Aerothorn on 20/1/2010 at 19:41
So I'm helping a friend pick out some PC parts - in an ideal universe she'd have someone with more expertise than me but I'm the best she's got. I'm good with most parts, but my motherboard expertise is limited in some areas. When I built my PC it wasn't an issue because there were only a few mobos that supported the Phenom II, but now there are upwards of 100, and I've got to wade through them and find some decent ones. So, my questions are:
1. What sites are good a reviewing motherboards?
2. What exactly is the meaning of the FSB Hypertransport speed? How important is this?
3. As far as form factor - assuming one is building a computer is a standard mid-tower case, is there any reason to go with micro-ATX?
Renzatic on 20/1/2010 at 20:00
1. (
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Components,1/Motherboards,2/) Toms Hardware and (
http://www.guru3d.com) Guru 3D are the sites I usually hit up.
2. This is something that's always confused me myself. I think...think...it's a standardized Front Side Bus, as in no proprietary bits and pieces built for specific processors and bus types. It's always been kinda vague to me, and I generally ignore it and go looking at the clock speeds instead.
3. Depends on how much she wants to add to the computer later. If she's a power user, and wants to slap in a TV card, a sound card, and a couple of graphics cards at some later date, you'll obviously want to go with a standard board. Otherwise, there aren't any advantages or disadvantages in going micro-ATX in a standard sized case.
