Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

[Yoko]

I was gonna buy a Biostar $120 mobo when I built my computer, but I've never used anything Biostar before, so I was a little skeptical of quality. I decided to spend $200 and get an Asus mobo, and I haven't had any problems with it. Plus the drivers are halfway decent on this one. The one thing you should never be cheap about on your computer is the mobo, and I'm glad I wasn't.

[Rook]

Gigabyte is a good brand and cheap... my mobo was $79. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128392

[CrAsHOvErRide]

I have had bad experiences with Gigabyte and Biostar (how the fuck can you release a MoBo with a chipset that has problems running Windows and not even mention it??) .

It's Asus for me.

[Limited]

Got some news, I rang up earlier today, asked if they had any news, they said no but were going to try and put a new mobo in with my parts and see if it works.

I rang up 3 hours later (just now), they hadnt even tried it. But, they were pretty sure the other mobo was broken, I said if they had any mobos of a similar spec, they said no, they only have like regular desktop ones. He basically said "no we dont have any gaming ones, ones you'd use to overclock".

Then again, I dont plan to overclock it, I dont plan at the moment to have dual SLI, therefore one PCI-E port will do the job, its 64 bit compatible and he said it will definitely work.

So, they will put the new one in, get it working, maybe by end of today but its unlikely, but tomorrow definitely.

I'm just worried I have crippled my pc by getting a lower spec motherboard, he didnt mention the make but yesterday I saw Asus, Gigabyte motherboards so hopefully won't be too shabby.

But, I should be able to get it working before Christmas.

[Limited]

Sry for double post.

Its working! Holy crap what a journey eh? Had to have a new motherboard, definietly have downgraded it, slightly regretting it because its horrendous lol. It does the job, but it only has 1 accessible PCI slot, which will be for my wireless adapter.

For those who want a laugh, this is the mobo: Intel Desktop Board DG41RQ, ugly as hell if I ever want to upgrade, I'll probably purchase a new mobo, but for now it will do I hope.

Windows 7 took like 7 minutes to install, clean install. Installing apps now, gonna attach secondary hard drive and pray it works because it has my backed up data.

Thanks for all your help guys Rep for all!

[Cortexian]

If you upgrade your motherboard go with EVGA since they are the best!

[bleach]

Part came today, plugged it in, turned it on and absolutely nothing.

Exact same problem, GPU has no video output, the GPU fan doesnt spin. I dont think its getting any power, which to me sounds like an issue with PSU.

What I dont get, is the company have said the part was faulty. The box of this one was sealed, so they havent bothered testing this one.

I might just have to go buy another damn PSU, issue is if I get one online, it won't be here till next fucking year.

E: Rang up tech support, guy was like "uh you should try another graphics card", freaking idiot if I had another I would have tried that duh. He goes, "it could be the mobo, graphics card or psu, but 600w should be good enough", oh thanks for narrowing it down you imbecile, even I knew that.

Hoping to get a multi-meter from a neighbor to test pci-e connectors, see if they are getting power or not. I want to go down to a shop in town, buy a new PSU, but I bet it won't work, then they wont take it back so I'll be stuck with 2 =\

I had a similar problem with my new computer custom build and also coincidentally had the same power supply: OCZ ModXStream 600W.
I returned any parts I had suspected - the Power supply and motherboard (Evga P55 LE).

Now, I need help finding a new power supply and a new motherboard. =(

1st: I have a few motherboards I'm looking at:

• 1) Asus P7P55D-E LGA 1156 Motherboard

• 2) Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3P LGA 1156 Motherboard

• 3) Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Motherboard
• I am also open to any other solutions (USB 3.0, SATA 6G, ATX, good cooling/bios/memory/support/reputation, onboard audio, sturdy material, and also if possible, Firewire would be great)

2nd, For the power supply, could you find one that has:

• 1) a very good reputation, cooling, etc.
• 2) from Electronic Fry's (with availability by buying online then picking up in store---> Anaheim or City of Industry)

• Preferably 500-600 Watt and low priced for its power

If any additional info is needed, the current components that I still have are:

1) Intel Core i5 750
2) OCZ Platinum 4 GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 PC3-10666
3) Western Digital Caviar Green 750 GB HD 32 MB Cache
4) Gearhead DVD Burner Triple Format 24x DVD+/-R Drive
5) Antec Three Hundred
6) Temporary GFX: (ATI X300 SE and ATI 9250 PCI, just in case)

• Note: I am waiting for the ATI HD5850 price to lower and also for Nvidia, with their Fermi - when they have a card with similar performance with the ATI HD5850.

Thanks,

Bleach

[Warsaw]

If you upgrade your motherboard go with EVGA since they are the best!

No. Bad idea. They may make a good board, but compared to the likes of ASUS or DFI, they are relative newcomers to the motherboard industry. If you've got cash to drop and don't mind taking a chance, then fine. But if you want it to work right on the first try, go DFI.

[AAA]

It's DFI that seems the least trustworthy. They make a shit load of motherboards with various components. No overclocking consideration or skill and no good reviews.

[Cortexian]

And almost all of the ASUS motherboards I've ever dealt with have had some type of annoying problem. For example, my current Striker Extreme motherboard (and all of the other ones in existence) contain a manufacturing defect that prevents stable overclocking of Kentsfield quad core 775 processors. This was a problem with the reference board that they based their product off of, so really it was Nvidia's fault, however... The first EVGA 680i boards had this problem as well except when EVGA found out about the issue they offered to replace any boards that suffered from this with an updated revision of the board. All you had to do was open an RMA ticket and state that you had a faulty board that wouldn't OC properly and they'd send you a revised board.

EVGA also has the best customer support out of any hardware manufacturer that I've had to deal with, they're very accommodating! When the next processor series comes out from Intel for next gen sockets, I'm going to be building a new rig that's completely built from EVGA products!