Part 7-Motherboards

A motherboard or mainboard is where most of your components plug in. It relays data from those components to the CPU. The Memory, Expansion cards, RAID cards, SCSI cards, Sound cards, Modem cards, Wi-Fi cards, Graphics cards, Memory, CPU, and Front panel connectors plug into the motherboard. The motherboards are usually colored red, blue, purple, black, yellow, brown, or green. They come in many different sizes, including:

Micro ATX
ATX
BTX
Mini ITX
Extended ATX
and many server form factors

If you are buying an AMD socket AM2/AM2+ processor, and need a cheap motherboard, consider the following:

ASRock K10N78M
ECS Black Series A780GM-A
ASUS M3A78-CM
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H

Mainstream socket AM2/AM2+/AM3

ASUS M4A78 Plus
MSI K9A2 CF-F V2
JetWay JHA04-LF
ASRock A790GXH
Biostar TA790GXB A2+
Foxconn A7DA-S
ECS Black Series A790GXM-A

For a performance motherboard AM2/AM2+/AM3

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Foxconn A79A-S
DFI Lanparty DK 790GX-M2RS
ASUS M4A79 Deluxe

For an SLi AM2/AM2+ Motherboard:

ASUS M4N72-E
ASUS Crosshair II Formula
Foxconn Destroyer
ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe

For an Intel socket 775 budget motherboard

Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L
ASRock G31M-S
Intel BOXDG31PR
Biostar G31D-M7
Foxconn G31AX-K
Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L

For an Intel socket 775 motherboard thar supports crossfire

DFI BI P45-T2RS
MSI P45 Neo2-FR
DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS
MSI P45 Platinum
DFI Lanparty DK X38-T2RB
ECS Black Series P45T-A

For an Intel socket 775 motherboard that supports SLi

XFX MB750I72P9
ASUS P5N-D
EVGA 750i SLi FTW
Zotac NF780I-A-E
XFX MB-N780-ISH9

For a high-performance crossfire motherboard (socket 775)

ASUS P5E W5 PRO
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME
ASUS Maximus II Formula
Foxconn BlackOps
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5
DFI LP DK X48-T2RSB Plus
ASUS Rampage Extreme/ Rampage Formula

For a performance X58 socket 1366 motherboard

MSI X58 Pro-E
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
Foxconn Renaissance
MSI X58 Platinum
Foxconn BloodRage
EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR
Biostar TpowerX58
ASRock X58 Supercomputer
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
DFI LP UT X58-T3eH8
MSI X58 Eclipse Plus
Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme
ASUS P6T7 WS Revolution
ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme
EVGA X58 Classified

If you are looking for the best gaming setup available at this time, here they are (IMO)

ATI/AMD
Phenom II 955BE
4XRadeon 4870 2GB OR 4XRadeon 4890

Intel/nVidia
Intel Core i7 975 EE
3XGTX285 + 9800GT/8800GT PhysX

Be sure to check back soon, updates are frequent. Also, please click the ads on the sidebar to show your support, and be helpful and tell others who need help with computers. If this blog doesn't answer all your questions, fell free to email me at hong.brandon@gmail.com or just leave a comment in the comments section. Thanks for reading my blog!

PC Part Shopping 1: PSU

Welcome to my blog! The first article is about the power supply unit, which powers your PC. Buying a good PSU isn't easy for most and requires some time to determine the best for your case. Cheap PSUs tend to conk out easily, and there is an easy way to tell how good the quality is: weight. The heavier the power supply is, the better. Also, you will need to find the amperage. The more amps, the better. You can find this information on the side or back of most PSU boxes. For example; my Corsair 650TX (650W) PSU has 52a on the +12V rail(s), usually the most critical rail. It is rated at 50 deg. C.
Most "cheap" power supplies are rated at 25C or lower and ones with questionable quality at 25C or higher and the best are rated 40C or higher. Here are some brands/ lines of power supplies that are very good in my honest opinion. There will be a star next to the best of the best.

Performance: For the ultimate gaming rigs and workstations. Also for people who hate fixing computers.

Corsair (all)*
Enermax (all current)
PC Power and cooling (all)*
Tuniq (all except for ensemble)
ThermalTake Toughpower*
Antec (all exept for basiq)
Seasonic (all)
In Win Commander*
ULTRA X3*
Mushkin (all)

Value: Quality Units at a good/great price

OCZ (all)*
Sunbeam eco
Coolmax Green Power
FSP Blue Storm
Sparkle Power Inc. also known as SPI (most)
Topower (most)

Mostly any PSU with 80+ certification is a quality product as 80+ tests not only operating efficiency but also quality and stability.

Power supplies with high amperage on a single rail are more stable and more efficient than the equivalent with multiple rails, but this is only minor, so don't let this steer you in the wrong direction.

Here is a power supply calculator. Remember that it assumes that you have at least a decent quality PSU.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Use that to determine the approximate wattage of the PSU to use, if the power supply is rated at 40C. (Most good brands)

NEVER go cheap on a power supply or you could fry multiple components if the case is severe. Keep in mind though, even in the best power supplies, rough shipping *cough* UPS *hack* could dislodge caps and other things in the PSU. Test it with the wiring technique; with a wire, on the Mainboard 20/24 pin header, connect a black wire (GND) with the green wire. Then, you should be able to use the power switch on the back of the PSU to turn it on. You can use a PSU tester or old fans, an old PC, etc. to test it. Once you think it isn't DOA, start building your PC, or repairing it, and have fun!

Some good places, in my opinion, to purchase PSUs are:
TigerDirect.com, Newegg.com, Zipzoomfly.com, compUSA.com, Frys Electronics, and Micro Center, among others.

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for more guides on technology in the future!

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