Holiday Buyers Guide, Part I: CPUs, GPUs, Mobos, and RAM
by Editorial Staff on November 21, 2007 2:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Mountains of Motherboards
It would be nearly impossible to put together a complete listing of motherboards that address every possible sector or potential requirement. We have decided simply to list the boards that we have experience with and would recommend to our friends or family. Of course, some of our suggestions might indicate we do not like our friends or family members, but that is the fun in putting together a guide. We tend to be a little more liberal in some choices and conservative in others. We stayed on course with a consumer slant for the boards but will visit the server and enterprise section in the near future. As usual, we probably missed a few reader favorites but we certainly welcome your comments on those boards. Time and space constraints limit how many products we can discuss.
We are in the midst of AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel releasing several new chipsets along with a several more in the near future. Intel recently released the X38, the G35 is next week, and we expect to see the X48 in January. AMD just launched the 790FX, 790X, and 770 chipsets with the Phenom and RV670 products stealing the spotlight. We will provide our first look at the 790FX later this week but for now, it is an excellent chipset hampered by an aging Southbridge and a less than stellar quad-core processor; AMD should address both of these issues in Q1. NVIDIA is planning on releasing the 780i next month after spending some additional time to ensure Penryn compatibility, and hopefully we will see the 680i working properly shortly with Yorkfield processors. NVIDIA has been nearly silent on the 780a release schedule but rumors indicate this will occur in the next sixty days.
Given the fact that motherboard platforms are not compatible and that we have plenty of options to get through, we're going to break things into AMD and Intel specific recommendations. We'll start with AMD.
AMD Budget
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Biostar TA690G AM2: $85
The 690G chipset caught our eye on the day it launched. Either of these two boards will provide the features and layout to make a great budget system; they would also work well in a budget-minded HTPC. The multimedia capabilities of the 690G chipset together with HDMI output and an impressive feature make this chipset a star buy. AMD's Athlon X2 processors are great bargain at this point and offer a competitive price/performance ratio. These boards work very well with Microsoft Vista, and with a BIOS update they will even run AMD's new Phenom processors. The primary difference between the two boards is the Biostar board will overclock slightly better while the Gigabyte board offers superior onboard sound.
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Based on NVIDIA's MCP68 chipset, this motherboard has all the requisite features to build a great entry-level PC. Like the 690G boards, we have HDMI output - with H.264 decoding and Realtek HD audio - both great for a budget HTPC. We also find RAID 0,1,5,0+1 and JBOD support, providing ample data storage flexibility. The one thing this board does better than others in its class is offering slightly better graphics performance under Windows XP, although Vista performance favors the 690G. Note that the 690G does omit SM3.0 support, however. If you want to use an external NVIDIA graphics card, then we suggest sticking with an NVIDIA chipset; the same holds true for the AMD/ATI combinations. This chipset also supports the Phenom processor series and we should have a compatible BIOS shortly for testing.
A couple other boards worth a look:
MSI K9NBPM2-FID: $75
AMD Midrange
We have not received any new AMD 770 chipset boards yet. Based upon an early preview last month, we would recommend looking at these new boards as they hit the market place, especially if you are purchasing a new Phenom processor.
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This board was a pleasant surprise when we reviewed it earlier this year, and the latest BIOS releases have certainly improved the overclocking capabilities. The board supports Phenom now and offers an inexpensive upgrade for S939 users looking to stay with AMD - you'll still need a new CPU and RAM, of course. Although the chipset has been around for a while now, it still performs very well. Overall, this board represents the solid values that the AMD market has been offering since the introduction of the Athlon 64.
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Foxconn C51XEM2AA-8EKRS2H: $105 with $60 rebate
It is hard to believe that the board that introduced the AM2 platform almost 18 months ago is available for nearly $100 with a rebate. The board features NVIDIA's top of the line 590SLI chipset and offers an excellent blend of performance and features. We know in early testing the 590SLI will run the Phenom processor, but what we do not know is if this particular board will receive a BIOS update. If it does, current users will have a top performing board for SLI operation until NVIDIA launches the 780a chipset.
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DFI Infinity NF570 SLI-M2/G: $110
This is one of our favorite mid-range boards for the AM2 processor family. The board features SLI capability, an excellent combination of expansion slots, FireWire, and the typical DFI BIOS that provides great performance and plenty of tuning options.
Another reasonable option:
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe: $135
AMD High-End
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AMD just released the 790FX chipset and we are still in the process of testing several boards based on the latest design from AMD. It is too early to declare a winner, so we are just listing the boards currently available. However, we can say without a doubt that the 790FX chipset is incredible, even if it's hampered by the SB600 Southbridge and the new Phenom chips aren't up to speed yet.
MSI K9A2 Platinum: $180
Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5$210: Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DQ6 : $270
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23 Comments
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rudreshsj - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
the last buyers guide was way back in november the market has substantially changed after that ... pls post a newer updated guide.THX
imperator3733 - Friday, November 30, 2007 - link
On page 2 in the part on the QX9650, you say that the QX9650 has "2x6MB vs. 2xMB on the Q6xx0". It should say "2x4MB", not "2xMB".ac3shi6h - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
Just upgraded, everything from Newegg.Under $400******
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 - $89
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition $129
MSI NX8600GTS Diamond Plus GeForce 8600GTS 256MB $149 -$20= $129
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 PDC22G6400LLK 79 - 40= $39
*******
Total = $389,-
Can't beat this value in upgrading from 939 x2-4200+ with a 7800gs
3dmark05
OLD
3dmark = 6932
3d cpu = 6095
New (cpu @ 3ghz 15x multiplier)
3dmark = 12234
Cpu = 7422
Now I probably would have gotten better scores if I spend a little more, but at a 400 dollar budget I don't think I could have gotten any better then this. The only thing I forgot to order was a heatsink.. that bumped me up to 409,-... still though.. I couldn't find any sli capable deal for anything less...
AceY
strikeback03 - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
We need to build a new computer to interface with our microscope for the lab. Don't need 3D capabilities to speak of, but does need to be able to run a pair of CRTs at 1600x1200 and have Firewire. I checked out the Gigabyte motherboard suggested with the Intel build, but the Gigabyte website says the DVI output cannot be used with an adapter to D-Sub. Can you confirm if this is true, or recommend any other boards that might fit the bill? Or should we just look for a discrete card for either graphics or Firewire?tshen83 - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
I agree that the 8800GT is in short supply. However the Radeon HD3870 is also in short supply, if not worse than the 8800GT.Look at the MSRP. AMD advertised 219 as the MSRP, however, newegg and buy.com both raised the price to 269. And you still cannot buy them.
It looks more and more that the HD3870 is here for benchmark purposes, whereas the HD3850 is really what AMD wants to sell. But the Radeon HD3850 is really slow, in my mind, not worth 180 dollars when the 8800GT 512MB is selling for $208:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/games/...">http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod...mp;dgc=C...
JarredWalton - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
We actually aren't too surprised, but the text was written last week when supply of 3850/3870 cards was better. That's why we state, "While we're on the topic of availability, we must say that we don't know how long AMD will continue to keep up with demand for the Radeon HD 3850/3870. As with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, many resellers are now backordered and we wouldn't be surprised to see prices begin climbing."JarredWalton - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
On a related note, Dell currently has a killer deal on an 8800 GT 512MB card. How long will it last, and how long will it take to get the card if you order right now? Well, those are questions we don't have answers to right now. Still, if you're interested in an 8800 GT card, http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Games/...">here's the link(I don't know if that's the correct way to link, and the link buttons appear to be broken. Anyway, you should at least be able to see the URL; go to Dell.com and search for 8800GT if you need to.]
FrankM - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Am I the only one feeling that there's a bit of a gap between the IGPs and the ~$200 mainstream cards that you called "budget"? I sort of agree that there's not much worth getting between these extremes for current games, but 8600GT @ ~$100 runs OK on medium resolutions and settings, and also offloads HD-media from the CPU.Also, calling ~$200 cards "budget" is a bit weird. Not so long ago, that was mainstream, with budget being sub-$100...
JarredWalton - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Well, we did mention them: "There are cheaper graphics cards that provide adequate performance and DirectX 10 support, but the difference in performance between the $100 you might spend on the Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB/GeForce 8600 GT 256MB and the HD 3850 is substantial. Let's not even get into a discussion of performance requirements for Crysis, Hellgate: London, or Unreal Tournament 3. Needless to say, there are plenty more titles coming out where $100 graphics cards will need to drop down to lower resolutions and medium detail settings in order to provide adequate performance."Chubbbs - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
"the G35 is next week"Yes, finally!! This is the platform I've been patiently waiting for. Not all enthusiasts are gamers. Some of us want a superior workstation without the cost, power consumption, acoustics, and binary blobs associated with discrete graphics. All we ask is for is modest composite and decode acceleration and a digital output (two would be nice). But that doesn't mean we don't want a premium ATX board with 8 SATAs, solid caps, and effective chipset radiators.
There *is* a retail market for a $150-200 motherboard with integrated graphics. In fact, if we're going to pay $200 or more for a motherboard, shouldn't we expect it to include onboard graphics? It's not like it precludes adding discrete graphics, and it offers a much lower power mode for those rare moments when you're not gaming. I look forward to AT's in-depth analysis of Intel's long-overdue foray into integrated graphics for the midrange performance market.