Motherboard Suggestions

[cheesegrater]

I am building a new system and I need some suggestions for a motherboard. Here is what I require:

AMD 64 3800 Socket 939 Support (Single Core)
nForce chipset
IDE HD Support *Very Important*
No Intergrated Video
Prefably not an MSI board
PCI Express 16X supporting GeForce 7600GT
Intergrated Sound (I dunno how many boards nowadays don't have intergrated sound)
I don't need SLI support.

Prices and selection at my local stores can suck. Any reliable online stores that ship to Canada?

[legoalex2000]

whats your price range?

if your looking between $75-150, your looking at Gigabyte and Abit, and a few Asus boards. any higher, Asus is good, as is sapphire and DFI. CTjoyce is more knowledgeable on higher end equipment.

80% of boards  will have intergrated sound, so don't worry about that. and PCIe x1 and x16 are pretty much standard, and having them in SLI can be commonly found as well. most Mobo's dont have Intergrated video, unless your buying OEM.

a really good website is www.newegg.com They have a huge variety of computer equipment. other choices are
www.tigerdirect.com
www.outpost.com (fry's electronics)
www.pricewatch.com

have fun!
Ramos

[cheesegrater]

75-150 is a good price range. I am not paying 200 for a board. A lot of the high-end boards don't even have IDE support. Cool, there is a Canadian tiger direct www.tigerdirect.ca

[Brett_Henderson]

I've had this board for several months now.. No problems at all.. even over-clocking..

ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra

[legoalex2000]

newegg is a good place to start. they have a lot of reviews.

they tend to be more on the 5/5 of Asus and some sapphire boards, also on the more expensive side if your budget. I own a gigabyte, and i can tell you know, if you have no plans to overclock, my board does perfectly. Abit, another good company in this area, makes boards similar to gigabyte, but with a bit more "freedom" per say.

DO NOT BUY PCchips. horrible mobo's, ick. and MSI is eh, but your saying nay on that, so no further comment. I really haven't heard too much on DFI

again, as i wait for them, CTJoyce and Nick N are the Chief Chief experts here (im just a chief expert )

Ramos

[cheesegrater]

Thanks. I bought stuff online but never computer parts. Is it more risky since they are sensitive items?

Yeah, I had MSI parts and they break once you breathe on them.

[legoalex2000]

this is how you can think about it. if you go to a store to buy computer equipment, it had to be shipped there, and same deal with buying online, it has to be shipped to the end point (your house.) sometimes a fragile sticker will be placed, as well as a static sensitive device sticker. but they well wrap it, and the rare case the component is bad, just contact the agency to replace.

I've yet to have a problem with online shipping, it's quite reliable. only times i have problems is when it was a bad batch of the part made.

ramos

[Brett_Henderson]

That's a good explanation of it..

One thing though.. When you order a m/b that's bad or gets broken in transit.. it's 100% of your new m/b inventory   The store orders several and can return the broken one without missing a step. You on the otherhand, are stuck for several days returning it.

I kinda mix and match. If my retailer can come close, price-wise.. I'll by from him.. Then   HE  has to deal with return shipping. Otherwise.. my online computer shopping has been pretty problem free...

[NicksFXHouse]

again, as i wait for them, CTJoyce and Nick N are the Chief Chief experts here (im just a chief expert )

Ramos

Who, me?

Not me.. I ain't an expert.

I'm a JAFO

I would say Cameron or Congo would know more about the available boards that I would. I stick with the top of the line stuff so I do not know how the budget products fair.

Also, I like MSI and Asus. All motherboard manufactures have their lemons. MSI demands a excellent quality PSU and excellent quality memory (moreso than Asus) which is why most people who shop price instead of quality get nailed by MSI. I have yet to buy a bad MSI board but have had a few Asus DOA's in my time.

[ctjoyce]

Never had a MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS, or Abit go wrong on me. When it all comes down to it, all $150 boards have about the same set of features, it really comes down to the BIOS. MSI, ASUS, and most ABit will have more options for overclocking, where as Gigabyte is great for beginners because the BIOS is very streemlined and strait forward.

Cheers
Cameron

[cheesegrater]

Some video cards have no plugs for a CRT monitor. However, they come with a converter. Do the converters okay?

[ripping]

yeah. .the converters are good.. show no real difference than if you had plugged into a D-Sub port.

[richardd43]

cheesegrater, here is another good Canadian store if you want to do some comparison shopping:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php

[ctjoyce]

Newegg all the way. I have never found a better site ever. There are a few places with lower prices, but their shipping balance out to the same price as the egg, and usually the less reputable places don't have the quality of the customer service as the egg.

Cheers
Cameron

Once you know you Newegg!

[richardd43]

Newegg.com does not offer International/Canadian shipping options at this time.

Newegg is not an option for Canadians.