Legit Reviews

Hi everyone:

Just realized I posted this in intel forum instead of AMD Sorry for the double post.

My computer is dead... I will attempt to resuscitate it later but for now I am going to build a new one and need advices.

The cpu I selected is AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103212
I did not want to spend more than $60 for the cpu.

Now for the mobo, I have no idea what to do. I do not want to spend more $90 on a mobo and video card. I see some mobo with integrated video and I wonder if there are good stuffs or I better go with separate components. I am looking at:

mobo without integrated video:
BIOSTAR A770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813138106
BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813138102

video card so far:
HIS Hightech H240PRF256N-R Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161191

ECS N8400GS2-512DS GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134045


mobo with integrated video:

BIOSTAR TForce TF720 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 720a ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813138117

BIOSTAR TForce TF8200 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813138113

GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813128335


Computer will be used for surfing, pictures, videos, movies viewing, no high demand application (no CAD, no gaming) and no intend to overclock. It seems that an integrated video would work for me but are they any good? I do want good quality video though. Can you guys give me your opinion? You are welcome to suggest other hardware but looks like biostar and gigabyte have decent press.

Thanks in advance for you help

first of all get a board that has integrated graphics like a 780g board that supports hybrid crossfire then get a hd3000 series card not a 2000 series for the same price. then you can get the most performance for your money. Get a HD3450 or an HD3650. the HD2400 Pro is not a worthwhile investment for you.
This Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128090 (gigabyte one with a dvi and hdmi out so you have all your options.)
If you want to spend a bit more on the gfx: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161231 (has 128bit bus supposedly instead of 64 bit)
Otherwise http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102724 will be the cheapest if you want to save money.

Thanks for the advice. Appreciate i.

I had considered the motherboard you suggested but then I read some comments that micro ATX cards do not have much space or room on them making things tight to fit so I thought I should stay with ATX form (which is what my case is). Wrong thinking on my part? Otherwise, looks like that you have no major issues with integrated video which should save me some money. Any suggestion on a decent mobo without video where I could fit one the video card you suggested?

Thanks

Lets just say it's only a problem if you have a lot of cords. Especially if you are using a lot of IDE things. If you only have 1 hard drive and maybe two Opticals, and nothing else really it just gives you more room to work with in the case but a smaller motherboard. The full one would work, I just picked the one that has HDMI and DVI because they are all about the same price and that gives you the most options. ANY 780G board would be a good choice for what you are looking at.

Ok, does not seem that micro ATX versus ATX is really a concerned for me.
Being said, size apart, is there anything that would make one mobo better that the other between this two ones?
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128090
GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Produc ... 6813128335
for me, it looks lke big and little sisters!
Thanks

none really except the full ATX has 2 extra pci x1 slots and a pci x4 slot and an extra sata port. Unless you really need those I would go with the micro atx because it won a customer's choice award, meaning a lot of people probably bought it and liked it, so if down the road you get some kind of error, there will likely be lot quite a few people on the internet who know how to fix it.

Good point!

No one has commented about the biostar mobo. I kind of like them too... and there are few box cheaper Anyone with an opinion?

Thanks for your help to all

I was eyeing this one up when I was looking at AMD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813135075

I've read nothing but good reviews on it.