"JohnK" <Duh@Duh.com> wrote in message
news:GXGRj.138810$D_3.71581@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> What is (are) the best ASUS motherboards
> today for Intel processors?
It's a case of 'horses for courses', with there being so many.
Do you mainly want to overclock and tweak every last bit of
performance from it? Play games? Have a stable PC for
business use?
Do you want to use DDR2 or DDR3? Any Chipset preference?
Need firewire? More than one ethernet port? RAID (and if so,
which version, and how many HD in total will you need?)
Do you need any IDE ({PATA) ports, or all SATA?
Will you be using more than one graphics adaptor and if so,
ATI or nVidia?
By thinking about those questions, you'll probably be able to
narrow it down to 2 or 3 boards.
HTH,
--
Rob
OK, so assuming that I "know" the answers to all those questions
(below), how do I then tell which board is the best fit? Is there a
site or something? (TW, I've inserted "my" answers below.... I'm
assuming everyone would have is own answers, and so a different board
recommendation.)
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:54:30 +0100, "Rob" <noone@nowhere.noway.com>
wrote:
>"JohnK" <Duh@Duh.com> wrote in message
>news:GXGRj.138810$D_3.71581@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> What is (are) the best ASUS motherboards
>> today for Intel processors?
>
>It's a case of 'horses for courses', with there being so many.
>Do you mainly want to overclock
NO
>and tweak every last bit of
>performance from it? Play games?
NO
>Have a stable PC for
>business use?
YES
>Do you want to use DDR2 or DDR3?
Doesn't really matter
> Any Chipset preference?
NO
>Need firewire?
NO
>More than one ethernet port?
NO
> RAID (and if so,
>which version,
NO
>and how many HD in total will you need?)
>Do you need any IDE ({PATA) ports,
YES, I normally run 4 HD's, but can also use a PCI IDE card if there
are not enough SATA and PATA on-board.
>or all SATA?
>Will you be using more than one graphics adaptor and if so,
>ATI or nVidia?
NO, only one but must support two monitors. No preference on ATI or
nVidia. No need for high speed as no gaming. Lots of image editing
(Photoshop) and some video editing.
>
>By thinking about those questions, you'll probably be able to
>narrow it down to 2 or 3 boards.
>HTH,
No, I 've thought about it and still have no idea which board to
consider.
Other considerations are at least three PCI slots, and after thinking
aobut it further, not even sure that Intel based is a requirement.
TIA...
Only you can determine what configuration, chipset, etc. is best for
you, depending on what you want to use the computer for.
What is (are) the best car(s) built by GM? You're question is basically
the same. Not enough info, too broad a question.
Elaborate a bit as to what use(s) the computer will be used for, as well
as price you want to pay, etc.
In the meantime, look at the MBs on the list at the link provided.
Choose a few that have the specs you want, then ask about those specific
MBs to see if anyone has had experience with them.
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:54:30 +0100, "Rob" <noone@nowhere.noway.com>
wrote:
I'm not the Original Poster, but these are good questions, so I'll
answer for myself. My timeframe for my next system is 3-6 months, and
I'm willing and able to wait for a new product release if it really
hits the spot better than anything currently available.
>"JohnK" <Duh@Duh.com> wrote in message
>news:GXGRj.138810$D_3.71581@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> What is (are) the best ASUS motherboards
>> today for Intel processors?
Why restrict to Intel. Why not AMD? (not a troll question, but an
honest question from a guy who has been very happy with AMD for
multiple product generations now)
>
>It's a case of 'horses for courses', with there being so many.
>Do you mainly want to overclock and tweak every last bit of
Sure. If the "cost" of overclocking terms of "exotic" cooling, extra
work on the heatsink interface, etc., isn't greater than the cost of a
faster CPU. Knowing how CPUs are priced, I know that you never buy
the absolute fastest CPU, or else you pay a whole lot extra for not
that much extra performance.
>performance from it? Play games? Have a stable PC for
>business use?
No games!
General business use, e.g. MS Office apps, but a lot with graphics.
PHOTOSHOP <---- with Nikon D3 RAW file conversions. A D3 RAW file at
14-bit depth is about 25 MB. This is probably the "benchmark"
application, not the normal word processing and such.
>Do you want to use DDR2 or DDR3? Any Chipset preference?
Probably DDR for performance reasons, but only if the cost premium
isn't too great.
Chipset? Shouldn't I work backwards from my requirements to get to
the chipsets that meet those requirements. (which I'm stating here).
Not a troll question.
>Need firewire? More than one ethernet port? RAID (and if so,
Firewire, probably not.
Two ethernet ports, maybe.
RAID - yes, RAID 5, (with four + drives). That's also a case
selection issue.
>which version, and how many HD in total will you need?)
>Do you need any IDE ({PATA) ports, or all SATA?
SATA for the HD, but possibly IDE for the DVD burner. Of course, DVD
burners are cheap enough that I would be willing to spring for a new
one, to keep the system all SATA.
I also need a PCI board for SCSI, since I use SCSI-based tape backup.
(exabyte)
>Will you be using more than one graphics adaptor and if so,
>ATI or nVidia?
As a non-game-player, I don't need multiple graphics adapters. Also,
I don't have any predetermined preference between ATI or nVidia.
The requirement IS for excellent support for graphics apps like
Photoshop (and similar photo-edit apps like Capture NX or QImage) with
support for a really large monitor with say 1920 x (whatever)
resolution at full color depth.
Also important is the ability to set up "color management" with LUTs.
My guess is that this topic is best pursued in a photo group.
>
>By thinking about those questions, you'll probably be able to
>narrow it down to 2 or 3 boards.
>HTH,
Andrew Hamilton wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:54:30 +0100, "Rob" <noone@nowhere.noway.com>
> wrote:
>
> I'm not the Original Poster, but these are good questions, so I'll
> answer for myself. My timeframe for my next system is 3-6 months, and
> I'm willing and able to wait for a new product release if it really
> hits the spot better than anything currently available.
>
>
>> "JohnK" <Duh@Duh.com> wrote in message
>> news:GXGRj.138810$D_3.71581@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>>> What is (are) the best ASUS motherboards
>>> today for Intel processors?
>
> Why restrict to Intel. Why not AMD? (not a troll question, but an
> honest question from a guy who has been very happy with AMD for
> multiple product generations now)
>
>> It's a case of 'horses for courses', with there being so many.
>> Do you mainly want to overclock and tweak every last bit of
>
> Sure. If the "cost" of overclocking terms of "exotic" cooling, extra
> work on the heatsink interface, etc., isn't greater than the cost of a
> faster CPU. Knowing how CPUs are priced, I know that you never buy
> the absolute fastest CPU, or else you pay a whole lot extra for not
> that much extra performance.
>
>> performance from it? Play games? Have a stable PC for
>> business use?
>
> No games!
> General business use, e.g. MS Office apps, but a lot with graphics.
> PHOTOSHOP <---- with Nikon D3 RAW file conversions. A D3 RAW file at
> 14-bit depth is about 25 MB. This is probably the "benchmark"
> application, not the normal word processing and such.
>
>> Do you want to use DDR2 or DDR3? Any Chipset preference?
> Probably DDR for performance reasons, but only if the cost premium
> isn't too great.
>
> Chipset? Shouldn't I work backwards from my requirements to get to
> the chipsets that meet those requirements. (which I'm stating here).
> Not a troll question.
>
>
>> Need firewire? More than one ethernet port? RAID (and if so,
> Firewire, probably not.
> Two ethernet ports, maybe.
> RAID - yes, RAID 5, (with four + drives). That's also a case
> selection issue.
>
>> which version, and how many HD in total will you need?)
>> Do you need any IDE ({PATA) ports, or all SATA?
>
> SATA for the HD, but possibly IDE for the DVD burner. Of course, DVD
> burners are cheap enough that I would be willing to spring for a new
> one, to keep the system all SATA.
>
> I also need a PCI board for SCSI, since I use SCSI-based tape backup.
> (exabyte)
>
>> Will you be using more than one graphics adaptor and if so,
>> ATI or nVidia?
>
> As a non-game-player, I don't need multiple graphics adapters. Also,
> I don't have any predetermined preference between ATI or nVidia.
>
> The requirement IS for excellent support for graphics apps like
> Photoshop (and similar photo-edit apps like Capture NX or QImage) with
> support for a really large monitor with say 1920 x (whatever)
> resolution at full color depth.
>
> Also important is the ability to set up "color management" with LUTs.
>
> My guess is that this topic is best pursued in a photo group.
>
>> By thinking about those questions, you'll probably be able to
>> narrow it down to 2 or 3 boards.
>> HTH,
>
> Great discussion start.
>
> -AH
There are more motherboards, then there are rational ways to select
them. I use the "Newegg rating" method, to gauge whether they are
good. Or go to vip.asus.com and read some of the postings there.
There is a forum per motherboard, selectable from the menu.
1) For Intel, capability to run with a fast FSB. That is intended
to help select a board with the broadest range of processor
support.
2) For AMD, avoiding those boards which are known to have weak
Vcore regulators. I do not buy the recent explanation on
Anandtech, that all the bad boards needed is "MOSFET coolers",
to make a quality board out of crap. For AMD, that means
saying "No" to microATX boards (like 780G). Someone told all
those manufacturers to skimp on their Vcore regulators, and the
fact that so many motherboards had trouble, suggests AMD
provided this new market strategy to them.
Say we go Intel for example.
Let's take a P35 board as an example. X38/X48 are the "premium"
chipsets, with price to match. P35 is more mainstream. In P35
we might see DDR2 and DDR3 boards. DDR2 memory is dirt cheap
and perfect for the job.
The FSB rating is "Front Side Bus - 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz".
FSB800 would cover cheap P4 Netburst processors. FSB1333 covers
the latest release processors pretty well.
You always want to check the CPUSupport chart, and as well, download
the manual from the Asus (or other manufacturer) web site. Reading
the chart for trends, takes practice, but in the odd instance, can
warn you about something (like the AMD weak Vcore issue and not being
able to properly power a 125W processor).
Good bang for bucks... The Q6700 might be also, when the price comes
down sometime soon.
Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.40GHz,1066FSB,L2:2X4MB,rev.G0,4 cores) ALL 0603
Alternate dual cores are E6850 or E8400. The E8400 runs around $200
and is a dual core at 3GHz. A dual core is good if your main
application set is not multimedia. If you shrink DVD movies all day,
do batch Photoshop processing, render 3D content, buy a quad core.
If you email and web surf, a dual core will save on the power bills.
All of the above processor speeds, should be multiplied by 1.5 or more,
to come up with a P4 equivalent speed. The E8400 is more like a P4
at 4.5GHz, for example.
You can drop the performance spec as low as you want. Where I might
personally draw the line, is a dual core at 2GHz (Intel or AMD), as
that should be equivalent to a P4 at 3GHz, and should be good enough
for general usage. And if you avoid the 6000+ or 6400+ from AMD, then
chances are the power consumption is low enough, that you can use them
with that $50 motherboard you always wanted.
For memory, DDR2-800 memory should be available without any extra
premium. $25 per gigabyte, means you can make a pig of yourself.
The comments on Newegg, can give you some idea about the shipping
qualities of boards. I find it depressing reading the reviews for
products now, because there is so much crap on the loose. In terms
of Newegg ratings, reviewers will no longer give Asus 5 out of 5 when
a board works, instead choosing to give 4 out of 5 as their best
mark. Which should tell you that customers consider Asus to have a
"black eye".
You can also look at Gigabyte boards, and you may find the odd
good one there. (Actually, some of their previous generation
boards were better.)
The industry is driven by price, over everything else. And
nothing good comes of that. As has been proven in some other
areas of computer hardware, eventually everyone offers a low
price, and nobody has a working product. (Take optical burners
as an example of a "mature" industry.) I hope motherboards
don't end up like that.
So, selecting P5K and Asus from the Newegg list, gives boards like this.
$93 to $200 for the DDR2 ones. Spend as much as you have to, to get
the ports you want on the back. The cheapest ones have ICH9 (non-RAID)
Southbridge, while the more expensive ones have ICH9R. And as you
spend more money, eventually you see ESATA ports on the back.
There could easily be 1000 boards that satisfy some people's
requirements, and there is no guarantee that any "algorithm"
will reduce that selection to just 1, the "perfect board".
On Fri, 02 May 2008 15:27:59 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>There could easily be 1000 boards that satisfy some people's
>requirements, and there is no guarantee that any "algorithm"
>will reduce that selection to just 1, the "perfect board".
>
> Paul
Paul,
Wow. Kudos, props and praise to you. I appreciate how you took the
time to write up something that makes so much sense, yet doesn't try
to 'dictate' to me.
R wrote:
> On Fri, 02 May 2008 15:27:59 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>
>> For memory, DDR2-800 memory should be available without any extra
>> premium. $25 per gigabyte, means you can make a pig of yourself.
>
> Paul,
>
> Do you know of any 2GB 1066 DDR2 ram? The only one that NewEgg lists
> is Mushkin. Out of stock.
>
> Are you using 800 instead?
>
>> You can also look at Gigabyte boards, and you may find the odd
>> good one there. (Actually, some of their previous generation
>> boards were better.)
>
> I thought you were good with Gigabyte boards! After you commented on
> them, I was considering them instead of Asus. Did I misinterpret?
>
You can look for a 2x2GB "dual channel" kits DDR2-1066, as there seem to be more
options for those.
I do like the Gigabyte boards, but the thing is, any company can stumble
on quality. As always, check the reviews. I treat each motherboard
offering as an independent entity.
With Gigabyte, one issue is BIOS quality. Every company has that problem,
and after about four releases, your RAM may work the first time with your
Gigabyte motherboard. Every company has that problem to various
degrees. Where the Gigabyte can beat the Asus, is in terms of
DOAs and problems on delivery, and Gigabyte may be slightly ahead
there. (Trying to determine that, by looking at reviews on Newegg
is pretty difficult. There used to be a website, where a web retailer
actually listed the field return rate for motherboard products, but you can
imagine how much pressure he would have got from the suppliers, to
stop doing that :-) )
A subtle shift I've noticed in reviews on Newegg, is people no longer
give Asus five stars, even when the motherboard they bought is fully
functional. So in terms of analyzing the reviews, it would seem that
Asus has a "black eye" for the average reviewer. Such a skew, makes
it more difficult to spot good boards when looking at the list
of motherboards available. (It is better when people give five stars
for a working board, as then you can use the star system as an indicator
of build quality.)
Best Asus Mobo? 
Linear Mode
