Need a hand

[alanschu]

I'm out of touch for computer components and I need a hand.

 

I'm likely looking at a Phenom II processor. I've always been partial to Asus Mobos, and am not sure if I will go nVidia or ATI. Any mobo recommendations at a variety of price ranges.

 

Thanks

 

Allan

[Purkake]

Maybe Techreport's system guide will help?

 

Or you could just check out their motherboard reviews.

[mkreku]

A bit more info would help. Are you looking for top of the line stuff? Are you on a budget? Are you interested in overclocking? What kind of OS are you planning to run on it (will you need DirectX 11..)? Are you interested in USB3 and SATA3? Are you one of the believers that you can actually hear a difference between a discreet soundcard and a built-in one? Are you likely to implement either Crossfire or SLI? Do you have an older system you'll scavenge parts from?

[Humanoid]

Anandtech's Buyer's Guide also recently updated.

 

Key decisions are probably how many cores you want (2, 3 or 4) and whether you have any interest in overclocking (and hence the BE edition CPUs) or even core unlocking. If on a very strict budget then an AM2+ board (instead of AM3) would allow you to reuse DDR2.

 

My knowledge on specific models is pretty much nil but of the current AMD chipset offerings I believe the FX is the premium series, X is mainstream and G/GX is mainstream with integrated graphics.

 

 

 

For video ATi currently win at all price points until nVidia gets around to launching their perpetually delayed new series - so any decision here comes down to a) buy whatever ATi card fits your budget, or b) wait and reuse your existing card for now.