Best motherboard

[saint_hades]

Hi
Does anyone know whats the best motherboard under £150 ($298)

Also is it possible for it to have PCI-E 2.0 slots, because i kind of want the best graphics cards for it.

Thanks

[street1 (RIP)]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-P5ND

[saint_hades]

street1 thanks

2 x PCI '''2.2'''  what does the 2.2 mean

and are is there normal PCI slots, cause i need one for the Ageia Phys X card

[homer]

my choice would be the ASUS 780i motherboard. $278.00
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27684&vpn=P5N%2DT%20Deluxe&manufacture=ASUS

BTW...why do you have a phys X card?

[elxr06]

why get a physX card? now that nVidia owns Aegia, nVidia will incorporate physX card technology to their series 8 (and hopefully 9+) cards thru new software and/or drivers (so they say but it's in the works right now!)

How many games do you play that has physics graphics requiring physX? Only one I know is unreal tournament.

[saint_hades]

I just love CellFactor: Revolution
Ghost Recon thats good

homer, do you know were I can bye that motherboard in the UK

Ps, does anyone know any really good motherboard installing websites

thanks

[saint_hades]

I'm just wondering,

But what is the 'best' motherboard out there at the moment

[patio]

I'm just wondering,

But what is the 'best' motherboard out there at the moment

This is an extremely nebulous question that cannot be answered correctly with thousands of variables involved...

[elxr06]

I'm just wondering,

But what is the 'best' motherboard out there at the moment

This is an extremely nebulous question that cannot be answered correctly with thousands of variables involved...

indeed one might have the 'best' motherboard for the particular task they are wanting to do which may be different for many people.

[saint_hades]

Ok, If I wanted the best motherboard for games and 3d work

with PCI E 2.0 (at least 2) and more than one PCi card

[patio]

Still not enough...

What processor?
What Chipset?
What networking requirements?
Sound ?
Power requirements ?
Hot swappable SATA3 required ?

Can you see where this is going as i've only listed a handful of variables off the top of my head ? ?

[elxr06]

I'm just wondering,

But what is the 'best' motherboard out there at the moment

This is an extremely nebulous question that cannot be answered correctly with thousands of variables involved...

indeed one might have the 'best' motherboard for the particular task they are wanting to do which may be different for many people.

I should've also added that 'best' motherboard for a particular task for one person may not be the 'best' motherboard for same task for other person depending on their system type, requirements, method, etc...............

[saint_hades]

Is this a good motherboard
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=729926

Seems good and fits my requirements

[homer]

But what is the 'best' motherboard out there at the moment

the top contender in the gaming motherboard market right now is the 790i chipset motherboard. they are available from many vendors including ASUS, XFX, EVGA, etc. they are NOT cheap, and they also use DDR3 RAM, which is also NOT cheap.

ASUS 790i
XFX 790i
EVGA 790i

Is this a good motherboard

it is an excellent motherboard. it only has a little better performance then the 680i, but it has alot more features (such as 3-way SLI and 45nm processor support.)

[saint_hades]

'DDR3 RAM'

How do I find out, what sort of ram I have

I'm not sure if I want to upgrade my ram

[Deerpark]

Unless your RAM is brand new and expensive they're not DDR3.
You can use the System Scanner tool from Crucial.com to detect what kind of RAM you have.

[saint_hades]

well that scanner tool, didn't work for me

In my manual it just says   memory:..........1024Mb


my computer is an alienware

made in 2000

[saint_hades]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-nForce-780i-Motherboard-Definition/dp/tech-data/B0011UPBCK/ref=de_a_smtd?ie=UTF8&qid=1207776199&sr=1-1

hold on everyone

the board I want says

Supported RAM Technology: DDR II SDRAM

not DDR III

how can i find out what sort of RAM I have

[patio]

Not sure why the scanner didn't work...never heard that.
There's an option on the same page to manually enter your info...

[Deerpark]

Try CPU-Z instead.
But if the computer is from 2000 it is probably DDR ram.
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

[homer]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-nForce-780i-Motherboard-Definition/dp/tech-data/B0011UPBCK/ref=de_a_smtd?ie=UTF8&qid=1207776199&sr=1-1

hold on everyone

the board I want says

Supported RAM Technology: DDR II SDRAM

not DDR III

unless you are made of money, i suggest waiting a little longer for the price of DDR3 RAM to drop to a more reasonable price. but heck, if you have money to burn, then purchase a 790i motherboard that does support DDR3.

how can i find out what sort of RAM I have

if software doesnt work, then pop a stick out and look at it. it should say on the label, if it doesnt, then compare where the notch is on the stick of RAM. DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 notches are in different locations in order to avoid people using the wrong type of RAM. judging by the age of your computer, however, i believe you have DDR RAM.

[saint_hades]

Supported RAM Technology: DDR II SDRAM


doesn't that mean, it's DDR 2 not DR3

were can i bye DDR II from

what's good in the ram industry

[homer]

Supported RAM Technology: DDR II SDRAM


doesn't that mean, it's DDR 2 not (D)DR3

yes, that is exactly what it means.

were can i bye DDR II from

depends where you live. i purchase all my computer parts from ncix.com because its a canadian company and i live in canada.

what's good in the ram industry

do you mean speed-wise or manufacturer-wise? if you would like us to find RAM for you, you will have to specify a budget.

[saint_hades]

I just want the best

so that i wont have to bye anything for a while

[homer]

so budget is not an issue?

[saint_hades]

not really

but is this good
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000FVTPF0/ref=s9subs_c5_at3-rfc_p_74_14_5_4_3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0JPG865CGJW9M488SQ8R&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=139042391&pf_rd_i=468294

because I don't really have a budget but i would rather not pay more for the same thing if it wont make much difference 

[saint_hades]

hold one everyone (again)

CPU-z say's

memory

type  DDR2

so does that mean i can bye the motherboard i want

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-nForce-780i-Motherboard-Definition/dp/tech-data/B0011UPBCK/ref=de_a_smtd?ie=UTF8&qid=1207776199&sr=1-1

[elxr06]

Sure you can.

Amazon says that Supported RAM Technology is DDR II SDRAM which is good for you.

[homer]

if budget is not an issue, then i would go for the 790i and i would purchase some DDR3 RAM.

EVGA 790i
RAM

[Deerpark]

Before you spend a lot of money on DDR 3 RAM you should probably read this pretty interesting article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/04/09/toms_ultimate_ram_speed_tests/

The conclusion of the article is that at present there is little to no real performance increase gained by buying DDR 3 RAM.

[elxr06]

not really

but is this good
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000FVTPF0/ref=s9subs_c5_at3-rfc_p_74_14_5_4_3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0JPG865CGJW9M488SQ8R&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=139042391&pf_rd_i=468294

because I don't really have a budget but i would rather not pay more for the same thing if it wont make much difference 

It is a nice motherboard and would definitely keep you going for quite a while. DDR3 as they say don't seem to be too much of an improvement from the DDR2 and that's the only thing you'd be missing and that's all.

If you put the hardware all together and if you can do what you want on your computer with the operating system you use then it'll be a good motherboard for you.

The most "high tech" motherboards may not be the best for you depending on what parts of it you actually will utilize.