Hi all, first post here, although I've read quite a bit of stuff on the site over the last several years.
I'm building a new system, which is replacing my first build, a skt 939 Athlon 64 system I built 4-5 years ago.
I will be using this system for decent non-hardcore gaming, internet, and lots of media use. This is a budget build, and I have everything picked out, but I just can't decide on a mobo. At least for now, I'll be going with the Athlon 2 640, but I plan on dropping a 6-core in later on down the road. I don't ever plan to Crossfire. (lol especially since I'm a Nvidia fan) I also am not an overclocker, and don't plan on ever overclocking, even a tiny bit.
I'm in search of a $100 or less (MIRs don't count) AM3 motherboard that has to have these things:
* 880G chipset
* At least 5 usable Sata ports that won't be blocked by a GTX 460 1GB card. Using right-angle sata cables would be fine if I had to. Sata 2 is good enough, Sata 3 is merely an unneeded luxury.
* Onboard graphics, so the Radeon HD 4250. Built in sideport memory would be a nice bonus, but is not a must.
* At least 1 USB 3.0 port.
* At least 1 usable PCIE x 1 port.
* HDMI, DVI, D-sub
* Since I plan in replacing the Athlon 2 640 with a 125w 6-core, I would like to have the mobo support up to 140w, rather than 125w.
* Asus or Gigabyte only. Biostar seems to have a hatred of PCIE x 1 ports, Asrock is a little wishy-washy for me, and I wouldn't give an MSI mobo to my dog.
* Quality construction. A phase design better than 4+1 would be great.
* I would prefer an ATX board, but a nice mATX would be fine too.
* 8-pin power, rather than 4-pin.
I apologize for the long list of demands, but I've been going in circles researching a bunch of potential motherboard suitors for the last week or two, and I'd like some of your expert opinions. While I consider any of my other system components irrelevant to this post, if you would like me to post them, I will. The memory I choose could be highly dependant on my mobo selection, so that's not quite set in stone yet either. Thanks.
I'm building a new system, which is replacing my first build, a skt 939 Athlon 64 system I built 4-5 years ago.
I will be using this system for decent non-hardcore gaming, internet, and lots of media use. This is a budget build, and I have everything picked out, but I just can't decide on a mobo. At least for now, I'll be going with the Athlon 2 640, but I plan on dropping a 6-core in later on down the road. I don't ever plan to Crossfire. (lol especially since I'm a Nvidia fan) I also am not an overclocker, and don't plan on ever overclocking, even a tiny bit.
I'm in search of a $100 or less (MIRs don't count) AM3 motherboard that has to have these things:
* 880G chipset
* At least 5 usable Sata ports that won't be blocked by a GTX 460 1GB card. Using right-angle sata cables would be fine if I had to. Sata 2 is good enough, Sata 3 is merely an unneeded luxury.
* Onboard graphics, so the Radeon HD 4250. Built in sideport memory would be a nice bonus, but is not a must.
* At least 1 USB 3.0 port.
* At least 1 usable PCIE x 1 port.
* HDMI, DVI, D-sub
* Since I plan in replacing the Athlon 2 640 with a 125w 6-core, I would like to have the mobo support up to 140w, rather than 125w.
* Asus or Gigabyte only. Biostar seems to have a hatred of PCIE x 1 ports, Asrock is a little wishy-washy for me, and I wouldn't give an MSI mobo to my dog.
* Quality construction. A phase design better than 4+1 would be great.
* I would prefer an ATX board, but a nice mATX would be fine too.
* 8-pin power, rather than 4-pin.
I apologize for the long list of demands, but I've been going in circles researching a bunch of potential motherboard suitors for the last week or two, and I'd like some of your expert opinions. While I consider any of my other system components irrelevant to this post, if you would like me to post them, I will. The memory I choose could be highly dependant on my mobo selection, so that's not quite set in stone yet either. Thanks.