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Etaywah

Originally Posted by Wadd

I've become a bit of a fan of Biostar. They pretty much always have the best value for motherboards. The motherboard I chose supports more/faster memory, has an AM2+ socket (not just AM2) which will give you much more choice for future CPUs (the ASUS will be stuck with dual core CPUs only), a faster front side bus...and it's cheaper. The Asus does have one benefit...it is SLI, which means you can add a second video card down the road. But I'm not a fan of SLI and can't say from all I've read that I'd recommend an SLI configuration. I know a lot of people would beg to differ, but once again that's just my opinion.

Well is there another card on this list Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! between 89.00 and 104.00 that supports AM2+ so I'm prepared for my next upgrade?

Wadd · 10:10 PM

What you are looking for is the product specifications, it will show you the socket type and what type of cpus the motherboard supports. AMD Quad Core/Triple Core/and future dual core CPUs will be made for an AM2+ socket.

Here is a link to the closest ASUS equivalent to the Biostar board I posted for you - Newegg.com - ASUS M3A AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards The specs are pretty much identical, but it is 20 dollars more expensive. So if 20 bucks is not a big deal to you the ASUS would be my next recommendation for a bang per buck board. The major drawback (if you prefer it) between that board and the other board your guildees recommended is that it does not support SLI. But it is a much better board for sure.

Just an FYI, if you look at the reviews for the ASUS, the numbers are spread out between 1-5 quite a bit. The Biostar board is heavily skewed toward 4/5 stars. Also, you will notice on Newegg, it lists the Biostar memory speed at DDR2 800, but it does support up to 1066...it is a misprint.

I'm not trying to push you into buying the board I posted or anything. That is just the result of all the research I did for my brother's computer that I built no more than a week ago. So the info is still pretty fresh in my head.

Wadd

If you look at the product specifications, it will show you the socket type and what type of cpus the motherboard supports. AMD Quad Core/Triple Core/and future dual core CPUs will be made for an AM2+ socket.

That motherboard you linked to is pretty much the same motherboard as your other link. It uses an AM2 socket. It supports Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 cpus.

I'm not trying to push you to get the motherboard I posted. I just got to that motherboard after all the research I did for my brother. It's just a great bang per buck motherboard.

Here is a link to the closest ASUS equivalent to the Biostar board I posted for you - Newegg.com - ASUS M3A AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards The specs are pretty much identical, but it is 20 dollars more expensive. So if 20 bucks is not a big deal to you the ASUS would be my next recommendation for a bang per buck board.

Just an FYI, if you look at the reviews for the ASUS, the numbers are spread out between 1-5 quite a bit. The Biostar board is heavily skewed toward 4/5 stars. Also, you will notice on Newegg, it lists the Biostar memory speed at DDR2 800, but it does in fact support up to 1066...it is a misprint.

Etaywah

It's just that the biostar scares me because I heard their customer support sucks, and that their boards are more likely to show up DOA than every other brand. It's just what i've heard from people.

Wadd

It's all good. I've heard the same things