1. why considering DFI & MSI over Gigabyte? the prices are very similar, and the options are roughly the same. i am unaware of quality when it comes to motherboards. is that the issue?
i guess i worded things badly. when i know roughly what a platform is that someone wants to build i usually dont suggest a "brand" but rather i suggest a specific model or line of products. the reasoning for this is that suggesting by brand (i.e., ASUS, MSI etc) can lead to "exception cases' (i.e., all of these boards are good except for that one which reallly *really* sucks). a good exmpale of this is:
- for Intel boards, ASUS is the route to go and specifically Intel and nvidia chipset based boards. there arent many exceptions here so i can broadly reccomend ASUS
- for K7 boards, ASUS again also shows up near the top provided its nForce2 based (although they still do an excellent job with via based board... but via chipsets arent the greatest period)
- for K8 boards however, ASUS hasnt shone through as previous and it just so happens that MSI and DFI, imo, have the best boards for K8 setups. again a limitation: this applies only to nForce3 and nForce4 based boards. if you're gettin a via chipset, the ASUS seems to be a very well put together board but again, via chipsets arent the greatest. dont get me wrong however, ASUS boards wont
fail you (as i dont reccomend boards or brands that have quality control issues) but it just wont perform as well as an equivalent MSI/DFI board
- in light of this, the three K8 boards i'd reccomend are the MSI neo2 (for AGP users) and the MSI neo4 (for PCIe users who want very good oc capability + onboard hardware audio and lots of features) and the DFI lanparty4 (for PCIe users who want brute force oc capability)
- gigabye as of recent (last 2 years maybe) has really delved into the "making wierd off the hook" products which can be neato (like their dualcore 66gt and 68gt) but also has some catches like limited compatability and stuff... nothing wrong with their boards per se, it's just performancewise, MSI and DFI do stand out
2. fans are something i have'nt quite understood as of yet. so, it all depends on the case that i purchase, as to how many fans i can put in? after that i will have to modify if any other fans are added, right? and most heatsinks are added onto the chips, right? will any other heatsinks be needed throughout the system?
- if you buy say a
chenming 602 you can fit 4 80mm fans on it (2 front, 2 back)... more if you get one with a place built into side. if you want more fans than you'll need to start cutting holes into the case
- you can buy heatsinks all on their own like say the
Thermalright xp90c and usually those are extremelye well made heatsinks (i mean about standalone heatsinks, the x90c is stellar as is every Thermalright heatsink)
- more commonly you'll buy a hsf (heatsink-fan) combination with both together like say a
Thermaltake Venus12 or the
Arctic Cooling freezer 64
3. multimedia in my eyes, is nothing more than music and the related software than comes along with it. about the only other multimedia features i desire usually deal with my camera. i don't have a dvd on this system, but plan on having one on the system i build/buy.
i dont remember what the original comment was that sparked this but if i recall it was a ram amount type question. in light of that 1gb is probably sufficient, if you want to get 2gb go for it but you most likely wont notice an earth shattering difference with what you do. do however, get a dual channel setup to maximize available bandwidth
4. that motherboard i had listed that you told me not to buy was the one i just had configured at abs's web-site. i didn't plan on buying it, and i have always heard that ASUS is a cheaper mobo.
if you want a K8T800pro board, thats the one to get, i just think that the MSI neo2 (nf3ultra) is a superior AGP based board
what other things would i need to know before purchasing everything?
have a look at the links at the top of
QUESTIONS 101 and if you could post an updated finalized list of parts, id be more than glad to have a lookover.
