which motherboard to get?

[germanboy720]

I buying a new computer and not sure which motherboard to get so ... which motherboard should I get?
Leaning more toward the first 3 but I have little idea about mobo's. If the rest of the computers parts need to be put up to help, i can put them up.

--eVGA NForce 680i SLI Chipse

--Asus Striker Extreme nForce

--MSI P6N Diamond nForce 680i SLI Chipse

--Asus P5N32-E SLI nForce® 680i SLI Chipset

--Asus P5N-E SLI nForce® 650i SLI Chipset

-MSI P6N SLI-F nForce 650i SLI Chipset

--MSI P35 Neo-F P35 Chipset

--Asus P5KPL-VM Intel G31 Chipset

 

[germanboy720]

74 views and no replies, wow

 

[mervin338]

In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with any of those motherboards. However, in terms of which chip set - I'd say you should go for the 680 or P35 chip set. Evga motherboards are fast becoming a favorite of many computer enthusiasts, so I think it's good that you're considering them.

I've built systems with MSI boards before, and I really like their P35 Neo2 board. For the price it was a great purchase! I've not had experience dealing with ASUS; I typically build systems around abit boards because their software (Uguru) is far and away the best. It's also the case that I've been a loyal customer of Abit since 2001 and I'm just not willing to change.

MSI, ASUS, Abit, and Evga boards all perform about the same so you're going to get more bang for your buck by paying attention to the layout of the board and going by that. I would not recommend splurging and buying a motherboard with things you don't really need. If you don't need RAID, onboard firewire and 2 PCI x16 slots then just go for the basics.

 

[Pez D Spencer]

Besides a couple Intel boards I've only owned two other brands of motherboards and Asus A8N32-SLI and an EVGA NF68-A1 680i so I can't speak for any other manufacturers. The Asus was okay I guess exept the fact that the first one I got came with a dead CPU fan header and the fact that it would randomly reset all the BIOS settings. This 680i board however, is a miracle of modern science because somehow it defies the laws of physics and manages to suck AND blow both at the same time. The Intel boards on the other hand, never gave me a bit of trouble.

Before you buy an EVGA 680i board, head on over to the EVGA site and browse their 680i forums. These things are garbage. Some people are on their 5th or 6th board. Don't bet me wrong, I'm sure some of those boards don't work because of IO errors (Idiot Operator), but it's quite obvious that the 680i chipset boards, (at least from EVGA) are severely flawed. But I guess they already know that because EVGA has this new RMA program where they'll cross ship RMAs. Luckily for me I qualified for that program and am currently waiting for my replacment board to come in. Besides giving me random BSOD's with a new error code each time, this board won't overclock AT ALL. I found a guy to buy the replacment board and I'm using the proceeds to buy an Intel Bad Axe 2.

The 975 chipset might be getting old, but I'd sacrifice a little performance for a solid system any day of the week. I don't give a damn about a thousand extra 3D marks or 5 more FPS in Crysis. Pissing contests were never my thing anyway.

So if you want my opinion, I say get a Bad Axe. They're supposed to be very decent overclockers and have Intel quality and stability. My days of trying to be bleeding edge are over.

YMMV...