best motherboard

[Nik00117]

Epox pwns.

 

[Computergen1]

cant OC better than that DFI..

 

[bigbondfan]

sorry, i believe i may have decieved you into believing a high budget. I actually already have a 1gb stick of ram, and only want to buy 1 more (which i may not do until i really need to). I have a budget of more around £300-£400 for my cpu, graphics card and motherboard.

how do i know whether a motherboard has pci express capability?

 

[the deceived]

Oh right, well you certainly won't get a motherboard and CPU when you buy a £350 graphics card

What I suggest you get is:

CPU: AMD 3700 San Diego - £158.71
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=90949

Motherboard: DFI Lanparty UT nForce4 Ultra-D - £82.20
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=10906414821&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=92676

Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 6600GT - £99.69
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=10906558914&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=80376

Now that all comes to: £340.60, and with VAT £400.21. Shipping will be around £5, and so that is the top end of your budget but I think that's the best you are going to get out of £400 for the lot.

Hope that helps!

 

[TRDCorolla1]

It simply state that on the motherboard specs (the website you are looking at) or if you go to the store, it will tell you on the package.

Looks like you have around 730 US dollars to spend on CPU, graphics, and motherboard. I'm sure you don't need the SLi mode too so here's a simple, yet a great performer setup:

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130484

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

BFG Tech BFGR68256GTOCX Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143025

Total price= $625 USD which equals around 343 British Pounds

Or you know what you can do is get this badass video card and it comes with a free PCI-e SLi motherboard:

Free SLI Motherboard and Fast VGA!
eVGA 256-P2-N528-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130234

 

[the deceived]

Great looking spec there TRD but you've got to remember that they charge a hell of a lot more over here because of the different tax rules, and if he was to buy from the US, he'd end up paying £50+ for customs etc.

If you can stretch your budget a bit and look for the bits that TRD suggested in the UK, then get them as they are slightly better than mine on a whole (I think).

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Wow, customs. Man, it's got to be tough for people over there buying stuff here. All these fees. I was debating whether to go with a higher performance CPU or video card. I was going to go with the San Diego core but that thing costs more than $300. I figure a 2GHz Venice will do a great job too and pay half the price. This way, there are still enough money to beef up the video card instead. That BFG 6800GT will do some serious ownage, but will of course get beaten by the delicious 7800GTX (which is about $150 more).

Unless, he gets that motherboard/video card combo by eVGA.

 

[the deceived]

Yeah, they hit you hard on customs. I mean I got my RAM today from the US and guess how much I had to pay customs for them to say 'It's OK, no drugs/weapons/threats'?? £40.26!!! Jst for the RAM! So I'm guessing that you put the motherboard, CPU and GPU in one through customs and you're looking at £100+ and then that defeats the purpose of buying from the US

Yeah, I was wondering whther to get a better GPU or CPU. I only chose the San Diego because I keep hearing that it gets awesome reviews all the time, and it will be easier to upgrade (if he has enough money) to say the G72 from nVidia in the future than replacing the whole CPU.

 

[bigbondfan]

OK. I'm looking at a motherboard which says nothing about pci express, but it does say PCI 2.3 compliance (meaning what?). It is an Asrock K8 upgrade-1689. Would this be a good motherboard?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

You mean this one?

ASRock K8 COMBO-Z Socket 754 and 939 ULi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157035

If so, it doesn't support PCI-e. You don't have to worry about the PCI revision. New motherboards are in compliance.