Need advice: Best motherboard for new build

[pos3idon]

Hello everyone, I am in the process of putting together a new build and I need your advice on the best motherboard to choose, I am looking to spend less than 266$

Also I wanted advice on which motherboard manufacturer you like more, EVGA or ASUS.

I like EVGA's lifetime warranty, and 24/7 phone support based in the united states and I've had good luck with their graphics cards so what do you think?

Andy advice is greatly appreciated

 

[stoner133]

Asus and Gigabyte are the top of the list so from your two choices I would choose Asus

 

[Crashman]

EVGA's X58 will be the first motherboard they ever made. Everything else they bought. Their first SLI motherboards were made by Jetway, the most recent ones by graphics card maker Palit. All recent motherboards have been nVidia reference designs, which means you could get the same motherboard from other companies. And that means the only benefit of buying EVGA was the lifetime warranty.

I believe BFG had a double-lifetime warranty, but EVGA fans pushed their favorite brand to the front.

Reference motherboards like EVGA's are typically a little behind Asus in features and overclocking. But EVGA's fans won't let you know that.

If you're planning to use EVGA's new X58 motherboard, none of us could take a guess about its capabilities, since EVGA has never made a motherboard until now.

 

[o1die]

For an x58, I'd go with asus. I've been to evga's website, and they have far fewer bios updates. Any new cpu and motherboard will require them.

 

[bdcrlsn]

He said he's looking for something under $266, and I doubt the X58 will be under $300.

 

[aevm]

Will this build be based on x58/i7/DDR3, or x48/Core 2/DDR2? The first version would be faster but more expensive.

 

[pos3idon]

okies, heres what happened, I bought a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-EXTREME from new egg, this was a ddr3 board, however Newegg sent me a defective used board :-/ and when I RMA'd it they informed me that they had 'deactivated' that item and would no longer be selling it :-( so now I'm trying to figure out which board to buy, I was planning on using a core 2 duo 3.0 ghz wolfdale processor but that's the only component I've really decided on. My limiting factor is that right now I have to be able to buy the motherboard, cpu, ram and possibly PSU upgrade (b/c I only have a 430 watt thermaltake PSU) for less than 500~600 dollars. I wanted a nice mobo because I wanted one that would allow me to upgrade for quite some time to come.

I have never used an ASUS mobo only gigabyte but I kind of want a motherboard that supports sli for future upgrades :-/

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[aevm]

GA-EP45-UD3P, $117 Doesn't support SLI but it supports Crossfire. You're better off avoiding SLI motherboards these days.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358&Tpk=GA-EP45-UD3P

E8500 3.16GHz, $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

Corsair 650TX PSU $75
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-650...ply-corsair-tx-cmpsu/q/loc/101/206178324.html

Total $427 so far.

If you have an nVidia video card already then forget the GA-EP45-UD3P and find a SLI motherboard after all. It won't be as stable as a P45 but it's your only hope for future-proofing.

If you don't have a video card yet look at HD 4850 or even HD 4870.

Edit: you do realize that the i7 CPUs will not work on any P45 motherboard, or 750i or 780i or anything in general that accepts a Core 2? The Core 2 and i7 will not even have the same width and number of pins. That is, you can't upgrade the CPU any more regardless of which MB you buy these days. At most you'll be able to upgrade to a Q9550, I guess, but that's not a real upgrade unless you use programs that need quads. I just didn't want to get your hopes up too much. On the bright side, an E8500, especially with OCing, will last you a long time.

 

[pos3idon]

I was considering waiting for the core i7 debut which is rumored to be November 17th or so but I tend to be a little hesitant to buy first generation anything, I'd rather let other people work out the bugs and wait for the price to drop. Still the core i7 does look pretty nice

 

[aevm]

Yeah, that's the smart thing to do... Also, if you wait a bit you'll have more choices and more/better reviews to help you choose. For example right now there's only a handful of aftermarket coolers that work with the i7, and there's very little info on how well they work.