Which board should i use

[guyver0003]

Hello,
i run win 7 64bit , and have a phenom x4 9850 be , i have 2 boards an m4a785-m and a m3a32-mvp board i mainly use the comp for gaming/movies. multimedia which board should i use or which is better rest spec are ati 6770 6 gb corsair hp ram and 2 6gbs sata drives . the m3a32-mvp doesnt realyl seem to have all its features with win7 64 or win 7 period and hate to use vista or backtrack to xp even which is kinda making me lean on the m4a785-m .. jus not sure which i should use atm so lookin for suggestions..the m3a32-mvp delux is a really nice board but seems kinda outdated ..

 

[inzone]

I would go with the M3a32-mvp board as it has 4 pci-e slots and if you were to at some point want another video card you would have the slot for it where with the other one you would not.
What features do you not have with Win 7 64bit?

 

[guyver0003]

eh alot of the asus ones for starters not that they are needed though its jus the probe 2 and uneeded stuff although the raid program is one as well but not that worried about it havent messed with the other drive much was jus going to use it as a backup drive i ripped it out of a at&t DVR reciever lol and the AIsuite i guess.. asus only gives support for vista 64 on everything.

I managed to get the sound and sound app workin although some options dont like presets but other than that it works , the CPU does seem to be running a little hot around 60-63 c since i swapped the dual core out . I probably wont spend money on another gfx i figure ill keep putting money back and rebuild the thing ground up with at least an i5 for what they cost nowadays. was trying to keep this one solid though and as best as i could get it to give it to the wifey for her music and such.

I appreciate all the help and suggestions, i had both boards hooked up they both seem to run about the same although the m3a32 seems to have better audio and even with all the fans i have installed and the stock cpu cooler i cant really push much out of it without investing more.

So was at a last thought on it if i should jus keep the other board and use it or keep this one and use it as this one seems better , its jus a bit outdated than the other.

 

[inzone]

I guess then you should go with the one you feel you like the best.

 

[corrinavatan]

There is one question that I always ask before a build regarding motherboards:

How often do I want to replace this motherboard? I recently built a new PC, and I got the Asus 990fx. Part of it is because it was compatible with the AM3 processors as well as the AM3+ processors, so I'm currently running a Phenom II x6 1100 Black edition, and could theoretically put a Bulldozer processor in it a few years from now (once the kinks are worked out). I have the capability for 16 gigs of ram (8 right now), and 3 PCIe ports (of which I'm using 1).

The great thing about the motherboard? I know that, should I need to, I can put more RAM in, add another GPU, even swap out the CPU. I can easily see this board going through 3-4 iterations, depending if my needs change. Plus, it was within my budget and I kinda liked the way it looked.

Now, this might not be a big thing for you if you're not thinking about upgrading in the future with this build. So, keep this in mind: if you'd be willing to buy new parts to replace components for this build 2-3 years from now, you should get motherboard that exceeds your current needs, and has lots of headroom. Buying one $200 motherboard might not be as cost-effective as buying two $75 ones, but it is a lot of hassle, and then on top of that you need to play the "are all my old components going to work with the new motherboard" game (not fun to realize that buying your new Mobo means needing to replace all of your RAM chips and finding out your sound card won't work anymore). Not to mention taking everything OUT of the case, then putting it all back IN, because suddenly the cable run is two inches to short all of a sudden (grrrrr)

However, if you're just building for someone else who isn't going to have their needs change, I would say "just go for one that you can put more RAM in later." If you're building an "economy" system, you probably know it will never be able to keep up with system requirements, so you can skimp on stuff in the short term.

So, when looking at your mobo choices, think about how often you'd seriously want to swap it out. If you're planning on swapping/upgrading/adding components in the future, go for the mobo that has support for the newest (and even future) tech that's within your budget, and supports the other tech you plan on putting in it.

If you're just going for the cheapest buy you can, well, go with that.

If you're down to two very similar boards, you might just end up being in a "pick one" or "compare the check boxes" situation.

Except for obvious situations, there isn't really a right answer for "which mobo is the right one for me". If you think about what you're going to use it for, and how often you're going to be fiddling with the other components in the system, that will lead you towards your answer.

 

[inzone]

There is one question that I always ask before a build regarding motherboards:

How often do I want to replace this motherboard? I recently built a new PC, and I got the Asus 990fx. Part of it is because it was compatible with the AM3 processors as well as the AM3+ processors, so I'm currently running a Phenom II x6 1100 Black edition, and could theoretically put a Bulldozer processor in it a few years from now (once the kinks are worked out). I have the capability for 16 gigs of ram (8 right now), and 3 PCIe ports (of which I'm using 1).

The great thing about the motherboard? I know that, should I need to, I can put more RAM in, add another GPU, even swap out the CPU. I can easily see this board going through 3-4 iterations, depending if my needs change. Plus, it was within my budget and I kinda liked the way it looked.

Now, this might not be a big thing for you if you're not thinking about upgrading in the future with this build. So, keep this in mind: if you'd be willing to buy new parts to replace components for this build 2-3 years from now, you should get motherboard that exceeds your current needs, and has lots of headroom. Buying one $200 motherboard might not be as cost-effective as buying two $75 ones, but it is a lot of hassle, and then on top of that you need to play the "are all my old components going to work with the new motherboard" game (not fun to realize that buying your new Mobo means needing to replace all of your RAM chips and finding out your sound card won't work anymore). Not to mention taking everything OUT of the case, then putting it all back IN, because suddenly the cable run is two inches to short all of a sudden (grrrrr)

However, if you're just building for someone else who isn't going to have their needs change, I would say "just go for one that you can put more RAM in later." If you're building an "economy" system, you probably know it will never be able to keep up with system requirements, so you can skimp on stuff in the short term.

So, when looking at your mobo choices, think about how often you'd seriously want to swap it out. If you're planning on swapping/upgrading/adding components in the future, go for the mobo that has support for the newest (and even future) tech that's within your budget, and supports the other tech you plan on putting in it.

If you're just going for the cheapest buy you can, well, go with that.

If you're down to two very similar boards, you might just end up being in a "pick one" or "compare the check boxes" situation.

Except for obvious situations, there isn't really a right answer for "which mobo is the right one for me". If you think about what you're going to use it for, and how often you're going to be fiddling with the other components in the system, that will lead you towards your answer.