Holiday Buyers Guide, Part I: CPUs, GPUs, Mobos, and RAM

Mountains of Motherboards

It would be nearly impossible to put together a complete listing of motherboards that address every possible sector or potential requirement. We have decided simply to list the boards that we have experience with and would recommend to our friends or family. Of course, some of our suggestions might indicate we do not like our friends or family members, but that is the fun in putting together a guide. We tend to be a little more liberal in some choices and conservative in others. We stayed on course with a consumer slant for the boards but will visit the server and enterprise section in the near future. As usual, we probably missed a few reader favorites but we certainly welcome your comments on those boards. Time and space constraints limit how many products we can discuss.

We are in the midst of AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel releasing several new chipsets along with a several more in the near future. Intel recently released the X38, the G35 is next week, and we expect to see the X48 in January. AMD just launched the 790FX, 790X, and 770 chipsets with the Phenom and RV670 products stealing the spotlight. We will provide our first look at the 790FX later this week but for now, it is an excellent chipset hampered by an aging Southbridge and a less than stellar quad-core processor; AMD should address both of these issues in Q1. NVIDIA is planning on releasing the 780i next month after spending some additional time to ensure Penryn compatibility, and hopefully we will see the 680i working properly shortly with Yorkfield processors. NVIDIA has been nearly silent on the 780a release schedule but rumors indicate this will occur in the next sixty days.

Given the fact that motherboard platforms are not compatible and that we have plenty of options to get through, we're going to break things into AMD and Intel specific recommendations. We'll start with AMD.

AMD Budget

Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H: $80

Biostar TA690G AM2: $85

The 690G chipset caught our eye on the day it launched. Either of these two boards will provide the features and layout to make a great budget system; they would also work well in a budget-minded HTPC. The multimedia capabilities of the 690G chipset together with HDMI output and an impressive feature make this chipset a star buy. AMD's Athlon X2 processors are great bargain at this point and offer a competitive price/performance ratio. These boards work very well with Microsoft Vista, and with a BIOS update they will even run AMD's new Phenom processors. The primary difference between the two boards is the Biostar board will overclock slightly better while the Gigabyte board offers superior onboard sound.

Biostar TF7050-M2: $75

Based on NVIDIA's MCP68 chipset, this motherboard has all the requisite features to build a great entry-level PC. Like the 690G boards, we have HDMI output - with H.264 decoding and Realtek HD audio - both great for a budget HTPC. We also find RAID 0,1,5,0+1 and JBOD support, providing ample data storage flexibility. The one thing this board does better than others in its class is offering slightly better graphics performance under Windows XP, although Vista performance favors the 690G. Note that the 690G does omit SM3.0 support, however. If you want to use an external NVIDIA graphics card, then we suggest sticking with an NVIDIA chipset; the same holds true for the AMD/ATI combinations. This chipset also supports the Phenom processor series and we should have a compatible BIOS shortly for testing.

A couple other boards worth a look:

ASRock AliveNF7G-HDready: $82

MSI K9NBPM2-FID: $75

AMD Midrange

We have not received any new AMD 770 chipset boards yet. Based upon an early preview last month, we would recommend looking at these new boards as they hit the market place, especially if you are purchasing a new Phenom processor.

Biostar TF560 A2+: $80

This board was a pleasant surprise when we reviewed it earlier this year, and the latest BIOS releases have certainly improved the overclocking capabilities. The board supports Phenom now and offers an inexpensive upgrade for S939 users looking to stay with AMD - you'll still need a new CPU and RAM, of course. Although the chipset has been around for a while now, it still performs very well. Overall, this board represents the solid values that the AMD market has been offering since the introduction of the Athlon 64.

 

Foxconn C51XEM2AA-8EKRS2H: $105 with $60 rebate

It is hard to believe that the board that introduced the AM2 platform almost 18 months ago is available for nearly $100 with a rebate. The board features NVIDIA's top of the line 590SLI chipset and offers an excellent blend of performance and features. We know in early testing the 590SLI will run the Phenom processor, but what we do not know is if this particular board will receive a BIOS update. If it does, current users will have a top performing board for SLI operation until NVIDIA launches the 780a chipset.

DFI Infinity NF570 SLI-M2/G: $110

This is one of our favorite mid-range boards for the AM2 processor family. The board features SLI capability, an excellent combination of expansion slots, FireWire, and the typical DFI BIOS that provides great performance and plenty of tuning options.

Another reasonable option:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe: $135

AMD High-End

AMD just released the 790FX chipset and we are still in the process of testing several boards based on the latest design from AMD. It is too early to declare a winner, so we are just listing the boards currently available. However, we can say without a doubt that the 790FX chipset is incredible, even if it's hampered by the SB600 Southbridge and the new Phenom chips aren't up to speed yet.

MSI K9A2 Platinum: $180

Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5$210: Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DQ6 : $270

ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP: $250