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!

Part 3: Cooling Devices: Heatsinks

Everyone knows that proper cooling is needed to prevent overheating but what exactly should you look for?

Some people don't care a bit about overclocking or noise and only want their computer to turn on and remain on when they press the power button. Those people should use the stock cooler included with their CPU when purchased in a retail box. They aren't the best but are adequate for stock-clock usage, and should keep the CPU below max temps in all but the hottest environments if installed correctly.

Stock Heatsinks:

Intel Celeron Dual-core: Aluminum med. size heatsink
Core 2 E4XXX/ E6XXX: Aluminum med size heatsink with copper core
Core 2 Quad Q6XXX : slightly larger Aluminum heatsink w/copper core
Core 2 E7XXX/8XXX : Small aluminum heatsink
Pentium Dual Core : Small Aluminum heatsink
Core 2 Quad Q8XXX : Small aluminum heatsink
Core 2 Quad Q9XXX : med. aluminum heatsink with copper core
Core 2 Extreme QX9XXX : Nickel-plated copper/aluminum heatsink, ?large, blue LED?
Core i7 9XX : larger aluminum heatsink with copper core
Core i7 Ex. 9XX : mostly copper larger heatsink with blue LED

*Heatsinks May change without notice

AMD 7750 & 7850 BE : med. aluminum heatsink
AMD Phenom 2 : Med. aluminum heatsink with copper base and heatpipes
AMD Phenom : Aluminum heatsink with copper base
AMD Phenom 9950 : same as Phenom 2

If you bought a CPU without a heatsink, and don't care about noise (as long as it's bearable) or cooling (as long as it doesn't overheat) and don't overclock, consider these:
*Works for light overclocking
**Moderate overclocking
^Quiet

Make Sure your cooler fits your socket!

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro**^
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Pro*^
Sunbeam Core Contact 92mm**^
Xigmatek HDT 92mm**^
Tt Blue Orb **^
Tt TR2*^
Evercool NW11F-825CA
Tt CL-P0296*^
Evercool EC-PT12-9525EA
ASUS X70*
Xigmatek EP-CD901^
Scythe Katana3**^
Cooler Master Hyper TX2**^

For enthusiasts who like to overvolt and overclock

Thermalright Ultra Extreme
Zalman CNPS10X
Prolimatech Megahalems
Scythe Mugen 2
Xigmatek Thor's Hammer
Cooler Master V8
Cooler Master V10
Noctua NH-U12P

Good balance between price/performance

KEY
*good for OC
**great
***awesome
^quiet
^^very quiet

Zalman CNPS 9300, 9500, 9700 **^^
Xigmatek HDT 92mm and 120mm**^
Kingwin HTC 92mm and 120mm
CM Hyper TX3*^
OCZ Vendetta & Vendetta 2**^
Sunbeam Core Contact 92 and 120mm**^
Arctic cooling Freezer 64 pro & freezer 7 pro*^
Xigmatek Dark Knight***^
Rosewill Fort 120**^
Scythe Katana 3*^
Scythe Shuriken**^
Scythe Mugen 2**^
Tt Big Typhoon**^

Remember to take measurements before you buy a cooler. Also, in many cases the thermal paste included sucks or, even worse, none is included. If the paste is slightly silver with a general grey tone, it is usually silver-based TIM which is best (TIM=Thermal Interface Material). If you get grey thermal paste, it could be good, or okay, but usually not too bad. If it is white, it should work fine, don't expect wonders. If it is a weird color (pink, blue, green etc.) usually you want to avoid that. (exception of SYBA TIM which is black)

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