Chosing a Motherboard
 

When I've saved enought money I'm gonig to build my next computer. But I know very little about chosing a motherboard.

e.g.

Two motherboards take the same processor have the same amount of slots for RAM & goodies like graphics cards. How do you know which is the better of the two motherboards ?

well, first I'd look at how GOOD of RAM it supports. DDR266/333/400. 400 being the best. Make sure the AGP slot is 8x, but I doubt many come without it nowadays. See what Chipset is in the motheboard also. Via, nForce2, etc. nForce2 is better in my opinion.

Also, see if the onboard sound is good. 5.1 compatible, stuff like that.

See if the motherboard has LAN build-in.

Usually by the manufacture and the cost you can have two boards that have the same features but if one is 35 bucks and the other is 70 I would tend to lean to the higher price board also word of mouth ask around I personaly like abit and asus

There are multiple things to look at. Check if the boards support DDR400, 8X AGP, however many PCI slots you want, however many RAM slots you want, USB 2.0 support, which chipset it has, which onboard sound it has, if it has onboard LAN, onboard SATA support, and if it supports the absolute best of processors for that socket type (AMD or Intel).

You know, to make this really simple, I'd just get either the Abit NF7-S 2.0 or the Asus A7N8X Deluxe if you're gonna go with AMD, and the Abit IC7 series if you're gonna go with Intel.

Those are the best motherboards for each type of processor...you don't need to look at anything else. :)

-Lasereth

Me thinks Lasereth is *slightly* biased;)
Seriously, research what's best for you and keep in mind that USB 2.0 and SATA are emerging standards that are set to replace their predecesors and that 8x is the current AGP standard.
I'm biased towards the VIA chuipset like Lasereth is biased towards NVidia, so choose what you like.
I stick to MSI, Shuttle,Abit,and DFI in that order for mobo maker prefrence.

Biased towards NVIDIA? Where'd you get that opinion?

If you want the best mobo, then I'd get the ones I suggested. There are other MUCH cheaper motherboards out there, but I simply believe that all of them are inferior to the ones I listed.

If you're talking about nForce 2 chipsets, then yes, both of the AMD boards I suggested have it. I'm not recommending them because of that chipset, though -- I'm simply giving knowledge that I've read through a ton of reviews and personal experiences. The mobo manufacturer is much more important than the chipset.

-Lasereth

Calm down Lasereth.:p
I'm just joking around based on your constant recomendation of boards containing an NVidia chipset:D
I still like VIA chipsets and am not as big a fan of ABIT as you, so i sugggested other options.
No hard feelings;)

Roger that. I'll admit that my BioStar motherboard from this past summer came completed fucked, and it was an nForce 2 chipset. I've also heard that some RAM types won't work with it. Oh well, it just so happens that my favorite boards come with it. :)

An interesting fact is that the VIA chipset for Athlon 64 motherboards is actually doing much better than the nForce 3 chipset. If I upgrade to Athlon 64 in the distant future, I'll probably be going with VIA. :)

-Lasereth

Abit NF7-S Revision 2.0

other than the suggestions given, you might want to check out review sites like tomshardware.com and anandtech.com. Those guys know their shit, and they do tons of research on every single product they review. Although Tom's Hardware has been known to be biased towards Intel products in the past, they still give really good guides and advice as to what the best hardware on the market is.

amen to that brotha

Ditto.

Thanks to all who posted a reply, particually Lasereth, arch13 and Redjake. Some really good gen thier gents and I'm sure those two sites will come in very useful.

Tom's hardware does seem to have quite the love affair with Gigabyte Mobos... that being said they seem to be straight shooters most of the time.

A7N8X-E Deluxe. Basically has all the nice features of the Abit NF7-S, such as SoundStorm APU and two kinds of built-in LAN cards, so its better than the regular A7N8X Deluxe 2.0.

Check it out here http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTc3

So why is the general consensus that the Abit NF7S Rev. 2 is better than the asus A7N8X-E?

Also, I'm buying an Abit NF7-S off Newegg this week for my bro. How do I tell if it is revision 2, or is this just a Bios flash?

Hmm some useful suggestions here. My motherboard is a few years out of date so I'm thinking of upgrading. Has anybody had any real problems putting in a new motherboard into their computer ?

The NF7-S has all of the features that the A7N8X-E has, and is cheaper. It also looks cooler if ya ask me. :) I'm pretty sure that NewEgg ONLY sells 2.0's, so there's not much to worry about. I ordered mine 9 months ago, and it was a 2.0, so getting an earlier version is just about impossible.

-Lasereth

I love gigabyte boards...I've bought over 25 in a year and haven't had a bad one yet...