Building a new rig. Motherboard Advice Anyone?

[ch33s3r]

Gotta steal the spotlight from Jeffro I'm not getting an i7 or anything, but I think the setup is going to be pretty awesome. I'm still looking for a good motherboard. I'm not worried about the price, so long as the increase in price matches the increase in quality. I don't need to pay $250 more just to get 5 extra FPS than someone else. Any suggestions for a good mobo? Here's what I plan on getting:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Radeon HD 5850

[on its way] CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

[already owned] Corsair 650W Power Supply
[already owned] 1TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD
[already owned] CD and DVD burner

[need] Motherboard
[need] A case that can neatly fit all of the above into it. I hate trying to force things into a crammed space like I had to do with the one I currently own


I'm also looking for a good monitor for a good price, but it's less important to me than getting the motherboard right. I don't really watch movies with my computer, I just use it for gaming so widescreen is less important than the response time.

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

If you would have asked a month ago, I would have recommended what I have.

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...rnR&templete=2

...but as you know I had to do an RMA on it. This was my first bad experience with ASUS so maybe I shouldn't let that prevent me from recommending it. I still think it is a great AM3 MB for the price.

I've got 4GB of this in it... waiting on the price to come down to get another 4 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145264

[ch33s3r]

This is what I got, Obi:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C7

rebate ends tomorrow lol (unless they are going to create a new one for next month and this is just a marketing tactic heh)

[Duke{CLR}]

Check out these coupons.

Newegg.com - Coupon Frenzy! Get 10-25% off on ALL Hard Drives, Blu-ray Burners, Keyboards

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

This is the case I have, love it. Plenty of space, lots of room behind MB to route wires.

My only complaint is the power and hd LED's are super bright so if the lights are off in my office and I have the computer sleeping, the blinking power LED really lights up the room and probably make my neighbors wonder what the heck I am doing.

It had free shipping on it when I got it, I probalby wouldn't pay the current price they have listed for shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-194-_-Product

[Dead...Again]

$25 shipping?!?!?!?!? WTF!

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

Well... it is HUGE. But that is still too much to pay.

[Skud]

Well... it is HUGE. But that is still too much to pay.

That's like shipping a person...probably not too bad a price for that.

[ch33s3r]

Thanks for the links! Yeah, I'm spoiled by NewEgg when it comes to shipping charges...definitely don't want to pay $25

[ch33s3r]

Deciding between these 3 (ranked in order that I'm tending toward at the moment):

#1:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131366

#2:
Newegg.com - MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gbs USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

#3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131398

Any opinions? This is the processor that will be going in it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103674

[ch33s3r]

Rofl I just realized #3 is the one that DOA'd on Obi... Guess I can check that one off

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

Hey, Asus has the kinks worked out now!

[MR_MADHATTER]

Hey, Im in Houston this week and I decided to build a new rig. At first I thought I would do a Phenom II Hex core but after looking at the specs, I don't see much difference from a 956 Phenom II. Can anyone tell me the difference, insofar as gaming is concerned?

I was going for an MSI 890 FX chipset board over the Asus Crosshair IV formula. The Asus struck me as being a poser motherboard.

I got $2000-3000 to play with. Any suggestions?

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Mad, I've always liked Gigabyte boards and video cards myself. I'm kinda like you. Asus you pay for the name mostly. Not knockin the MB in general but I dont think they are any better than MSI or Gigabyte.But thats just me.

Whatever you do get the I7-920 and boost it up to about 3.4-3.6. It will prolly do that on stock cooling. But a good cooler will keep it in shape. No need paying a lot extra for no more performance.

All the rest is up to your preference. And I really cant tell the difference much in the high end ram chips either. I've used cheap ram for all my builds and never had the first chip fail. Mostly Kingston . I think you pay for the fancy name there too.

[Infamous]

you find a case yet? if not, i recommend something from cooler master. The one i have is/was a ***tload cheaper than the antec 900 which is what everyone seems to drool over these days.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

Thats my case. its pretty sweet, it even allows for a fan( cant be more that 10MM thick) to be mounted under the CPU on the backside of mobo. This is hands down the nicest case ive owned, or seen. Its really solid, well built, and no part of it comes across as "cheap" as of time of post, it was 69.99 plus 9.99 shipping, which aint that bad considering its a case.