my uncle ask me wat graphics card i want for free...the 6200, 6800 or the 7600 all AGP..why not get the best...well will 6800 be run with 250W

 

With AGP I don't think you'll get into too much trouble. Most are old tech and don't take too much power at normal operation. 250W is similar to the older Dells and Gateways. Most were under 300W. I've upgraded those in the past without crashing the system. I wouldn't go trying to power many accessories with 250W. I won't build a system anymore with less than 500W. PSUs are relatively inexpensive compared to other system components. I'd suggest getting something better able to carry the load if you're going to be doing serious improvements or a resonable performance build.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130076
That's a good one and some reviewers say they're running it with a 250W PSU. One guy noted a 400W requirement. Check the support site and see what you want to gamble on. But as I mentioned, don't go overboard with a small PSU.