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ASUS MB's worth it?

post #1 of 13
11/4/05 at 9:47am
Thread Starter 
I had good luck with an ASUS motherboard in the past. I was wondering if it is a good brand to buy now (haven't built a pc in years) or if there is some between 100$ - 170$ that are better? I also read that MSI and Gigabyte are good. Didn't know if they would be better.
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post #2 of 13
11/4/05 at 10:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skeletor
I had good luck with an ASUS motherboard in the past. I was wondering if it is a good brand to buy now (haven't built a pc in years) or if there is some between 100$ - 170$ that are better? I also read that MSI and Gigabyte are good. Didn't know if they would be better.
Asus is generally considered to be the best mobo manufacturer, however MSI and DFI are both very good alternatives. Asus and MSI are built more towards strong, stable systems that can handle some overclocking, and DFI has made a major push to be the current overclockers choice.

You can't really go wrong with either one of the three, just compare all the features (audio chipsets, passive or active cooling of the northbridge for noise, # of lan, etc) and work within your budget. Some might want to spend the money to get the "ultra deluxe premium platinum" mobo, or get a solid entry and put that extra money to a better vid card or extra hard drive.
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post #3 of 13
11/4/05 at 11:59am
Yep they'r still in top. Curently I have a Gigabyte but if I would have to buy a new one it would be definetly one of these 3: Bigabyte, Asus, MSI
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post #4 of 13
11/4/05 at 2:19pm
i stick with MSI desktop boards, but Asus is still good.

ASRock's new 939 dual-sata2 board (dual core) has received some great reviews, though.
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post #5 of 13
11/4/05 at 2:47pm
I currently am running two ASUS mother boards. One is from 01 the other I built in the summer of 04. Zero problems with either, AMAZING technical support... they call you back at your home if they are too busy when you call....
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post #6 of 13
11/4/05 at 3:17pm
Thread Starter 
Cool. After posting many times, I have finally concluded my order on Newegg. I'm going to submit it on payday 2 weeks from now. Feel free to evalute it incase I should have gotten something that I didn't. The only things I was wondering is if the processor would make a difference to get a better one (I didn't think so in relation to the cost of the higher processors). Thanks for all who wrote when I kept posting about all this :]

ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt

LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black -

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB 7200 RPM
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

2x (2 gig total) CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit

SAMSUNG 930BF-BLACK Black 19" 4ms (Gray to Gray) LCD

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939

eVGA 256-P2-N516 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

$1,531.35
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post #7 of 13
11/4/05 at 3:32pm
Asus boards are cool, and you also get a crapload of goodies with them, compared to other motherboards.

You wont regret buying it.
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post #8 of 13
11/4/05 at 3:52pm
you're eating some good power there, make sure you get a monster power supply.

and i'd go up to at least the 3400 cpu, but you can always upgrade that later, too. not a bad place to save a few bucks.
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post #9 of 13
11/4/05 at 4:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark
you're eating some good power there, make sure you get a monster power supply.

and i'd go up to at least the 3400 cpu, but you can always upgrade that later, too. not a bad place to save a few bucks.
i always highly recommended getting a low CPU when youre building a PC... if you get the BEST of the BEST right away... theres nothing to look forward to later if you decide to upgrade...
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post #10 of 13
11/4/05 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
Good point :] I'm confused about how good of performance jump I would get with the better processor. I've had an AMD 64 3000+ and P4 3.2 in my two laptops, and the main drawback I've had comes from the video card area. (or that's what I've assumed) Since I've gamed mainly on a laptop the last two years, I haven't gotten a good handle of how good of processor I need compared to what the video card will handle.

I heard that Altec is a good brand for cases / power supplies, and the one that comes with the case is 450w. I think that should suffice. (or I'm hoping ... hehe)

For me, I've been gaming on a laptop for about 2 years now, so I'm thinking that anything newer I get for this desktop is going to blow me away as far as performance. I'm used to playing with all my settings low / medium. I can't wait to get a 1280 x 1024 resolution, and crank the settings all on high / ultra high. Ahh, will be a good day when I get it all up and running.
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post #11 of 13
11/4/05 at 4:24pm
Check out my review in my I in my sig.

It compares benchmarks from a 3500+ to an FX-55 to a XP 3200.
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post #12 of 13
11/4/05 at 4:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skeletor

I heard that Altec is a good brand for cases / power supplies, and the one that comes with the case is 450w. I think that should suffice. (or I'm hoping ... hehe)

450w is going to be your minimum. With that graphics card, the raptor drive, and future additions/upgrades, you may want to jump up to a nice 550w now instead of later. but again, that's another upgrade you can do later.

you should, however, definitely get a UPS/tree for your new computer. Nothing like a nice power surge to kill your new system. Got mine for $39.
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post #13 of 13
11/4/05 at 5:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark
450w is going to be your minimum. With that graphics card, the raptor drive, and future additions/upgrades, you may want to jump up to a nice 550w now instead of later. but again, that's another upgrade you can do later.

you should, however, definitely get a UPS/tree for your new computer. Nothing like a nice power surge to kill your new system. Got mine for $39.
i was running a 420 watt on 3 HDs, X800, DVD, AND my PUMPs and fans for my watercooling system...

ive since upgraded to Modular...which owns...
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