Building a PC. Need Good Motherboard

[danyolb]

Hey!
My PC will be for gaming and general use. Here is my selection so far:


Foxconn P45A iP45 Socket 775 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
£93.90

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz)
£152.95

Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E
£210.08

Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz
£41.20

Antec Nine Hundred 900
£74.98

Thermaltake Toughpower Modular 850W PSU
£100.10

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM
£45.75

Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket
£39.66



My questions are as follows:
* is it a good choice?
* should I change the motherboard to a better one, and one which supports DDR3
* is the quad core a good idea? or should I go duo.
* any tips?

 

[danyolb]

Also. should I purchase vista 64 bit? or 32? or (download) I know its illegal, but we are all human and jump to the chance.

 

[CmdPT]

How much is your budget?

You can go with Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard, I haven't really used any Foxconn motherboard so I can't really recommend it. On the other hand I have been using Gigabyte and I am very please with this brand.

Quad Core will do just fine, but the E8400 will also be there if you decide to use that.

I would stick with DDR2, DDR3 is only for the new Core i7 anyways. Unless you are willing to Core i7.

On the Cooling really depends on if you are going to overclock, if not then you will be fine with the stock cooling.

With the PSU go with PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU.

 

[CmdPT]

Also. should I purchase vista 64 bit? or 32? or (download) I know its illegal, but we are all human and jump to the chance.

Stick with XP for now. That's if you have it.

 

[danyolb]

What is this motherboard like for my system? any recommendations instead? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149284

 

[danyolb]

Please recommend a better motherboard. considering my current hardware

 

[Outlander_04]

OS choices go either Vista 64 or XP .

XP is faster , Vista 64 might give you some more detail in games [ at lower frame rates ] and will be able to use all the RAM in the system .

Download an OS .... hmmm . Might be a bit hard to guarantee there are no backdoors installed unless you are happy to trust the guy that pirated it in the first place . I suppose if you never had critical information like your credit card number or bank details typed on that keyboard EVER it might be ok

Foxconn no
Gigabyte yes
Asus yes
MSI maybe
others maybe

Theres a reason things are cheap . Generally its because they were made by underpaid unskilled labor in a sweatshop . I bet those guys take pride in their work !

There are core 2 boards that take ddr 3 . The ram cost more and delivers a tiny speed increase . Only do this if you have too much money and have already bought your mum a fabulous birthday present .

850 watts is over the top . 650 would be plenty

640 gig WB black hard drive is faster but more expensive . Spend what you saved on the power supply on this .

 

[CmdPT]

Can't really say cause I've never owned a Foxconn board like I stated above. The board I recommended above is probably your best bet.

 

[danyolb]

please link me to a psu and motherboard on www.ebuyer.com

I dont know which to go for. too much selection..

 

[CmdPT]

Motherboard: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145683]
PSU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514]

Hope this helps

 

[Night-Stalker]

i've been using ASUS for many years now and it seems really reliable, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145751. I don't own it but it should be good enough for whatever you want it to do. It should OC just fine. (I myself have P5Q deluxe, more expensive) For PSU you don't need that much power, a 650W should serve you well. This is a really good Corsair one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114941. If you want to save more money then this Antec one should work pretty well also http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130950. Both are very efficient.

edit - The PSU stated above is a good choice too...save you quite a bit. but its not modular so you choose, if you want modular or not for 30 dollars more.

 

[Newf]

For gaming and general use, for me I would get this rather than the obsolete 65nm 6600:
Intel Quad Q8200 £150.15 w/Vat 1/4/09
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148933

 

[effel]

OS choices go either Vista 64 or XP .

XP is faster , Vista 64 might give you some more detail in games [ at lower frame rates ] and will be able to use all the RAM in the system .

Download an OS .... hmmm . Might be a bit hard to guarantee there are no backdoors installed unless you are happy to trust the guy that pirated it in the first place . I suppose if you never had critical information like your credit card number or bank details typed on that keyboard EVER it might be ok

Foxconn no
Gigabyte yes
Asus yes
MSI maybe
others maybe

Theres a reason things are cheap . Generally its because they were made by underpaid unskilled labor in a sweatshop . I bet those guys take pride in their work !

There are core 2 boards that take ddr 3 . The ram cost more and delivers a tiny speed increase . Only do this if you have too much money and have already bought your mum a fabulous birthday present .

850 watts is over the top . 650 would be plenty

640 gig WB black hard drive is faster but more expensive . Spend what you saved on the power supply on this .

That statement seems rather, bold.

For motherboards though, has anyone recommended DFI? 'cause they shouldn't be overlooked. Its really sad when Asus outsells them based on marketing, not performance/price.