how do you know what motheroard is best to buy. im not fantastic with computers i know how much RAM i need and graphics card and the simple stuff but then the motherboard confuses me, anyone have tips on what motherboard to buy for what type of computer, or however you choose your motherboard
motherboards
- Thread starter Kmce
- Start date
mantadog
Superhero Level Poster
Well you have to decide what features you need. A basic motherboard is perfectly fine for your average user who has no plans to overclock, run multiple GPU's or support the latest tech like PCIe 3.0.
As a rule the more costly motherboards offer more expansion slots like PCI, PCIe and SATA etc, so if you plan to keep adding to your computer you would be wise to get one with a decent exapnsion capacity.
If you don't plan to run more than 1 GPU you can get away with the most basic one. However if your spending over £1k on a PC with a view to upgrading it in the future you might one to upgrade that a little.
I can't recommend any motherboards because i don't know which CPU you intend to use. If you post up a proposed spec and with the motherboard of your choise + an idea if you plan to upgrade in the future and your general uses for the PC we can direct you towards a better board for your needs if needs be.
As a rule the more costly motherboards offer more expansion slots like PCI, PCIe and SATA etc, so if you plan to keep adding to your computer you would be wise to get one with a decent exapnsion capacity.
If you don't plan to run more than 1 GPU you can get away with the most basic one. However if your spending over £1k on a PC with a view to upgrading it in the future you might one to upgrade that a little.
I can't recommend any motherboards because i don't know which CPU you intend to use. If you post up a proposed spec and with the motherboard of your choise + an idea if you plan to upgrade in the future and your general uses for the PC we can direct you towards a better board for your needs if needs be.
If i can scrape up another £200ish this is what i was planning on not completely decided yet but i will be this CPU
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
mantadog
Superhero Level Poster
Any specific reason for that CPU? I only ask because unless you plan to overclock then you can save £35 by going for the i7 2600, which is the same CPU as the i7 2700k just with a locked multiplier (so no overclocking) and a 0.1Ghz reduction in clock speed which you would never notice. As no other parts of your system seem overclock friendly i presume you never plan to overclock so really i would stick with the i7 2600 and that way you only need to save up £165 more 
Other points to note. I would upgrade to the Caviar black as your main HDD, the 750GB model is only a few £ more and is better than the standard generic drives in terms of pure speed and it is very reliable too. Do you see yourself using a full 16GB of RAM? That is quite a lot, 4GB is just about alright for gaming at the moment 8GB will get you by for video editing and not a whole lot uses anything like 16GB. Though it does depend on your intended uses.
Other points to note. I would upgrade to the Caviar black as your main HDD, the 750GB model is only a few £ more and is better than the standard generic drives in terms of pure speed and it is very reliable too. Do you see yourself using a full 16GB of RAM? That is quite a lot, 4GB is just about alright for gaming at the moment 8GB will get you by for video editing and not a whole lot uses anything like 16GB. Though it does depend on your intended uses.