Which mobo?

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BiggusDoggus

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#16861 31-Oct-2007 21:31

I'm in a quandry. Which mobo is best?

http://www.qmb.co.nz/p.aspx?107163

or

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Motherboards/auction-125151684.htm

I don't know anything about ECS, but $85 seems a very good price for this mobo. Ideally after one with onboard graphics, which it looks like both the Foxconn and ECS board has.

As always, any advice greatly appreciated thanks.

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bradstewart

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#93218 31-Oct-2007 21:50

Stay away from the Winfast boards, they are not put together that well.

Have a look at the ASUS M2N-MX SE http://www.pcgear.co.nz/product.php?productid=5563, it is a very good little board.

BiggusDoggus

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#93220 31-Oct-2007 22:00

bradstewart: Stay away from the Winfast boards, they are not put together that well.

Have a look at the ASUS M2N-MX SE http://www.pcgear.co.nz/product.php?productid=5563, it is a very good little board.

Yes it is. The problem is it only has a maximum of 2gb of RAM, as opposed to 4 on the Foxconn above (and the straight M2N-MX board.
I dunno though - maybe I'm getting a bit hung up on the 2gb vs 4gb for no valid reason.

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bradstewart

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#93221 31-Oct-2007 22:06

Unless you are going to use Vista x64 4gb of RAM is not going to happen for you.

There is also the Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2, a very popular board which we use in a lot of systems, 2Gb max though.

If you want to spend a little more check out the GA-MA69 series of Gigabyte boards. Much better value IMO

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BiggusDoggus

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#93222 31-Oct-2007 22:11

bradstewart: Unless you are going to use Vista x64 4gb of RAM is not going to happen for you.

There is also the Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2, a very popular board which we use in a lot of systems, 2Gb max though.

If you want to spend a little more check out the GA-MA69 series of Gigabyte boards. Much better value IMO

Disclosure: I am PC Gear

Hokay - I'm looking at also geting a PCI-E card at some stage (something like the 7600GS). Is there much difference between the nForce 405 and 430 chipset?

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bradstewart

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#93227 31-Oct-2007 22:40

If you are looking at cards don't look below the 8600GT, they are quite cheap now and are good performers.

The 430 fixes are few issues that had shown up with 405. Also 430 usually comes with better integrated graphics than the GeForce 6100

BiggusDoggus

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#93228 31-Oct-2007 22:48

bradstewart: If you are looking at cards don't look below the 8600GT, they are quite cheap now and are good performers.

The 430 fixes are few issues that had shown up with 405. Also 430 usually comes with better integrated graphics than the GeForce 6100

Sorry, but I'm confused (and apologies if this is a real dumb question), but doesn't the M2N-MX SE board (for example) come with both the 6100 and 430? So how does the 430 come with better graphics than the 6100?

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bradstewart

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#93240 31-Oct-2007 23:35

Sorry, the Nforce 430 chipset is usually, but not always paired with higher than the Geforce 6100.

BiggusDoggus

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#93738 4-Nov-2007 21:55

bradstewart: If you are looking at cards don't look below the 8600GT, they are quite cheap now and are good performers.

I would love to get up to a 8600GT - and may even have the funds left over to get one. However, I'm replacing my mobo, HDD, CPU, and RAM as well, so I'll be getting whatever I can afford after all that!

It will be at *least* a 7600, and lets face it, even that is light years ahead of the Radeon 9550 I've got at the moment!!!

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allstarnz

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#93742 4-Nov-2007 22:32

Sorry to hijack this thread slightly...

Any recommendations on a socket 775 motherboard? I don't really want to spend more than $100 as it's only for an HTPC. Must have DVI output.

I currently have a Asus P5PE-VM and am not very happy with it. I think it's not handling the demand of my TV card very well at all.

As a side, I bought my 22" LCD off you guys a while back, very happy with it.