[DELL-HATER]

Hello all,

You all know me as Dell-Hater.

Anywoo, since I'm planning to build a computer soon. I was wondering, does the price of motherboard really matter? Does the price define what you will get in terms of performance? Is it's possible that sixty dollars motherboard can triumph over a hundred dollar motherboard?

Any input? Any comments or opinion, please, put it here!

Thank you for your time!

DH

 

[kidwolf909]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DELL-HATER Hello all, You all know me as Dell-Hater. Anywoo, since I'm planning to build a computer soon. I was wondering, does the price of motherboard really matter? Does the price define what you will get in terms of performance? Is it's possible that sixty dollars motherboard can triumph over a hundred dollar motherboard? Any input? Any comments or opinion, please, put it here! Thank you for your time! DH

Not necessarily, price usually refers to # of features and goodies. The P965 DS3 could OC just as good as the P5B-Dlx, but the P5B offers more heatpipe cooling and other little tidbits like that that you don't necessarily need.

The same thing goes for the P35-DS3R vs. the P5K-Dlx.

Go with what fits your budget, I'd say the DS3R.

 

[Overclock]

You will be able to skip on the speakers and save some money!

 

[DELL-HATER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overclock You will be able to skip on the speakers and save some money!

please stay on topic.

 

[Sideburns]

Ya, it's entirely possible...it's like for AMD mobos, when you can get the cheap tforce mobos and overclock like crazy...

It's mostly in the chipset...

 

[DELL-HATER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sideburns Ya, it's entirely possible...it's like for AMD mobos, when you can get the cheap tforce mobos and overclock like crazy... It's mostly in the chipset...

I see... it's all about chipset?

Better chipset = better performance?

 

[t4ct1c47]

I know its not exactly comparing a cheap motherboard to a mid-range motherboard but a good example would be the performance of the P5N32-E SLi and the Striker Extreme. Both from Asus, and both make use of the 680i chipset, but the cheaper board with less unnecessary features can clock just as highly. Though to be honest, if you're looking to only spend $60 on a motherboard I think you'll literally get what you pay for when it comes to Intel boards. I hope you're not thinking of an AsRock.

 

[iampoor]

chipset

and quality

 

[Fatal05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DELL-HATER I see... it's all about chipset? Better chipset = better performance?

No not really. The more expensive the motherboard, the more options/overclocking features you will have (this is mostly dependant upon the boards chipset).

 

[Nasgul]

The more expensive motherboards generally will have features that the vanilla version will not have and also a few other things like cables and remote control and fancy stuff but usually they are built more robust and add features that will help in overclocking in the long run.

Take for example ASUS boards, they have:
-More OC options and sometimes higher values
-Extra cooling feature such as heat-pipe design + Stack Cool 2
-Phase power changes
-eSATA
-ICHX-R vs ICHX (for raid option)

And so on.

But to me, the 1st and foremost important part on my build will be the motherboard and that's something I will not compromise, not saying that I do in others but I do look around for the rest of the parts that will be hook to the MoBo but no as much as I pay attention to the MoBo.

That, is the reason why I still luv my P5WD2-Premium.

 

[hiKaRux3]

Usually, price does not matter, but I would say anything over $99 dollars would be good. Well maybe it is just me since I bought a cheap board once, and hoping for all good, but it was hell for me. Putting together a computer is like a family, depends on all your other parts and whatever you need. Just buy whatever fits like kidwolf says. If you want, many people can suggest motherboards for you too. And yes, more money is more goodies, for example like the evga motherboards, they can really show you the price with the goodies. And I do not think $60 dollars boards will triumph a $100 dollars board. They really are not that good. Anything under $100 is like buying what you get. So I'd will not try my luck on that. I guess Chipsets and Quality of the board is most important usually around $60 dollars, the quality are not that good, especially for overclocking.

 

[Knitelife]

Many times you can pay twice as much, to get an extra 5 to 10 percent more performance. If it is worth it too you, go for it, if you are on a budget, get the setup that has been tested and proven by others to reach the speeds you hope for, at the budget you can afford.

If you rated performance of motherboards from 1 to 100, a board rated 100 will most likely cost twice as much as the one rated 90. Don't get a cheapo board, but you dont have to sell the farm to get a very nice rig.

 

[SINISTER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by t4ct1c47 I know its not exactly comparing a cheap motherboard to a mid-range motherboard but a good example would be the performance of the P5N32-E SLi and the Striker Extreme. Both from Asus, and both make use of the 680i chipset, but the cheaper board with less unnecessary features can clock just as highly. Though to be honest, if you're looking to only spend $60 on a motherboard I think you'll literally get what you pay for when it comes to Intel boards. I hope you're not thinking of an AsRock.

I agree.. this is a perfect example from just reading about these two boards actualy 3...P5N32-E 650I / AND P5N32-E PLUS 680I / AND EXTREME..
I DIDNT KNOW THAT THE ASUS P5N32-E 650I / P5N32-E PLUS 680I USES the same mobo as the extreme, here is a quick quote from fireing squad....

The rear panel of the P5N32-E and Plus boards is very similar to the Striker. The only features missing are the two SATA ports, the debugging LCD, and the LCD backlight toggle button. You can clearly see the empty connections for these on the PCB. All other features are kept. If you don't need SATA2, are an experienced tweaker and don't need the debugging screen, you could probably settle for one of lower ASUS 680i boards. All ASUS 680i boards come with the Supreme FX audio card. If you have your own, you don't have to use it so it is a great option.

Overclocking

Our overclocking results with the ASUS P5N32-E SLI and Plus boards were different. The BIOS is the same for all of ASUS's 680i boards, so these boards had the same options as the Striker, which achieved the highest speed of any Intel board we tested. The ASUS P5N32-E SLI achieved a measly 477MHz FSB, which isn't bad at all, but compared to the Striker's 537MHz, the ASUS P5N32-E's numbers seem small. This could possibly mean that the Striker's chips were hand picked. The ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus topped out at 503MHz, right between the two other ASUS boards. It may have done better because of the solid capacitors, even if that is unlikely. Remember, overclocking is random, and changes by chip. This is also why CPUs all overclock differently.

The striker extreme is now at 329.99 / the p5n32-e is at 126.99 and the plus is at
182.99..big price diff with just some missing items from the extreme.. this is a good example on how they produce boards,. but honestly i wouldnt spend 60 bucks on a board you wont be happy with it..do some reasearch on diff mobo lik eim doing ask questions about them , then make your final mind up on which one to buy

.... I hope this helped you out some ... actual finding of this came from kemo6600

 

[mojo_lo]

as long as you stick with the brands that are generally perceived as being reliable with good quality parts, you should be OK: ASUS, Giga, ABIT (although they've manufactured a few lemons, the newer models are pretty solid).

most importantly: stay away from Extremely Crappy S**t (aka ECS).

 

[Wheezy Baby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sideburns Ya, it's entirely possible...it's like for AMD mobos, when you can get the cheap tforce mobos and overclock like crazy... It's mostly in the chipset...

Mostly. I mean I have an old ULi chipset and yet I am easily hitting 330Mhz HT on my 3200+. I mean, who would expect that? The only downside is the 1.45v cap but I can vmod and get much more which I am doing soon on a suicide run for this motherboard. I do not know who else can get that much out of a socket 939 motherboard.