Intel Motherboard | AMD Motherboard

Asus M3N72-D is a fantastic AMD motherboard, comes with supporting 140 watt CPU for new AMD Phenom, DDR2 1066 memory, overclocking, SLI and Hybrid SLI, external SATA, Firewire and HDMI with sound on board. The BIOS is well designed and easy to use. The User’s Manual included in the box is extremely well written. The SATA ports mounted on the side as they leave more clearance for other componenets. Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit version detected most of the devices and the included software bundle installed wonderfully. Some users complain of the CD-In port too far away from the drives bay. However, just move your drives down lower in the case, or buy a longer cable. Otherwise, the CD-In port is only needed for the older CD and DVD optical drives that utilize the older IDE 40-wire ribbon cables. The newer IDE optical compponents like DL-DVD and Blue-Ray can use the Ultra IDE 80-wire ribbon cable (included in the box), or SATA cables which both of these transmit audio signals via the cables, so the the CD-In cable isn’t needed. This AMD mainboard is well laid out and well engineered.

ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI Motherboard Specification

Labels: AMD, ASUS

With this Extreme series motherboard, Intel want to deliver extreme performance for workstation needs, hardcore gaming, media editing, and still offer significant headroom for future upgrades. Whether it’s a single graphics card or ATI CrossFire, a system outfitted with the latest graphics cards can deliver unparalleled visual realism when playing 3D games. Utilizing the Intel High Definition audio chipset, this Intel motherboard can deliver 360° Dolby Home Theater audio through 10-channel, 7.1 surround sound. So you can enjoy every decibel coming at you in all directions. The only issue is that it doesn’t support 8 GB (4 x 2 GB) of 1600 MHz of RAM but only 4 GB (2 x 2 GB). So, you should buy the slower, 1333 MHz of RAM if you want to still need 8 GB. Don’t forget to visit the Intel site and buying only RAM that is certified. Otherwise, this mainboard works great. With Intel Q9450 Core2 Quad Proccessor and 4 Gb TW3X4G1333C9DHX Corsair DDR3 RAM memory, the memory works with a FSB of 1066 MHz instead of 1333 MHz.

Buy Intel DX48BT2 Extreme Series Motherboard

Intel DX48BT2 Extreme Series Motherboard Specification

Labels: Intel

This MSI mainboard comes with two 16x PCIe slots and two 8x PCIe slots for up to 4 graphics cards. The manual says that the “mazarine” PCIe slots are x16, and the blue slots are x8. Where the “mazarine” is the darker blue slot. For the layout side, this AMD board has a horrible layout. The SATA connector should be closer to end of board so graphics cards do not cover them. While the cooling system on the board looks cool, it could cause problems with some graphics cards, although a HD4870 can be installed in the first slot without a problem. The manual of this motherboard is almost completely useless as it just states what somethings are and porvides very brief descriptions. It also gives wrong descriptions at times stating colors that are obviously not on the board anywhere. This motherboard can not handle high voltages, especially with all 4 dimms in use. However with all of these issue, MSI K9A2 Platinum is one of the cheapest dual 16x PCIe for 16x/16x with support for 140W AMD Phenom.

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MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX Motherboard Specification

Labels: AMD, MSI

ASUS P5N-D is a good cheap Intel motherboard. With a cheap price, you are getting a decent board with two of the current PCIe 2.0 slots and it is easy to get working with Nvidia drivers and runs fairly consistant. Although it says for water cooled and passive cooled only, the Asus P5N-D motherboard still comes with optional fan for northbridge heatsink. This Asus motherboard has a very thorough layout. Processor has space for a decently large heatsink. 24-pin connector close to the power supply so it doesn’t cut over your RAM. However, a large graphic cards will make it hard to get to IDE plug. For an overclocker, it is better to forget this motherboard. The overclocking features aren’t worth much. The pre-determined overclocking settings don’t do much if anything at all. If you plan to use Windows Vista, you must change the rear USB jumper settings to enable S3 sleep mode.

Asus P5N-D Intel Motherboard Specification

Labels: ASUS, Intel

In this Gigabyte serie motherboard, The Crazy Cool plate no longer comes pre-installed, it’s in a bag and you must install it if you want it. There are no issues getting the pins through the board, they went in very easy. However, the plate isn’t well insulated, so it is shorting against the mobo and causing all sorts of weirdness, so be carrefull. If you want to use a large CPU cooling fan such as Zalman CNPS 9500, it will be so so close to the memory slots. So, make sure to select proper memory sticks that are thin. Beware that Gigabytes Qualified Venders List for memory is flawed. Does not mean that type of memory can be used for OverClocking but just works okay (verified by Gigabyte) with the X48T-DQ6 motherboard. Like the other gigabyte motherboard, Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 have its picky on SATA boot order.

Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 Intel Motherboard Specification

Labels: Gigabyte, Intel

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 Intel Motherboard is a huge motherboard, however it perfectly sized for a full tower ATX. This Intel motherboard comes with 3 slots for video cards, 2 slots for sounds, and they work very perfectly. Of course, that video card slots support for SLI, but not like ATi Crossfire, SLI still doesn’t support multi-monitor yet. This motherboard is originally shipped with P06 BIOS, if you want to upgrade to P07, be carefull. Some of reviews mention, with Intel E6700 2.66Ghz and P07 BIOS, this motherboard only reach 3.2 Ghz. However, with P06 it can reach up to 3.33 GHz. If you wonder what the difference between 680i and 780i is, actually they are identical, except nVidia added two more upgrades, nForce 200 chip and of course, 3-way SLI. The nForce 200 chip is essentially an additional chip to handle PCI Express 2.0. It doesn’t really help the 3-way SLI function but does boost performance in SLI configuration.

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EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 Intel Motherboard Specification

Labels: EVGA, Intel