Motherboard Question

[AndrewJ]

Hi all,

I am thinking of moving my pc to a bigger case and upgrading my motherboard.

I would like a microatx motherboard if possible, capable of pci-e and nforce if possible since it has worked so well for me.

I only have one sata HD and I plan on staying this way, and two sticks of dual channel ddr400 ram (2x512mb )

I plan on changing case as mine is too small, and motherboard because the chipset fan is almost gone on this one, and I have the upgrade bug and plan on a new motherboard to get more features and performance if possible.

I plan on about £100 for the motherboard.

The new case I have already picked.

My current model is a8ne-fm socket 939 pci-e nforce4 with the worlds most annoying chipset fan,.

Micro atx are small form factor boards aint they why do you want one of them?

I would have pointed you at the Sapphires but you want nforce so its to dfi

Sapphire Dfi

[mhuggett]

I normally use PCpro as a starting point for looking at things when I want to buy a new machine.. They think highly of this one (Not Micro)
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/82403...8n-prosli.html

Are you wanting the GFX of the Nforce? (As if so.. Ignore that board! )
And is the size thing because you are wanting a small case/small footprint?

He is building the machine in a bigger case

[AndrewJ]

I plan on putting it in a bigger case yes, mainly the reason is for more room = more space for cooling, the computer is required to work in a living room, where I have pets also, so alot of dust gets about with a bigger case I would have more space to clean it and with the small footprint of the mobo, inside such a large case the componets would not be bothered.

I would just move the bits over but the chipset fan is almost dead on this pc and makes a racket at times, as Mark has heard who is a member on here also.

And that is going to be the excuse to upgrade onto a new motherboard.

[mhuggett]

Ah, fair enough.
You might want to look for Mobos with passive cooling as well yeah?
Just on a side note, I have one of those mobos I suggested and it is very quiet, but then it goes onto, do you need it super quiet as its going to be a media centre etc? Which leads to will you brave water cooling? Or is it just to please the animals/partner?

And computer dust breeds! Its not a natural thing! Its some kind of demonic dust!

[AndrewJ]

It's going to be a gamer system

I game a heck of alot hence the idea for a massive tower to aid passive cooling.

I am willing to look at other chipsets so long as they are gamer capable, but I do not wish to be spending over £100 on the motherboard.

I've just got my 7900gt today and plans already afoot on moving it and the cpu hd etc to a new mobo in a new tower.

Go with one of the NF4 DFI lan party boards dude

[AndrewJ]

I've heard stories about those being buggy with the bios? have they settled it down now?

ive only seen good reviews mate.If you were buying ati then id push you towards the sapphire and if your never gonna go sli I still would push you in that direction.Also the Uli sli chipsets are very well recieved too

[AndrewJ]

I doubt I will be going Sli with this system or my next even though I game alot I have no real use for it right now.

But saying that could I get a Sli one, with the ati chipset as you mention Zingle as I to now know little about motherboards, and what chipset rules over what?

no

[Graham M]

Saxo, id seriously recommend getting a full ATX mobo as by going Micro in a standard tower youre limiting your upgrade options and the decent motherboards you can go for, plus the motherboard footprint is nothing compared to the empty space youll have in the case.

micro was a typo I thought we desided that ages ago????

[Graham M]

Nope reading back it still sounds like he's set on a Micro. And Saxo go for an SLi-Ready motherboard such as a Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI (the one i use for my Athlon 64) and you can put one card in at a time, no need to use both, its just there if you want it.