ATTN: Computer Geeks!

[Dropdead420]

I am currently building my own computer and i wanted to get the best possible mother board that i could for: producing music, using traktor scratch pro, and other miscellaneous tasks So if you know anything about mother boards that is less then $250 then please suggest some that would be a great addition to this shizz
thanks yo!

[samkablaam]

the gigabyte ones are pretty sick. check whatever their latest range is.

[daft cunt]

I am currently building my own computer and i wanted to get the best possible mother board that i could for: producing music, using traktor scratch pro, and other miscellaneous tasks So if you know anything about mother boards that is less then $250 then please suggest some that would be a great addition to this shizz
thanks yo!

It very much depends on the other components.
Go to newegg.com, in the motherboards section select your cpu type and memory standard and buy the best rated one in the $75-$100 price range. There's really no point paying more than $125 for a mobo unless you're a hardcore experimental overclocker.
All you need is a good, stable one. $100 will do. Asus and Gigabyte are personal favs.
Also, once you found a model, go to the manufacturer website, d/l the manual and make sure your CPU & ram are officially compatible.

[deadly_habit]

yea my latest build which i didn't do too long ago is a gigabyte

[safeandsound]

Many DAW builder use ASUS, I always have whenever I made my own PC too.

I have an i7 custom build from Inta Audio awaiting to be put into service.
And my now 6 y.o. ASUS motherboarded machine which works perfect every day still.
(Dual Xeon Server motherboard)

I strongly suggest not skimping on PSU, whilst it is boring it is a very critical componenet.

I like Seasonic X series. (though they are expensive)

SafeandSound Mastering
online mastering
audio mastering

[EDN]

I strongly suggest not skimping on PSU, whilst it is boring it is a very critical componenet.

^^ this. Look at Corsair/OCZ/Antec things, Corsair being the best of those (from what I can tell)

Vis-á-vis motherboards, look on gaming forums and find people who use the same processor and RAM as you and see what they use.

[mks]

I strongly suggest not skimping on PSU, whilst it is boring it is a very critical componenet.

Thirded...

[deadly_habit]

yea here's my build for my current DAW/gaming rig
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3
CPU: Intel i7 940 2.93GHz
RAM: Patriot Viper II DDR3 Triple Channel @ 1600MHz 12GB
Vid Card: Gigabyte HD 5770 Super Overclock 1GB
PSU: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Case: Rosewill RSV-R4000 Black Metal / Steel, 1.0 mm thickness, 4U Rackmount Server Chassis 8 Internal Bays, 4 Included Cooling Fans
HDs: a couple seagate barracuda @7200 SATA drives one 500gb one 1tb
DVD Drive: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer

[nowaysj]

I've always used asus. You do have to watch it with mobos a bit. Usually the manus have two tiers, like a serious tier, and a plain jane tier. I'd recommend getting the lowest of the serious tier. It'll usually have the architecture you really need, without all the stupid shit that geeks need, but without the little gotcha like this bridge isn't sufficiently cooled, or some such little pain in the ass.

My corsair powersupply is Dead Silent. When I installed it I was shitting it because I powered it up and it nothing happened. I had to put my hand over the air ports to feel that it actually was working.

Check all the attributes of your ram and mobo specs. There are a couple of little gotchas there. Also make sure all your ratios are right. Your mobo can potentially accept faster ram, but because it's ratio is not adjusted to the bridge's speed, or the processor speed, you're getting no benefit (and paying more) geeky game/overclocker boards are helpful there.

[deadly_habit]

yea it was a toss up between asus or gigabyte and the gigabyte ended up winning, but the last daw build i did for someone on a budget was an asus

[Demian]

Many DAW builder use ASUS, I always have whenever I made my own PC too.

I have an i7 custom build from Inta Audio awaiting to be put into service.
And my now 6 y.o. ASUS motherboarded machine which works perfect every day still.
(Dual Xeon Server motherboard)

I strongly suggest not skimping on PSU, whilst it is boring it is a very critical componenet.

I like Seasonic X series. (though they are expensive)

SafeandSound Mastering
online mastering
audio mastering

I'm a computer Tech, and I say go ASUS for the motherboard. I always do. Also, as safeandsound mentioned, don't skimp on the PSU. I prefer Antec PSU's.

[Depone]

Hope you dont mind me askin, but why are PSU's so important?! Isnt it all just electricity? Am i missing the point? Ive just finished work and im knackered and cant think, someone fill me in

[mks]

Hope you dont mind me askin, but why are PSU's so important?! Isnt it all just electricity? Am i missing the point? Ive just finished work and im knackered and cant think, someone fill me in

Without a good PSU, giving your system clean, even power you run the risk of Hard Drive failure and frying your components. This is why it makes no sense to spend all of this money on good parts for your computer, and then skimp on the PSU. It's better to have more power than you need, then under power your system especially if you are running multiple hard drives and a good graphics card etc.

I once had a PSU go bad, and I started having all kinds of problems with my computer. I couldn't figure out what was going on, finally traced it back to the PSU.

[ascent]

just read reviews till you find what you need, make sure it's compatible with everything you have etc. if you can try to get something which will let you upgrade in the future to save cash

also remember bigger fans generally = quieter, can't stand a noisy pc!

[deadly_habit]

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... /Guide.png

[Dropdead420]

oh wow, thanks for the help guys. I was really pushing towards getting a gigabyte mobo since there extremly good and pretty cheap, but with some people saying asus im gonna have to look into those. and as for psu im gonna get a corsair gs 800. now for my cpu i was gonna get a 6 core processor from amd seeing as im pretty sure this is the best cpu on the market right now, but if anyone knows differnet itd be awesome to hear some details

once again, thank you all

[deadly_habit]

i barely even touch the processing power on my i7 and 6 core is just overkill, especially if you're just using it for audio

[frank grimes jr.]

I have been using SeaSonic power supplies lately.
Gotta love a good power supply.

[daft cunt]

oh wow, thanks for the help guys. I was really pushing towards getting a gigabyte mobo since there extremly good and pretty cheap, but with some people saying asus im gonna have to look into those. and as for psu im gonna get a corsair gs 800. now for my cpu i was gonna get a 6 core processor from amd seeing as im pretty sure this is the best cpu on the market right now, but if anyone knows differnet itd be awesome to hear some details

once again, thank you all

6 core CPU + a 800 W PSU is a massive waste of money for audio.
Imo go for a quad core proc, a 550 W PSU and a good audio interface for the same price and you already have a beast.
For the mobo, it doesn't matter whether you go with Gigabyte or Asus, what matters is the compatibility with your other components. Recently I bought an Asus which doesn't let me use my G Skill RAM sticks at 1600 MHz like it's supposed to, only at 1333.

[Dreadfunk]

I'd stay away from Gigabyte... the LAN drivers can cause DPC latency issues (audio artifacts, and dropouts).

It took my a long time to find the right hotfixes for mine to fix my audio problems.