Please help me pick a mobo

[boozie]

Piecing a computer through tigerdirect.com, and most of the good mobos out there that are commonly suggested aren't carried by tiger. I'm new to this so bear with me. A few of them I can get through a mobo/cpu combo but I have to wait for it to ship and they typically don't have the cpu that I want.

What I'm planning on getting:

Q6600
2 gb 800 ddr2 ram
8800 320mb gts
Windows XP

I'm really just using this for gaming. I won't ever OC, and I won't ever need SLI or RAID.

Typical suggested boards they don't carry:

ASUS P5K-E
GIGABYTE P35 DS3R (no gigabyte p35's at all)
ABIT IP35 PRO (or any abit ip35)

I'd strongly prefer to get the mobo through them.

One that caught my eye was:
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (A1 Version)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3079365&CatId=1533

I'd like to keep it under $150 since I don't require anything too fancy, defintely won't spend more than $180.

Another quick question: Since I'm not going to use SLI, am I better off w/ P35 instead of 650i or even 680i? Is there any benefit in getting an EVGA mobo and gfx card?

 

[Maziar]

if u arent going to use SLI , get P35

 

[boozie]

How's this:

MSI P35 Neo-F
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3250970&CatId=3355

While I don't want to spend a ton on the mobo if avoidable, I don't want to cheap out after spending so much on everything else.

 

[Maziar]

Cant u buy those ASUS, GIGABYTE, ABIT boards u mentioned?

 

[boozie]

Tigerdirect doesn't carry them. They have maybe one of them in a bundle with a E6750, but I'd have to wait like 3 weeks and that's not the cpu I want. I'm buying through them because they'll assemble my computer for me and install os for like $125 and there's a warehouse nearby my house.

 

[aevm]

Must say Tigerdirect's selection of motherboards is even worse than their selection of PSUs. If you don't have an EXCELLENT reason to go with TigerDirect I'd say dump'em.

From their selection of socket 775 motherboards, and under $150, I'd pick this one:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3089879&CatId=1533
EVGA nForce 680i SE SLI (TR Version) Motherboard - NVIDIA, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, SLI Ready, PCI Express, Dual Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0 & Firewire, Serial ATA, RAID
It's their most popular in the socket 775 section, and got a good review here:
http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4352&Itemid=38

I'm not sure the Neo-F supports quads. I couldn't find reviews for it. Also, MSI tends to get some nasty reviews for motherboards in general these days.

The Asus P5K looks promising too, but I didn't like the customer reviews that say you need to do a BIOS update before it will work.

 

[ausch30]

One that caught my eye was:
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (A1 Version)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3079365&CatId=1533

This http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017&Tpk=EVGA%2bnForce%2b650i%2bUltra is the same board at Newegg and it's $15 cheaper, I would strongly suggest against buying from Tiger Direct.

Go with one of the P35 boards you listed in your first post from Newegg and you'll end up with a lot more for your money.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Tiger_Direct

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Newegg

 

[boozie]

Must say Tigerdirect's selection of motherboards is even worse than their selection of PSUs.

Lol, hi aevm.

Well does anyone suggest somewhere I can get a custom built reliable computer for a good price? I've got about $1500 to spend, need an OS but no monitor. I've heard very nasty things about ibuypower/cyberpower.com but that's the closest I come to getting what I want for the price I want. Anandtech gave them a good review, but from what I've read you have like a 50/50 chance from getting what you ordered vs a non-functional pos so I'm skeptical to go anywhere really. I want the specific things I listed but I don't want to actually build it myself so I have no better place to go than tigerdirect.

The answer is man up and build it myself, but I'd really rather just spend an extra $2-300 somewhere and not look back. Please advise.

 

[ausch30]

My suggestion would be to buy the parts yourself and find a local computer repair place to put it together. For most people the actual assembly is half the fun but if you don't want to do it then that is your best option.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, I see your point.

Isn't there some small local shop in your area that builds custom PCs? For example I live in Ottawa where there are 1 million people and about 20 such shops. The one where I went last time even let me bring some parts myself and did price matching on others. They charged $35 for assembly, but of course they also got some profit on the parts.

Maybe you can ask a friend who has built PCs before? Give him $100 and a beer or two, it's fair enough for a few hours of work.

How about other shops that assemble custom PCs and send them by mail? I know NCIX does this in Canada, but I don't know if NCIXUS does it too. This is a bit risky, I guess, what with disgruntled postal workers dropping the packages