Advice needed on Motherboard for my new pc *sigh

Hi all

Here I am again trying to decide on spec for a new pc - the one I originally posted I was going to get had to be sent back (loooong story!), so it's back to square 1!

I have looking at getting this spec:

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6750 1333FSB SKT775
500W PSU (was advised this was good to get!)
500 GB SATA HDD UDMA 300 7200 16MB
SAMSUNG DVD /-RW 20x6x20x8 D/LAYER BLACK LIGHTSCRIBE (SATA
THERMALTAKE BLUE ORB II (CL-P0257) - (again was advised this was good to get!)
4GB DDR2 PC-6400 800 MHZ (4 x 1 GB 800)

but then there is like over 20 motherboards to choose from...so this is where I am getting really out of my depth - hell I am out of my depth chosing the above!!

I already have a NVidia GeForce graphics card ready to install so don't need to purchase this with the above package.

I would really appreciate your help on the mother boards - here is the list to choose from:

ASUS SKT-775 P5S-MX SE S/V/L M-ATX 1066FSB
ASUS SKT-775 P5GC-MX/1333 S/V/L 1333FSB (O.C) + £ 4.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5B-MX/WIFI-AP S/V/L M-ATX 1066(O.C.) + £ 9.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5L-VM 1394 S/V/L M-ATX 1066FSB + £ 9.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5L 1394 S/L 1066FSB + £ 11.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5B SE S/L 1333FSB (O.C) + £ 19.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5B S/L 1066FSB + £ 25.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5K SE S/L 1333FSB + £ 28.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5N-E SLI S/L 1066FSB + £ 30.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5K-VM S/V/L M-ATX 1333FSB + £ 31.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5K S/L 1333FSB + £ 32.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5N32-SLI PREMIUM/WiFi-AP S/L 1066FSB + £ 42.50
ASUS SKT-775 P5K-E WIFI-AP S/L 1333FSB + £ 51.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5N32-E SLI PLUS S/L 1333FSB + £ 61.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5B PREMIUM VISTA EDITION S/L 1333FSB + £ 68.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5E S/L CROSSFIRE 1600FSB + £ 82.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5K PREMIUM/WIFI S/L 1333FSB + £ 92.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5W64 WS PRO S/L 1066FSB CROSSFIRE + £ 93.00
ASUS SKT-775 MAXIMUS FORMULA S/L 1600FSB + £ 99.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5WDG2 WS PRO S/L 1066FSB + £ 100.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5E3 WS PRO S/L 1333FSB + £ 105.00
ASUS SKT-775 STRIKER EXTREME S/L 1333FSB + £ 112.00


Sorry for the long post *blush

Appreciate any comments and would really love it if I could transplant a techie brain into my head for an hour!!

BB

Is this PC going to be just for SL?

The 4GB seems like overkill - I'd do 2GB unless cost really isn't that big of a factor.

Hi Meade

No I will use the pc for a lot of other stuff as well as sl

Hi .. I'm running the Asus Striker Extreme .. awesome board ..great under any circumstance ..

To really find the limits of this board you need not be scared of your BIOS .

It will sit quite happily ticking over.. but to really get the most , start crankin' up the dials.

A great mobo stock .. but reallty an overclockers wet dream.

And wether a 500W PSU wil suffice depends on your choice of graphics card/s

Hi Jax

Really sorry but I am a bit of a techno phobe - so which one out of the list that I posted would you say is good enough to roll with?

Thanks

BB

Hi Barrowness .. sorry to be obscure ..

I can't really speak for any of the others ..

But I run with the Striker extreme .. although the most expensive listed it certainly does the buisness.


it is also very suited to overclocking if that is your deire.

Please note .. Overclocking may cancell your warrenty .. procede with caution.

Regards.

Hi Jax

Np - thanks for your input - much appreciated

can anyone else offer any pearls of wisdom?

Pretty please

I have 4 giga and i better with 2.

In reality if you do not plan on doing some extreme overclocking the actual Mobo has a very tiny effect on performance. Sure there are totaly crap cheapo boards but generaly if its a recent model and supports all your other hardware you wont notice the difference from a really expensive one.

Id suggest you get a prebuilt system. You can still customize all your hardware but usualy they have tested combinations that work well.

Some motherboards have problems running 4 sticks of DDR2 at proper speeds due to some quirks of the chipsets. The Intel P35 seems to be a major culprit.

A) hit ASUS related forums and looks for complaints.
B) try to get 2x2G instead of 4x1G if at all possible.
C) "product reviews" aren't necessarily the best indicator of a product's quality -- most reviewers plug it in, then fiddle and get some benchmarks, so you get no real idea of longetivity.

Also, even if you're not interested in purchasing from them, the customer comments on various items can save you a lot of woe at newegg.com -- if a lot of people are bitching about a particular item, you may want to steer clear of it.

If you're running 4G of ram, keep in mind that 32bit Windows won't support it -- it'll support around 3.5G at most, and 64bit versions of windows may run into odd compatibility problems with drivers and/or existing software.

I have the ASUS SKT-775 STRIKER EXTREME and, after some initial teething problems, am very happy with it. As Jax says, it is fantastic for overclocking and taking all your hardware to its very limits. It isn't, however, the motherboard for a "a bit of a techno phobe" !

I've also had a few P5B's ~ very sound motherboards, fast, reliable and easy to set up.

As for 2Gb or 4Gb RAM ~ even without taking into consideration whether your are running a 32bit or 64bit OS ~ more is almost always better. And the price of RAM is so cheap that, with the other components of spec that you have there, it just does not make any sense at all to me to skimp and buy less than 4Gb.

I've been using a P5B motherboard for a while now, and it's been performaing fine.

I would go with one of the 1333FSB motherboards, as you have a proc. at that speed first.

Furthermore, I don't see any advantage in buying a very high-end motherboard, like the Striker Extreme, if you don't plan to do any overclocking on your machine.
The high end boards offer a lot more overclocking/tweaking options, special safety measures to automatically prevent your system from hanging on bad overclocking settings etc.

Without overclocking, the premium cost will maybe translate to a maximum 1-2% performance advantage over the cheaper boards.

The higher end boards further often offer better PCI express options (for running 2/3/4 gfx cards in SLI mode), built in extra SATA controllers (for running a lot of HD's or RAID) and extra networking options (Wifi built in, or extra Gigabit ethernet ports)

None of these seem to matter in your case.

Intel chipsets are usually best supported overall, so my preference would be one of the 'B' boards.

Without looking at the detailed specs of every single option, i would prob. choose:

ASUS SKT-775 P5B SE S/L 1333FSB (O.C) + £ 19.00

BTW, because your processor is 1333FSB, to get the best from it the motherboard should also be at least 1333FSB. I would therefore advise you take off of your list:

ASUS SKT-775 P5S-MX SE S/V/L M-ATX 1066FSB
ASUS SKT-775 P5B-MX/WIFI-AP S/V/L M-ATX 1066(O.C.) + £ 9.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5L-VM 1394 S/V/L M-ATX 1066FSB + £ 9.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5L 1394 S/L 1066FSB + £ 11.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5B S/L 1066FSB + £ 25.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5N-E SLI S/L 1066FSB + £ 30.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5N32-SLI PREMIUM/WiFi-AP S/L 1066FSB + £ 42.50
ASUS SKT-775 P5W64 WS PRO S/L 1066FSB CROSSFIRE + £ 93.00
ASUS SKT-775 P5WDG2 WS PRO S/L 1066FSB + £ 100.00

This narrows it down a bit!

Thanks everyone for your advice - you are the best

When you overclock Mother Boards make sure you have plenty of air flow. Otherwise

I have the 6750 and I agree with everyone else, just find a 1333motherboard.

If you're running XP, you don't need 4g, if you're running Vista, I'd go with the 4gig.

You can also drop anything with Crossfire if you are going to use an nVidia card.

I would keep the 4 gigs of memory but if you need to shave a few quid off the total cost, 2 will do for now.

In the end, computers are like race cars. Speed cost money; how fast do you want to go?

My 2 Cents:

Check with Asus to make sure the RAM you've chosen works with their motherboards. Their boards are notorious for being choosey about RAM.

My Resident Geek says:

Here's how I choose my components...

1. Select a processor.
2. Select a video card. (I rely a lot on the user comments on NewEgg).
3. Select a motherboard that will support the above.
4. Make sure the motherboard has other features I'm looking for. Some you may or may not want --

- overclocking features
- silent chipset cooling
- enough room to mount the CPU cooler of your choice (Pick one that's both quiet and cool!)
- Multiple graphics card support (SLI, etc.)
- Multiple hard drive and/or onboard RAID support
- plenty of USB ports
- gigabit Ethernet port
- multiple Firewire ports, or Firewire 800.
- Surround sound support on the motherboard (or buy a separate audio card, if audio is very important to you)

5. Check the Newegg site again for user commentary on my selected board (or on several boards on my "short list".

6. Go to the motherboard maker's site, or to a big memory site like Samsung or Crucial or Mushkin, and find compatible RAM.

7. Choose a CPU cooler.

8. Choose a power supply. You need plenty of watts, but also try to find a quiet one. Larger fans are generally quieter than smaller ones. Modern graphics cards will often tell you what their minimum power supply requirements are.

9. Choose any other components you need, like hard drives, DVD burner, or a new case. Don't forget an operating system! Windows is cheaper if you order it at the same time as your MB and/or hard drives. You might also want a second hard drive to use to back up your main drive. It's more convenient if you mount it in the case, but it's safer to use an external drive. That way it can be disconnected when not in use, and safe from getting fried by a power surge that takes out your computer.

10. Put all the components together and order from NewEgg. Their prices are among the lowest, and their return policies and service are top notch.

Agrees with Lindal Kidd, 1.) define your prime aim:
Is using SL your prime aim? is 3D graphic art and construction your prime aim? do you run more than one art program at once often? once a week, once a month?

Is game playing your prime aim? do you need to be on the competitive edge or just being comfortable with the flow?

Is cost your prime aim? is it better to sit and wait until prices suit you or buy now..do you have the funding?

Is using office and business data your prime aim?

and so on , one must know where one is going to choose the route that provides the best journey.. for you, not me or anyone else, do not be influenced completely by someone elses radiance..


Certainly the biggest and most powerful psu will provide you with years of service.. remember though that unless you keep your pc in an absolutely clean air environment, dust will collect on every inaccessible space. Eventually without cleaning, the best components.. the psu... the cpu... the heatsinks, every hidden space, will need cleaning..

its an off topic subject maybe.. but keeping your house tidy and functional prolongs its life and use.. your pc is no different..on at least one occasion ive had a psu that functioned flawlessly for years.. die.. completely.. upon delving inside it i was amazed it had lasted so long.. the dust completely obscurred everything inside its metal case.. like someone had covered it in candy floss and toasted it..

A dedicated PC user has already that as part of his or her aim.. the pc is the aim.. the best, the fastest the most powerfull.. dependent on the choice.. the decision..

one has to decide where one wants to sit on the ladder.. for how long.. every day that passes, your pc becomes more obsolete.. time waits for no one..

technophobia doesnt mean you dont have common sense.. you know where you want to go.. you know what you want.. how long you want to be there, how much you want to spend to stay there..

write that down.. look then in any place that might have something you identify as a possible sympathetic source... the computer shop.. the computer forums, on the web..bounce ideas off folks, like your doing here...

Colour your picture.. you are the artist.. its your view, your journey.. your way.. you draw the lines...