Selecting a new MOBO

[SteveO85]

I've run into an issue with a cpu game I play, called starcraft 2. Ever since they released the new patches for their game StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm my computer has been lagging. I cant figure out the issue, and gave up and then I got my hands on a Corsair TX850W power Supply, and a GTX 295 graphics card. I now plan on just using these older, but better components for a new cpu, instead of chasing my latency issue. I am looking for a motherboard to support an Athlon II 3.0 dual core processor. I have stumbled upon this MOBO,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514
will it support the card and power supply? I chose this because it appears adequate for a future upgrade on my cpu (correct me if im wrong, or any sugguestions are appreciated for a different board. Price id like to keep it under$150 since im not buying a card or power supply)
I also am unclear if I should buy a Ethernet card to connect my cpu from my router or if this board will be sufficient with its onboard internet?

 

[clutchc]

That's a very good MB. And yes, it has all the Ethernet connectivity you'll need with its very good built-in LAN. The dual GPU GTX 295 was a very potent gfx card in its day; the key words being "in its day". But it should be more than enough to play that game.

However, the weak link in the chain is still the aging Athlon dual core. I'm not sure why you were fine until the updates you speak of, but the next upgrade should definitely be the processor.

 

[SteveO85]

As far as the latency goes, it's not just me on the gaming community who has the same issue I do. However, (if anyone can add to this, please chime in) my mobo is 3 years old. The onboard LAN, the last update was in 2010... So my theory is that being StarCraft was released in 2013, it was built on newer technology and since the last update for my driver for the network was 2010 (yes I already checked, that's the last 1) maybe my onboard LAN is just simply to outdated for the newer game (if that's possible) I had contemplated a separate Ethernet card, as I figured it would have newer updates but then someone gave me that GPU and power supply. So I figured ill just buy a new board for it and go from there.

 

[clutchc]

If the LAN and router are both gigabit, there should be no problem. At least not on your end. If you are still using a 100Mb LAN, then you need to upgrade. Is your only issue on multiplayer? Or is it slow on single player?

 

[SteveO85]

It's just multiplayer. If I'm in a game randomly and regular lag spikes occur. Meaning that my screen pips up with a 'wating for player' screen, while everyone else in game continues to play. If I have YouTube playing music, the music doesn't skip a beat. I've tried their tech support and everything they've suggested I've double checked and confirmed to not be the issue. I've tried unplugging my router, I reformatted, checked all drivers. Only thing I haven't tried is putting someone else's CPU on my internet connection. This leads me to believe its outdated tech on my CPU MOBO somewhere? Before the release of the new game and patches, the non expansion version I was able to play on extreme graphic settings without lag at all. This is why its so confusing and frustrating especially if this new board, gpu and power supply doesn't solve my problem. Here's my current board, maybe someone can chime in. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128469

I don't know what the onboard lan is on it, so maybe someone can spot any defficiencies on it to cause lag on in-game multiplayer? I paired it with a Athlon II x2, dual core 3.0ghz processor.

 

[clutchc]

Yeah, that's a pretty old board. It has a slow hyper transport buss and the old Nvidia 7025n chip set. But the Realtek Gigabit LAN is a good one. What were the latest LAN (and other) drivers you installed? These? http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3726#dl
(The above is for Windows 7 x64. If you have a different OS, you'll have to re-search.)

You could try this for a test; what resolution is your monitor? If you can play at a greatly reduced resolution just for testing purposes, you may be able to tell if the issue is CPU/GPU/Board related or if the issue is internet related. If the problem disappears or greatly diminishes, it would be safe to assume your CPU/GPU/board is the culprit and the LAN chip is fine.

Having issues with on-lone gaming is hard to diagnose. There are so many variables, from your own equipment, to the service provider, to the server at the other end. And having a rather old dual core isn't helping. I'm fairly certain it is bottle necking even the old SLI card.

 

[SteveO85]

I do have that latest drive for my PC. I don't know what the resolution is on my monitor. The monitor itself is a LCD monitor from 2006. Ive never had issues, so never felt I needed an upgrade for it. How would I go about changing resolution settings to perform this test?

 

[clutchc]

I do have that latest drive for my PC. I don't know what the resolution is on my monitor. The monitor itself is a LCD monitor from 2006. Ive never had issues, so never felt I needed an upgrade for it. How would I go about changing resolution settings to perform this test?

To check the resolution of your monitor, right-click on the desktop and choose "Screen Resolution". It will be displayed.

To change the resolution for the test, do it in-game if possible. The "options" should allow you to change settings like screen resolution. Then of course, change it back when done testing.