mATX Board for A8 5600K cpu

[razer121]

One of the final parts for my media center, thought i would start a new thread in the right section

So i have looked at a few which i shall report back with later when i am on my own pc as there was alot!

But if anyone could suggest any that would be great what i need is a board that can....

Be good for a media center!
support a min of 8gb of ram (what board doesnt these days?)
have at least one pci-e 16x slot (using a gtx 460 in this baby)

Someone mentioned about hdmi not working on a tv from the cheap msi boards, as this computer will be hooked upto a TV i do need to be able to get into the bios!

So yes thats it, oh and my budget is £60 for this board max, cheaper is better naturally thanks!

[Bonebreaker777]

There are several good boards, but price wise you can get even a ITX board for under £40. ASRock FM2A78M-ITX+ with two HDMI ports! And very compact.

As mATX goes all the following boards are for under £40 as well: ASUS A55BM-K, Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-DS2 or Biostar A88M.

[razer121]

Thanks but i'd never use biostar to be honest!

Also looking away from the h55 chipset after soon research im pretty sure that i need a 88x chipset, sure this is what the a8 5600k will drop into!

Anyway i did look at a few boards and they are...44

Asus A88XM-PLUS

Asus A88XM-A

Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3

and the MSI A88XM-E45 AMD A88X

Now these all fit into my budget price which is perfect but now its off to do some googling to decide which is best suited

Thoughts on these boards?

[Bonebreaker777]

For me the most promising board for the money is the MSI A88XM-E45 (cost £44, 2x PCIe x16, 8x SATA ports, VGA+DVI+HDMI outs, cooler on the power components, 4x USB 3.0 on the back).

The Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3 is practically the same but more expensive and less extra (no cooler on power components, only two memory slots, only two USB 3.0).

The Asus A88XM-PLUS looks luxurious but costs £10 more that the MSI and doesn't offer anything extra.

Verdict: Go for the MSI!

[razer121]

Thanks for your input but i have actually decided on an asus board now it now boils down to these 2,

ASUS A88XM-PLUS
ASUS A88XM-a

I am unsure what benefits i will get from using the PLUS board so i am leaning toward the A however if anyone knows what differences there are that would be great

[DanceswithUnix]

Thanks for your input but i have actually decided on an asus board now it now boils down to these 2,

ASUS A88XM-PLUS
ASUS A88XM-a

I am unsure what benefits i will get from using the PLUS board so i am leaning toward the A however if anyone knows what differences there are that would be great

I went for the -A, 6 SATA ports is enough and and it has the 4 memory slots that I wanted.

The plus gives another x16 slot (x4 electrical), another 2 SATA ports, a beefier VRM and more overclocking tweaks. I am never going to overclock my server, so that wasn't of interest to me. Perhaps if you are stuffing the box with TV cards or similar the extra PCIe slot is useful. I just needed a x1 for a second ethernet port.

[razer121]

Hm never thought about that! It is just having a gpu and TV card as xtra so not really an issue but thanks i think i may order it today

[razer121]

It's been ordered! exciting time's should arrive tomoz as i got it from a mate who just happened to have one (result as it only cost me £16 for the board and next day delivery!)

One very happy razer right now XD

[Bonebreaker777]

It's been ordered! exciting time's should arrive tomoz as i got it from a mate who just happened to have one (result as it only cost me £16 for the board and next day delivery!)

One very happy razer right now XD

Bargain!