Looking for good mobo for $120 or less.

[sartho]

Hi, I'm building my second system, first was for a friend, and I was looking for a decent motherboard for $120 or less. Here are the parts I have so far:

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 watt,
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ (bought for $20 on ebay)
Antec Three Hundred Case
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB hard drive

Was looking at amd 780g or 780gx for the onboard graphics, b/c I cant afford a decent video card right now. I've never overclocked, but am thinking about learning. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Onus]

Let's hope that CPU works, i.e. it wasn't someone else's fried attempt at overclocking.
Your needs will be best met by a 790GX board. If $120 is a brick wall, then this one would be my choice:
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138130
It has 128MB of DDR2 sideport RAM for video.
If $120 can wiggle as high as $125, then this one will give slightly better graphics performance, as the sideport RAM is DDR3:
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX3 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138129

These boards have the SB750 Southbridge, with the newest features to OC AMD chips.
Even a 3650 will beat the onboard graphics of those boards, and those are as low as $35 after MIR. I don't think that would change my choice of mobo though, as the 790FX ones are all well over your budget.

 

[aevm]

The K9A2 Platinum is $130 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136

However, that's $10 over budget and it would also require buying a separate video card. Still, worth considering IMO if you want a powerful gaming machine. You'd need to buy a HD 3650 now and one or two HD 4850 cards later when you have more cash.

 

[Onus]

Actually, if you want to play games, and aren't super-concerned about overclocking, post your total budget. A lesser motherboard and a discrete GPU might make more sense.

 

[sartho]

I already have everything except for the case and the motherboard.
My remaining budget is about $180, and I can get the case for 49.99 at Microcenter near where I live, so that'll leave me with about $130.

I could go with this: Chakra ATX Mid-Tower Case, but is it as good as the Three Hundred? The rebate will leave me with about $30 more, making my budget $145.

 

[Onus]

That looks like a pretty decent case, as far as being enough cooling. With $145 you could get a 4670 for as little as $65 after MIR, leaving $80 which will buy a 780G or other board with a SB700 that can do a 2600MHz HT.

 

[sartho]

Thanks for the help guys, but I will be starting a new job soon and will have more money, and what I was thinking of initially was getting a board with onboard graphics and sticking with that for a few weeks and then getting a 4850, because I wont be doing alot of gaming between now and then anyways.
So with $145 as a new budget, that kinda opens up a few options, and I was wondering which of these mobos would be best:

GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-DS4H
Foxconn A7DA-S, or
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX3

Those are the three that I've narrowed it down to based on price and reviews. Or should I wait until next week for Black Friday and see what deals they have then?

 

[Onus]

I used the Gigabyte board in my wife's rig. She's not a [3D] gamer, but I tested it with Guild Wars and it was quite playable. That board will give you good upgrade options, up to the 140W Phenoms. I can't compare it to the others, which I've never used, but this one was easy to set up.
I've had good results with Biostar boards in the past though, and I think that one has the same 128MB of DDR3 sideport memory that the Gigabyte board offers. Between them, I'd choose based on number of connectors or perhaps some other features.

 

[aevm]

I see they are all Crossfire boards, and your PSU is perfect for HD 4850 Crossfire. Are you interested in that option or is it just coincidence?

If you do want Crossfire, you need a case with good cooling indeed. Also, the 790FX is better there because it runs both cards at 16x. The 3 boards you have listed will drop to 8x+8x. It's not very important, but it will cost you about 10% of the performance.

Maybe you should just wait until you can afford the 790FX and the HD 4850. I'm sure you've got stuff to learn to prepare for the new job anyway.

May I ask what field you're in? Just happy to see somebody's hiring in the USA in the current economy Congratulations, btw!

 

[sartho]

Yes, I am looking to go crossfire in the future, and my friend did say he'd give me his old x500 card if I needed it. So I could choose a 790fx, if it's within my budget and wait til I can get a 4850. I just saw this 1 for $135 after MIR:

Foxconn A79A-S

and was wondering if it would be wise to buy an open box of this 1 for $132:

ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe

And is this a good price for an Antec Twelve Hundred:

Twelve Hundred?

Also, I am starting at Gamestop for seasonal work while I study for the A+ examination.

 

[Onus]

Seems to me I saw a headline that video game sales were up 18% in October; yes, here: http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081114/D94ECVQG0.html.

I don't think I'd buy open box. Someone returned it, possibly after monkeying with it.

 

[thrule01]

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
ATI hybrid graphics technology & mainstream DX10 gaming
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

we use these at the office and they work great

 

[sartho]

Thanks for the recommend thrule01, but I've decided I'm gonna wait until next weekend and see what deals they have on Black Friday, and try and get a 790FX with the SB750 southbridge.