Need help picking a motherboard.

[DrDuran]

Ok, it's got to that time again, I need to upgrade my PC bit and bobs.

I am planning to get:
CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Graphics Card.

So far I have selected the following
CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition AM2+
Graphics:
1x 1GB Sapphire HD 4870 PCI-E
RAM:
4Gb (2x2Gb) DDR2, still need to pick the make, etc.

I am stuck as to what motherboard to get. This is where the great Hexus collective mind comes in. I need your help.

I have some requirements for the MOBO and they are as following:
- Must be able to connect the 3 things selected above.
- Must have at least 2 SATA connections (for 2 HDs, RAID 0). 4 would be good, incase I want to connect more drives in the future.
- Would like it to have 2 IDE connections (for a HD and DVD player).
- Would like at least 4 USB 2.0 ports, 6 would be ideal.

I am willing to spend up to £200 for the motherboard, but really just want something that would compliment the above items and give the best performance from them.

Thanks in advance.

[Nobull]

You'll struggle to find stuff with more than one IDE these days. You DEFINATELY want to get a 790GX or 790FX chipset Motherboard to go with your 940. Personally I'd go for the Asus M3A78-T at £102 and save the money, it has 6 USB, 5 SATA, 2 PCI-E in case you wanted to crossfire your 4870 at a later date, but unfortunately only 1 IDE. Though with the £98 you'd save from your budget you could just pick a SATA DVDRW Drive for £15 and do away with your IDE 1 if you wanted to spend a bit more the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe is roughly £140 with the an extra SATA connection and a whopping 4 PCI-E 2.0 slots, supporting up to 4 GFX CARDS!!! Overkill if you ask me, especially considering the card you've picked out. Still only 1 IDE, most modern boards are the same. Like I say tho is no big deal with the money saved u cud buy an extra 1TB HD and a dvdrw drive! Hope this helps!

[Nobull]

P.S. theres a set of 4GB OCZ 800mhz Ram on special on ebuyer today for an incredible £35 I would get it while its that cheap. Good branded RAM at a great price.

[DrDuran]

The £102 board sounds perfick! It's unlikely I'll ever get a 2nd graphics card, but it could extend the life of that PC setup so having the option is definately good!

The higher priced board is tad too extreme for me.

As for the IDEs, I think I can drop the IDE HD drive, as it's an ancient 100Gb drive and I have an external 1TB HD already. That'll mean I can use the single IDE for my DVDRW. And as you said with the money left over I could even pick up the SATA DVDRW drive and do away with the need for IDE all together!

The RAM looks like a great price too!!

I will check these out in detail tomorrow!

This is great. I really appreciate your advice!

Thanks!

[Sputnik]

I'd suggest either -

Asus M3a78-EM mATX 780G board ~£65 from Ebuyer.

or

J&W 790GX Extreme (ATX) ~£90 from Scan.

[Nobull]

My pleasure, glad I could be of some help! Shame you dont have enough posts to 'thank' me haha only kidding your real thanks are ample thanking. You should have a pretty sweet setup, those Phenom II 940s look really good, especially with that chipset and apparently the 940 BE is a good overclocker. Have fun with it what res monitor you got btw? That 1 GB 4870 should take pretty much anything you throw at it even at high res. They're apparently only £162 on OCUK at the minute and dropping more and more cos of the imminent 4890 release.

[Nobull]

I'd suggest either -

Asus M3a78-EM mATX 780G board ~£65 from Ebuyer.

or

J&W 790GX Extreme (ATX) ~£90 from Scan.

Never even heard of J & W, they surely can't be as trusted as ASUS?

[DrDuran]

Thanks Sputnik. I think I'll stick to ASUS, I am not brave enough to go for a brand I have not heard of. I will definitely check out the ASUS board you suggested!


Nobull:
The res is 1680 x 1050.

£162 is a very nice price!! Thanks for letting me know! My friend also gets free postage from there, so it's an extra bonus!

I am not sure if I can wait much longer to let the price drop some more. I want some purdy graphics in my games.

As for the Thanks, haha, I did try to thank you, but I found out I need a certain number of posts.

[Sputnik]

Never even heard of J & W, they surely can't be as trusted as ASUS?

I had never heard of them either until I saw Scan selling them. Cat-The-Fifth said they sell mainly in Asia and after doing a bit of research of my own it appears they sell in lots of countries around the world. I have one on order so will report on it when it arrives.

Their website is http://www.jwele.com/motherboard_detail.php?147

The problem with the Asus M3A78-T is it does not have a port for DVI on the board and uses an adaptor to adapt from HDMI to DVI.

[Nobull]

The problem with the Asus M3A78-T is it does not have a port for DVI on the board and uses an adaptor to adapt from HDMI to DVI.

Not much of a 'problem' if he's using dedicated graphics though is it?

@DrDuran at that resolution you could probably get away with the 512mb version which is even cheaper. Got the Powercolor OC edition for £150. That said I wish I'd bought a 1GB 4870 instead of a 512 but thats only because I'm gaming at 1900x1200. How does your friend manage to get free delivery on OCUK?! They often have some gd bargains but their high shipping rates usually put me off...

[Sputnik]

Not much of a 'problem' if he's using dedicated graphics though is it?

I overlooked that he was using a graphics card but, I still think that the J&W or Biostar boards are a better choice for a 790GX based board.
Like alot of people here have said the Asus M3a78-EM mATX board cannot be beaten for a 780G board.

[Nobull]

Sorry Sputnik, hope that didn't come across as bitchy, i wasn't trying to be pedantic or have a go at you, was just pointing it out for the DrDuran. Havn't any experience of J & W so you may be right, I would just usually rather go with brands I know and trust given the choice.

[Sputnik]

Sorry Sputnik, hope that didn't come across as bitchy, i wasn't trying to be pedantic or have a go at you, was just pointing it out for the DrDuran. Havn't any experience of J & W so you may be right, I would just usually rather go with brands I know and trust given the choice.

No problem!

I'm not one for buying junk but, I'm also not one of those people that is fixated by brand names either.

I have only ever owned one Asus board (a long time ago)and although I never had a problem with it, I don't remember anything 'outstanding' about it either.

[DrDuran]

@Nobull, you need to sign up to their forums and be a member for at least 6 months and post 250 or so posts...or so he tells me. A man who plans ahead.

[Sputnik]

There is an Asus 780G ATX board on today only at Scan for £71.

[scaryjim]

If you want to run one IDE HD and one IDE DVD drive then you'll be fine - I know it's an OLD technology but you shouldn't forget that IDE ports can run 2 devices

If you're getting a Phenom II I wouldn't bother with a 780G unless you're dead set on mATX. The 790GX has a number of refinements over the 780G and since you're getting an X4 940 it seems pointless to skimp on the motherboard. If you change your mind and decide to go for a 790FX (i.e. one that doesn't have built-in graphics) you *must* find one with the new SB750 southbridge (there's a few out there, but not many). They're easy to recgnise though - they cost about £30 more than the older FXs!! If it was me, I'd stick with the 790GX