# Gaming computer: Does the motherboard really matter?



## Queeg

Hello all, I am building my first solely gaming computer.

I will be pairing this motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130065

with an x2 6400+ windsor processor, an 8600 gt and 2 gigs of ddr2 800.

My question is: The motherboard operates at 1000mhz fsb, which is the same as the processor. It offers a pci e slot for the video card and ram speeds up to ddr2 800mhz. Can the motherboard really slow anything else down?

Also, I'm a bit worried about the northbridge having the same name as the onboard graphics. Can this interfere with anything.

gah sorry about all the questioning, but will I run into space/cooling problems with a micro atx board?


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## vonfeldt7

I can't answer all of your questions...however I'll do my best to answer at least one or two. First of all, if you're building a gaming machine...don't get the 8600gts...get the 8800gt, its more expensive, but a lot better.

As for the mobo slowing things down...I don't think it will, as long has the fsb (hypertransport) speeds on the mobo are all the same (or faster) than what your cpu, ram, etc speeds are...you should be fine.


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## Skarwind

the 8600 isnt' that bad if you aren't an extreme gamer i can run Crysis at med/high meaning Texture/object detail at high water at high no aa and shadows on med shaders on med and effects, physics, postprocessing on medium and the game still looks good i mean the game was meant for it's physics and detail anyway if you arent' the extreme gamer than jagged edges is no problem seeing as the xbox 360 has most games that only run on 2x aa anyway and the PS3 does 4x. 
PC specs are 8600 GTS XXX 256
Windows XP SP2
Pent D 3.0 Ghz 800Mhz
2 Gig RAM 667Mhz
plus SLIing two 8600 is about the equivlent of a 8800 GT and it ends up being a bit cheaper


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## Queeg

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

As for the video card, I don't the absolute step and just want to step up from my 7600gs agp card.

Can the north and southbridge chipsets do anything in terms of the speed of the computer? I have seen newer motherboards that have higher number chipsets, for example lets say the nforce 500 and nforce 700. Does ths necessarily make them better?

My main concern is apparently this motherboard is more of a workstation or server board. I just want to make sure it can handle gaming 24/7


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## ThatGuy16

What would be your budget on a motherboard? Ther board wouldn't be my recommendation..


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## Skarwind

I don'tknow much about mobos other than from whatmy friend is building currently he has a 680i mobo which i also bought exept mine came DOA and now it's having USb reading probs lmfao but anyway on subject
i would assume the higher the model the better but atm the 600 series nforces should be able to handle your gaming needs a good grahpics card would also be something to get
if you are going for hardcore gamer get a 8800 model card or an ATI 1900 serires or higher
If ou are a casuel gamer who doesn't care about grahpics only gameplay get a 8600 or maybe a 7900 GTX they aren't too expensive and fit the middle class gamer's budget
Also maybe a dual core processor such as the Core 2 Duo or at least a Pent D clocked at maybe over 2.8 Ghz
Sorry i cant' answer your question about which mobo are better seeing as i got my current PC from Dell and like you am building a new PC from scratch just using my old G-card.
I'll ask my friend thougha nd get back to you


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## Queeg

ThatGuy16 said:


> What would be your budget on a motherboard? Ther board wouldn't be my recommendation..



Why not? it seems to fit all the criterion for my new build, plus the two IDE ports are a huge plus. The way I see it, if the board can run all the components I want at their full potential, then it doesn't matter what board as long as it is reliable.

The only reason I'm so worried about speed is because I don't want to have to upgrade again for a few years.


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## JLV2k5

Skarwind said:


> the 8600 isnt' that bad if you aren't an extreme gamer i can run Crysis at med/high meaning Texture/object detail at high water at high no aa and shadows on med shaders on med and effects, physics, postprocessing on medium and the game still looks good i mean the game was meant for it's physics and detail anyway if you arent' the extreme gamer than jagged edges is no problem seeing as the xbox 360 has most games that only run on 2x aa anyway and the PS3 does 4x.



What is aa?


and don't worry about the onboard graphics being the same as the northbridge chipset. When you install the AGP/PCIe GPU the card will overrule the onboard graphics.  Hope this helps


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## Ramodkk

Skarwind said:


> plus SLIing two 8600 is about the equivlent of a 8800 GT and it ends up being a bit cheaper



Wrong. One 8800GT is still a bit better than 2 x 8600GTS. And also it is cheaper to get one 8800GT for about $270 than 2 x 8600GTS looking at the cheaper price being $280 (2 x MSI from newegg)

So no don't get one 8600GTS. Even the HD3850 is way better and costs about the same (~$170)



JLV2k5 said:


> What is aa?



Anti-Aliasing


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## StrangleHold

Queeg said:


> The only reason I'm so worried about speed is because I don't want to have to upgrade again for a few years.


 
If thats the case spend 20 more on a better board and get a AM2+ motherboard-better upgrade path- supports the Phenom and Athlon-Has PCIe 2.0 and Hypertransport 3.0 2600/5200 and supports DDR2 1066
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA24541


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## Skarwind

ramodkk said:


> Wrong. One 8800GT is still a bit better than 2 x 8600GTS. And also it is cheaper to get one 8800GT for about $270 than 2 x 8600GTS looking at the cheaper price being $280 (2 x MSI from newegg)
> 
> So no don't get one 8600GTS. Even the HD3850 is way better and costs about the same (~$170)
> 
> 
> 
> Anti-Aliasing



I got my two 8600s for 90 bucks each lol dont' know wher eyou looked up your prices but it pays to have a local computer shop nearby  so maybe i just got the better deal and i have seen my friend play Crysis w/ his single 8800 GT 530 core clock 512MB overclocked version and he lags a bit on Crysis and which is sad and he  lags a heck of a lot more on The Witcher, i only experience lag if my firewall is doing a scan or while i defragg my HDD and thats only cause my processor sucks atm.
tigerdirect is selling the exact 8600 i have for around 180 dollars last time i checked and newegg was selling it for about 170 for one so i'd rather just SLI those two instead of buying a single 8800 for about 250+ dollars since i rarely play games and if i do it's only for about 2-3 hours during the weekend other than that my PC is mainly for using it for schoolwork and photoshop/3D diagraming of modified character skins for game mods.


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## addy999

Well yea of corse mother board matters it should be latest and compatible with all the latest games ,...


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## daisymtc

If you are going for AMD, I will say you go for AM2+ socket, in case you want to upgrade in future.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131234
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128075


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