Motherboard Help

[saadzaman126]

Hey Guys,

I just had a few questions, I'm going to get PowerColor HD 4830 with...

G-skills 4gb of gddr3 1333 Ram
AMD Athlon 2 X3 445 3.1 Ghz

Now when trying to select a motherboard I'm confused with the PCI-e 2.0 x 16, does it effect gameplay? Whether it's in a 2.0 or 1.0 pci-e x16? If there is an effect how big is it? Also, does anyone have any experience with the gigabyte usb 3x boost? It looks like the standard usb 2.0 won't be compatible and not only is it actually 3x faster transfer rate?

 

[stevednmc]

I think the bandwith is the same, on 1.0 and 2.0, i may be wrong.
On the mobo are you talking about usb 3.0? Because 3.0 is backwards compatible.

 

[saadzaman126]

no it's this thing gigabyte has it's called ubs power 3x, like it's still 2.0 i believe but it's faster idk? but only gigabyte has it as far as im aware, seems sketchy.

 

[DrunkenMafia]

USB power is a new feature on USB3 motherboards. All it means is you can charge something via USB with the PC turned off. it has no effect on data rates etc. And yes USB 3 is backwards compatible with USB 2.

What motherboard are you looking at getting? whats your budget etc.

Just to correct myself, this is from gb website:

3x USB Power Boost
GIGABYTE motherboards feature a 3x USB power boost, delivering greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices. GIGABYTE’s unique USB power design is also able to efficiently regulate output over the full voltage range, which greatly enhances USB device compatibility. In addition, dedicated lower resistance fuses ensure lower voltage drops, and provide more stable and plentiful power delivery.

 

[saadzaman126]

Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2P
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3726#ov

ASUS M4A78LT-M LE
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?p_id=exjl00uovtjadqxr

ECS A785GM-M7
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pr...ilID=1089&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=0

Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3276#ov

I'm not sure whether i want the pci-e 2.0 x 16, does it help in graphics or gameplay or anything?

I'm leaning towards the asus right now i think

 

[stereotype]

PCIe 2.0 has twice the speed per lane of the old 1.0. It has been around for quite a while and you should definitely look for one with it.

Among the boards you've chosen, all of them are PCIe 2.0, except the GA-M68MT-S2P.

After reviewing the specs:

Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2P -> Don't get it! - The nForce chipset is way old, and runs very hot.

ASUS M4A78LT-M LE -> A good buy, 760G/SB710 chipset pair, 6 sata, 4 USB @ back, cheap VIA audio, good manufacturer.

ECS A785GM-M7 -> The best chipset of the bunch 785G/SB710, 6 sata, cheap VIA audio, but also a "cheaper" manufacturer. I wouldn't buy it...

Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 -> Same 760G/SB710 chipset pair as ASUS, 4 sata, 8 USB @ back, good Realtek audio, good manufacturer.


Personally I'd go with the Gigabyte if you don't need 6 sata ports, but the ASUS is also a good buy.

By the way, nice to see you're going with AMD

 

[saadzaman126]

haha yah i've never dwelled in the realm of intel personally.

Newbie question: what does chipsets effect on a motherboard? I thought initially that it was on lard graphics and audio but I'm sure I'm totally wrong
Also an unrelated question, for a wireless pci-e x1 adapter that I'm getting that is 300mbps what would I need to do to achieve that speed? i have an n-router, cisco something.

edit: I'm planning on getting a seagate barracuda 500gb 3.0gb/s, I believe that is just the regular data, I think the gigabye board has SATA 2 or maybe SATA 3 are all these compatible?

 

[stereotype]

Yeah Intel sucks these days, with their Sandy Bridge DRM and its other spying "features"...
Plus who wants to keep up with all the silly socket changes and stupid i-names...

Back to your questions:

In itself, the CPU is quite "dumb", so the chipsets help get data to and from it.
Most motherboards work with a pair of chipsets, the "northbridge" and the "southbridge".
The northbridge mainly controls access to RAM, PCIe, onboard graphics...
The southbridge controls devices such as SATA drives, USB ports, audio, networking, etc...
So better chipsets can be faster, have more features, let you plug more things in, etc...

To achieve maximum Wi-Fi speeds with "n" devices you should set it to 5GHz operation, instead of the 2.4GHz that is more common. The 2.4GHz sprectrum is very crowed, not only because all your neighbours probably use it too, but also because some household equipment share this frequency, such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby radios, and others... Also, make sure the router is NOT set to "mixed-mode", by disabling "b" and "g" modes. Plus the obvious: try to avoid walls, and have the equipment in a clear "line of sight" as much as possible...

All SATA generations are compatible, so you don't have to worry about that.
Seagate is not a bad brand, but if someone asked me about it, I wouldn't recommend it.
Hitachi makes the most reliable drives you can buy, hence they are very common in the enterprise sector, but they may be a little hard to come by at your local shop - but they sure are worth the hunt
If you cant find Hitachi, I'd say buy Samsung or Western Digital.

Hope that helps

By the way, is this your first build? (I'm guessing you're building a PC from all the parts...)

 

[Dent1]

haha yah i've never dwelled in the realm of intel personally.

Newbie question: what does chipsets effect on a motherboard? I thought initially that it was on lard graphics and audio but I'm sure I'm totally wrong
Also an unrelated question, for a wireless pci-e x1 adapter that I'm getting that is 300mbps what would I need to do to achieve that speed? i have an n-router, cisco something.

edit: I'm planning on getting a seagate barracuda 500gb 3.0gb/s, I believe that is just the regular data, I think the gigabye board has SATA 2 or maybe SATA 3 are all these compatible?

For efficiency all of your questions could of been answered in one thread. Instead of spread across many.

Unless it's all you can't afford it, I would go against buying a 500GB HD, that is tiny by today's standard. I would be looking for a HD from 1.5TB upwards. To give you an idea of how big a game installation is these days, I downloaded the "Fallen Earth" Demo the other day. The client was 200MB, the download was near 4GB and the installation is nearly 6GB. That is over 10GB for just 1 demo. Think of how quickly you'll get through a 500GB hard disk drive if you have 5-10 games installed. In addition, a compressed 720p TV show is about 1.1-1.5GB, now imagine if there is 20 episodes per season and four seasons total!

The PCI 1x is for peripheral cards, PCI 1x has a maximum throughput of about 250 MB/s. A wireless n network card has a maximum throughput of 300 Mbit/s. MB/sec is about 8 times greater than Mbit/s. So PCI 1x is more than capable of running a wireless n card.

 

[saadzaman126]

so to reach the full 300mbps it depends on my adapter and the router settings, not really the router itself as long as it's an n-router. And yes this is my first build, What I'm most intimidated by is installation, wires to be exact, it seems as if there's a million of them, at first I'll only be having 2 Sata I believe on the gigabyte Mobo, so I was think of getting an OCZ Modsteam 500W ($39) since it'll have less wires for a newb like me I also found a StealthXStream 600W for cheaper after MIR ($29 after $15 MIR) but I read OCZ MIR may be the worst of all time, so idk. There's also a topower 550 W ($40 on sale from $59) and an ePower ($36) which are both 550 W. Any advice?

 

[stereotype]

It's all about settings and your neighbours, seriously. The mixing of b/g/n signals impacts performance a lot. So even if YOUR network is in "n" mode only, your "b" or "g" neighbours might still get in your way, depending on how strong their signal is and how heavy the traffic. That's why its good to run it at 5GHz, isolating yourself from all that b/g traffic. The only problem is that the 5GHz frequency is an optional feature of the "n" specification, so routers are not forced to implement it... Hopefully yours will have it...

Regarding the PSU, I think your first option is great, the OCZ Modsteam (nice pick for a newbie btw ). Modular PSUs are nice and practical, and they are usually manufactured with higher grade parts. Plus the price you quoted seems great too. Stay away from unknown brands no matter the price. Topower and Epower seem like generic brands, I'd avoid...

Regarding cables, I guess the most annoying bit are the wires from the case to the motherboard, but the motherboard's manual can usually help you out with that... From the PSU, its straightforward: 2 to the motherboard and 1 to the video card, plus the HDs...

 

[saadzaman126]

Regarding cables, I guess the most annoying bit are the wires from the case to the motherboard, but the motherboard's manual can usually help you out with that... From the PSU, its straightforward: 2 to the motherboard and 1 to the video card, plus the HDs...

Yah my case has this front fan LED, I don't even know if it does anything or if it's just there to look cool but they're confusing ass wires there. And the cooler im getting, the COOLER MASTER Hyper TX3 RR-910-HTX3-G1 does that also have to be plugged into the mobo? and if so, idk where :/. Same issue with the case fan, APEVIA CF4S-UBL 80mm Case Fan.

 

[stereotype]

Yep, the fan on the CPU heatsink connects to the motherboard, and that's very important to get right, as there is more than one place where the plug fits. A motherboard will have at least two of such pins, one for the cpu, and one or more for the case fans, so don't get them mixed - check the MB manual to be sure. A PC might turn on and start normally with those pins in the wrong place, and that's were the danger lies... It might run for a while then fry-up.

By the way, funny thing, but the case fan you picked is not good. It uses a molex plug, so you'll have to connect it straight onto the PSU, and not on the MB - meaning the fan will always run at 100% from the moment the power is turned on, and will probably be very noisy. You should get a fan that plugs into the motherboard, as they regulate the speed according to actual temps.

Have a look at this image as an example:

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/11-999-344-01.jpg

The plug you need is the little brown one on the left... that one goes onto the motherboard... the big white one is the molex plug...

 

[saadzaman126]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU i woulda never know that! So for the Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2
in the manual it'll tell me where to connect everything, more importantly heatsink fan vs. case fan? Is the modular capability worth dropping the 100W compared to the StealthXStream? Also do you know any case fans that do have the mobo plug? and how hard is it to install a case fan?

 

[Dent1]

Please don't buy the the Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2, its a good board buts it's had its day.

The 760G chipset is old, updates will be thin as its already long in the tooth. As I said before if you want a motherboard you should be looking at the 880G/GX and 890G/GX/FX chipset. The 880G/GX chipset is cheap!

The manual will tell you where to connect the fans. Watch videos on youtube about how to custom build computers to see first hand what you're doing.

 

[stereotype]

Yep, MB manuals usually have some sort of drawing in the first pages with the layout and pointers to where everything is...

IMHO, the difference between 500W vs 600W is more about marketing than anything else. In pratical terms they should be quite similar. Anyway, in general, modular PSUs are more of a premium product, marketed to a more "discerning" buyer, "and other things equal", you should expect it to have better components inside than a standard version. I'd guess that's why the 600W version is actually cheaper after the rebate

About the fans, I think most of them come with the MB plug actually, maybe its just the real cheap ones that don't - sometimes they come with both, like that photo I showed you. In any case, if you're buying online, try to look at product photos... Fans are so cheap no-one really bothers to put much info in the product's description... And to install them, you just screw them in, and plug them to the MB... child's play...
Also, they are more effective blowing hot-air-out than cold-air-in, so pay attention to that went installing them...

Regarding case fans, I usually buy Noctua or Zalman if its for my own use... But they are a bit more expensive than the other brands.

I found this CoolerMaster for $6 that seems OK from the reviews on newegg: COOLER MASTER R4-S8R-20AK-GP 80mm Case Fan

BTW check this out: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141979

Regarding the last poster, he is somewhat right.
The 800 series is newer, but in reality, not much has changed between the 700 and 800 series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_chipsets
(Also note that the codename for the 785G is RS880 and the 880G is RS880P - and both are manufactured with the same 55nm process)

In any case, you presented us with 4 boards you had already chosen, I just picked among them.
If you are getting them at a great price I'd say go for it... But if you can find an ASUS or Gigabyte with the 800 series for similar money, then do that...
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with the Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2, it's still a good buy...

 

[saadzaman126]

IMHO, the difference between 500W vs 600W is more about marketing than anything else. In pratical terms they should be quite similar. Anyway, in general, modular PSUs are more of a premium product, marketed to a more "discerning" buyer, "and other things equal", you should expect it to have better components inside than a standard version. I'd guess that's why the 600W version is actually cheaper after the rebate

Well after taking a closer look i noticed that it was a "B-stock Refurbished" product, is that safe to buy? I looked it up and a lot of google search results ended in people simply claiming that B-stock Refurb products are mostly damaged products, and that the return shipping will just end up costing you more

 

[stereotype]

Yeah maybe its better to find something new...