What's the difference with motherboards?

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OM

I'm confused with the array of motherboards available.
What's the difference between a £20 one and a £100+ one?
OK... I'd expect the more expensive one to have better capabilites.

But the thing is... there seem to be a million different motherboards
priced from £40 - £60: what's the big difference in these models.

OK... I do know a bit... like some motherboards are for Intel, while
others are for AMD??

BUT... even then... there seems to be a plethora of options available!

How do I choose?
What should I look out for?

Is a £100+ motherboard ever worth buying?
(Heck... I might as well buy a dual processor one for a bit more!)

I know about SATA - but even still, I'm confused about the number of
options available!!
Are there other things that are relevant?

Am I right in saying that the cheaper motherboards come with onboard
VGA and the more expensive ones don't?

AND... what makes should I go for when buying?
AND... which should I avoid!?

Any enlightenments would be helpful.

Thanks.


OM
 
OM said:
I'm confused with the array of motherboards available.
What's the difference between a £20 one and a £100+ one?
OK... I'd expect the more expensive one to have better capabilites.

But the thing is... there seem to be a million different motherboards
priced from £40 - £60: what's the big difference in these models.

OK... I do know a bit... like some motherboards are for Intel, while
others are for AMD??

BUT... even then... there seems to be a plethora of options available!

How do I choose?
What should I look out for?

Is a £100+ motherboard ever worth buying?
(Heck... I might as well buy a dual processor one for a bit more!)

I know about SATA - but even still, I'm confused about the number of
options available!!
Are there other things that are relevant?

Am I right in saying that the cheaper motherboards come with onboard
VGA and the more expensive ones don't?

AND... what makes should I go for when buying?
AND... which should I avoid!?

Any enlightenments would be helpful.

Thanks.


OM
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how much of a problem it is these days, but...

Avoid: motherboards that have intergrated VGA, but no AGP or PCI-E slots
for you to upgrade the video subsystem if you require something better
later. Big mistake I made once.
 
I'm confused with the array of motherboards available.
What's the difference between a £20 one and a £100+ one?
OK... I'd expect the more expensive one to have better capabilites.

But the thing is... there seem to be a million different motherboards
priced from £40 - £60: what's the big difference in these models.

OK... I do know a bit... like some motherboards are for Intel, while
others are for AMD??

BUT... even then... there seems to be a plethora of options available!

How do I choose?
What should I look out for?

Is a £100+ motherboard ever worth buying?
(Heck... I might as well buy a dual processor one for a bit more!)

I know about SATA - but even still, I'm confused about the number of
options available!!
Are there other things that are relevant?

Am I right in saying that the cheaper motherboards come with onboard
VGA and the more expensive ones don't?

AND... what makes should I go for when buying?
AND... which should I avoid!?

Any enlightenments would be helpful.

Thanks.

OM

I guess one could write a book or at least a long chapter
about what to look for in a motherboard. One group of
factors is stability, reliability and support. Obviously, no
manufacturer will come out and say that their model xyz
is not very stable or may not last over a year. For this
aspect, reviews in magazines and websites and personal
experiences in forums and newsgroups will be helpful.

The second factor is about features. Overclockability may
or may not be important to you. If you never do anything
more demanding than word processing, playing music
and surfing the net, then a good onboard video will be
perfectly adequate. But if you're into gaming, then an AGP
or PCI-Express slot is a must. Do you need Firewire ?
Wi-Fi ? Are you likely to want to cram in a lot of expansion
cards ? If so, you have to go for a full ATX mobo with
lots of PCI slots. SATA support, RAID, Gigabit LAN.....
Do you want 7.1 audio or are you going to install a high-
end sound card anyway ? What chipset ? nVidia chipsets
are generally regarded as the best for AMD systems, with
VIA chipsets coming a close second. These are all features
that determine the price class.

Regarding brands, Asus and Gigabyte are among the
top ones, but there are other very good ones. I'm perfectly
happy with a less prestigious Biostar M7NCG-400 with
its onboard nForce2 integrated video running an Athlon
XP 2000+, though I've built a lot of computers with mobos
by Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, DFI, Leadtek, Kobian, Intel,
AsRock, even the notorious pcChips. My children use the
same mobo with an Athlon XP 2600+ and a GeForce4
Ti4400 graphics card. If they do well in their exams,
I'll buy them an Athlon 64 system with a 6600GT
graphics card, but it will still be with a motherboard
without a lot of extras.

Cheap = highly integrated ? Often but not always true.
Highly integrated mobos with onboard video and only 2
or 3 PCI slots are intended for people who don't need
all the extra features of the more expensive models. They
are not necessarily of lower quality.
 
OM said:
I'm confused with the array of motherboards available.
What's the difference between a £20 one and a £100+ one?
OK... I'd expect the more expensive one to have better capabilites.

But the thing is... there seem to be a million different motherboards
priced from £40 - £60: what's the big difference in these models.

OK... I do know a bit... like some motherboards are for Intel, while
others are for AMD??

BUT... even then... there seems to be a plethora of options available!

How do I choose?
What should I look out for?

Is a £100+ motherboard ever worth buying?
(Heck... I might as well buy a dual processor one for a bit more!)

I know about SATA - but even still, I'm confused about the number of
options available!!
Are there other things that are relevant?

Am I right in saying that the cheaper motherboards come with onboard
VGA and the more expensive ones don't?

AND... what makes should I go for when buying?
AND... which should I avoid!?

Any enlightenments would be helpful.

Thanks.


OM
Click to expand...

I build and repair lots of machines and have not had too many "problem"
motherboards... I'd say *avoid* PC Chips !... but even some of the lower
priced boards i've tried have been fine.
as mentioned...avoid on-board video
 
as mentioned...avoid on-board video
Click to expand...

Why? I would say this all depends on the use of the computer. If I were
building an "office use" computer I would likely use about a $60 all
inclusive nvidia nforce 2 board with built in Geforce 4 graphics and it
would serve that purpose just fine.

Joe
 
Why? I would say this all depends on the use of the computer. If I were
building an "office use" computer
Click to expand...

or a server. There's nothing wrong with integrated graphics on an
separate pci bus esp when there is an AGP slot in addition.

IMHO there's nothing to be gained with PCI-E. By the time there is a
large selection of cards for that bus that are "mature" it'll be time
to upgrade the beast anyways. Who knows how PCI-E implementations
will be tweaked or "fixed" by then? For now AGP 8x & PCI-X already
offer a ton of bandwidth.

I wouldn't go out of my way for SATA unless fixated on ATA raid. SATA
offers nothing for a generic 1 or 2 disk PC. That being said - smoke
'em if you got 'em.

Start with the most stable & mature chipsets you can find that meet
your current performance needs allowing for some growth. Don't get
caught up on bells 'n whistles. Focus on brands that deliver
consistent, better supported, more cohesively designed products rather
than "which is a tiny bit faster" or "this one has one more feature
than the other" type brand/model comparisons.

I don't think it's too controversial to endorse Supermicro, Tyan,
Intel, & Asus (in that order). To a lesser extent Gigabyte, MSI, & a
few others.

Just my $0.02
 
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