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Recommendations for a new motherboard

patscc said:
Not that this helps Chuck(G) pick a board or anything, but I haven't gotten a new mobo in a while. I've gotten lucky and found out where our county govt. recycles it's PC's, and periodically manage to salvage stuff 3~5 years out of date, and that works for me. I might slap a better video card in, or a bigger hard drive, but that's kinda it.
I'm hoping Chuck(G) will post his mobo selection, though.
patscc
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Out here, there is a very competitive recycling program for e-waste. I think there's some government money involved. At any rate, chances of seeing older equipment for sale at realistic prices isn't something you see much of.

The deals I'm seeing now are almost all AMD, but the mobos are usually mATX. Call me old-fashioned, but I really want something with expansion slots. Ideally, I'd really like something with at least a real floppy interface, although I suppose I could do without. PS/2 key and mouse interfaces would also be nice, so I didn't have to go searching for an adapter for my model Ms--you'll pry those out of my cold, dead hands...
 
Have you looked at a ASUS P6TD ? They don't do floppy, but at least there's a IDE and PS/2 keybd. port. I was looking at it a while ago, for similar reasons, but since I haven't yet worked my through my stack of free core-duo and dual-core boxes...
patscc
 
Chuck(G) said:
Out here, there is a very competitive recycling program for e-waste. I think there's some government money involved. At any rate, chances of seeing older equipment for sale at realistic prices isn't something you see much of.

The deals I'm seeing now are almost all AMD, but the mobos are usually mATX. Call me old-fashioned, but I really want something with expansion slots. Ideally, I'd really like something with at least a real floppy interface, although I suppose I could do without. PS/2 key and mouse interfaces would also be nice, so I didn't have to go searching for an adapter for my model Ms--you'll pry those out of my cold, dead hands...
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Check this out: GA-890FXA-UD5. Not the cheapest board out there but it does have native IDE/floppy support, as well has all the bells & whistles; i.e. SATA, USB3, combo PS/2 port, etc., AM3 Phenom II/ Athlon II processor support. Be aware that if your OS is Windows 7, it must be 64-bit in order to see memory above 4 GB (actually about 3.4 GB). Also, you would like the dual LAN ports as they will offer a slight decrease is download time. Good board, I have a similar one as a backup.
 
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TCP/IP to UDP/IP?

Windows is re known to spam your network, Oh and setting static addresses also lightens the burden on the network.
At the off chance of creating a security risk, not that DHCP gives you another address each time you reboot.
 
There's a lot of misinformation in the last few posts. Dual network ports will not speed things up just by themselves; they're included mostly for hardcore gamers so that one port can go to a LAN and another to a WAN to try to shave off 1ms or so of latency.

Also, DHCP and dynamic addresses don't put a "burden on the network" and are not themselves a "security risk". Not sure where that's coming from.
 
Trixter said
shave off 1ms or so of latency
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Good to know. I'll keep that in mind for when I finish Wizardry 8, and move onto to something else.

I can see static addresses making a difference if you have a *lot* of machines negotiating DHCP leases at any given time, but otherwise...

Crypticalcode0 said
Windows is re known to spam your network
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Don't quite follow you. Do you have an example ?
patscc
 
patscc said:
Agent Orange said

Do you mean decrease ?
How would that work, assuming your pipe is just DSL or a cable modem ?
patscc
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You are correct - decrease. I was thinking an increase in the data rate and it didn't come out that way- sorry. Anyway, if your have a DSL/modem anything like mine, which is nothing special (Actiontec GT724-WG), you can run two lines from the router to each of the mobo's LAN jacks. You won't double up but you will see a definite increase in performance. Google the mobo specs for further info.

Late edit: Here's what Gigabyte has to say ...

Smart Dual LAN
GIGABYTE Smart Dual LAN technology features intelligent LAN port auto-switching between the 2 physical Gigabit LAN chips; offering hassle free, zero downtime, high speed network connectivity
 
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I'm not following either. Ultimately, the limiting factor is going to be your internet connection, no? So no real advantage for gaming at least...
 
The limiting factors are your internet speed and your router.

Dual LAN ports would only help you if you had two seperate WANs in the house (both a cable modem and DSL) so if one went down the other is still working. Its also good for a server where you can plug one port directly into the cable modem and the other to your switch.

Since not all built in networking chips are the same (latency and CPU usage) real hard core gamers have the option to purchase special network cards that are little mini computers offloading all the main CPU bound packet filtering to the card so that games will not slow down because of any network trafficing. If you have 4 core CPUs I don't see the need for dedicated network card computers anymore since few games user more then 2 cores anyway.
 
Agent Orange said:
Smart Dual LAN
GIGABYTE Smart Dual LAN technology features intelligent LAN port auto-switching between the 2 physical Gigabit LAN chips; offering hassle free, zero downtime, high speed network connectivity
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It seems to me that to get more bandwidth and "zero downtime" you need dual WAN, not dual LAN. IOW, load balancing is what's needed, and that takes two internet (WAN) connections.

Chuck(G) said:
Ultimately, the limiting factor is going to be your internet connection, no?
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Exactly.
 
Some more on Dual LAN from Gigabyte:

http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/68/tech_090814_p55_f-smart-dual-lan.htm

I'm not an engineer but I do consider myself at least 'street savvy'. So, please don't take me to task for passing down a little info. In other words, don't shoot the messenger. It's all out there on the web and and if you have a problem accepting the dual LAN premise, please wring it out with Gigabyte and not me. From a consumer standpoint, I've had two Gigabyte mobo's in the recent past with this feature and it does appear to work. Getting back to the main point of the thread, I believe the the Gigabyte 890 is a good choice. Although it's not on the cutting edge anymore, it does offers all of the latest perks plus IDE/floppy support as well as PS/2. You will have a hard time finding another board with those features at that price.
 
Agent Orange said:
I'm not an engineer but I do consider myself at least 'street savvy'. So, please don't take me to task for passing down a little info. In other words, don't shoot the messenger. It's all out there on the web and and if you have a problem accepting the dual LAN premise, please wring it out with Gigabyte and not me. From a consumer standpoint, I've had two Gigabyte mobo's in the recent past with this feature and it does appear to work.
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Well thanks for being the messenger and bringing this forward. :) I checked out that link and also did a net search on "dual lan speed increase". Reading through a few pages of discussion on various forums, it looks like there is no supportable theory that would suggest higher WAN speeds. However, if you are maxing out your internet connection at the same time as doing major transfers on your LAN, then there could be some advantage. I wonder exactly what kind of increase you have experienced, and in what context. You don't have fibre to your house by any chance do you? In that case, given a suitably fast switch, you could use the two ports on your MB to advantage - otherwise, I don't see how it could work. Apparently others don't either. I think Gigabyte has some explaining to do. :)
 
Ole

Wish I had fiber - I have standard AT&T 300 MB domestic service (crapola), but they're the only game in town, unless you go for cable, which I won't. No real discernible increase that would make you leap up and say "wow". What I did see, as when downloading email (Thunderbird) attachments, like photos, they (the photos) definitely painted faster - it was noticeable. CrossFire video (presently configured) or any good video card would account for some of the faster scrolling, but since I switched to a newer Asus Sabertooth 990FX, with only one LAN port, it's not as fast the Gigabyte with two LAN ports. BTW, when I originally shopped for those Gigabyte mobo's, a 790 & a 890, I never considered the Dual LAN as a factor in my choices, the chipset was what I was after. And you know, there has to be someone on this forum who has a Gigabyte, or whatever make, that has Dual LAN ports and could do a little testing.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Personally, I'd be deliriously happy if I had service fast enough to tax my 10Base2 connection...
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For home needs, 10MBps is much more than anyone will ever need, unless you are some High Definition maniac, and have a 42" FULL HD monitor, and a 30 parts sound system.
 
10MBps ought to be enough for anybody. Hmm, that's got a certain ring to it. Hehe

Seriously though, that's 80Mbps so not too shabby. The question is, would I be able to tell a server that it should hurry up and serve me first? I bet I'd still be waiting for the rest of the cheapass internet to get into gear. So yes, in reality Chuck's 1.5Mbps connection is probably not a big problem and not worth worrying about when it comes to choosing hardware.

So, what is a good choice in a motherboard? To me it is one that is not expensive, but can be upgraded later. That means mostly just having 4 RAM slots of the latest type because the older ones tend to be more expensive and when I do need more RAM whatever type it takes will be old. And I don't want to have to take out what's there either. Processor speed is not a big issue in my experience. Video on board is handy for regular desktop use, but it's cheap and trivial to put in a very capable video card. Audio is handy too, but the same goes for that - put in a proper card if you need quality. NIC are normally not a big deal - add a switch or router. To my mind, that just about leaves me with reliability being the only big deal. Can it take the heat and go forever? Do I have to worry about a fan going in the dead of the summer heat? That's what I want to know.
 
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