Recommend me a Mobo

The23rdman

The23rdman

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Hi guys,

I'm going to be adding an SSD to my current system, but to get he best from it I'll need to upgrade my Mobo as it's only SATA 2. My current spec is:

Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM
AMD ATHLON II X4 640
Novatech PowerStation Gaming 500W Silent ATX2 Modular Power Supply
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered

The SSD I'm looking at is the Samsung 840 Series Pro 128GB.

I'd not want to pay any more for a mobo than necessary.

Cheers!

 
I spent a bit of time nosing round the net and that is the model i chose. cant offer any expert advice though...
 
Which model is that, Phil?
 
I have always been happy with Asus boards.

What about m5a78L ?
 
The reason for the mobo upgrade would be to get a SATA 6gb/s enabled one. I assume that will make a big difference??
 
That board, M5A78L is SATA 3, not sure where the bottleneck would be though?
 
The23rdman said:
Which model is that, Phil?
Click to expand...
that was the ssd you mentioned - the samsung 840 pro.

but rereading the post again this morning i noticed you were asking for info on a mother board.....
 
Mikesphotaes said:
That board, M5A78L is SATA 3, not sure where the bottleneck would be though?
Click to expand...

Looking around it seems 6gb/s boards are bloody expensive. I might have to leave that one till later - I've a new guitar to finance!

Rapscallion said:
that was the ssd you mentioned - the samsung 840 pro.

but rereading the post again this morning i noticed you were asking for info on a mother board.....
Click to expand...

Yes, but glad you picked the same SSD - it has a brilliant rep.
 
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The23rdman said:
Looking around it seems 6gb/s boards are bloody expensive. I might have to leave that one till later - I've a new guitar to
Click to expand...

£53 odds is expensive?

Asus at ebuyer.
 
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I have this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-B75-Motherboard-Instant-Charger/dp/B007RQ0HSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385896679&sr=8-1&keywords=b75 pro 3 m

Coupled to the i7 2770K and 2 SSds, a Samsung 830 120Gb SSD for the OS (Win7 64 bit) and a Samsung 840 250GB SSD as a separate scratchpad.

With that setup it's reasonably fast for video rendering and photoediting but I have no idea what it would be like for gaming.

It has 8 Sata3 ports, (1xintel and 2x Asmedia) and a UEFI Bios.

The only problem with the 2 Asmedia ports is that they are set in a slightly awkward position about half way up on the R/H side.

It also has 2x USB 3 ports at the back and a USB 3 header on the M/B so you can fit a couple of USB 3 ports on the front of your PC as well, if you have a spare 5 1/4 bay or floppy bay on the front.

Cost £48
 
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The23rdman said:
The reason for the mobo upgrade would be to get a SATA 6gb/s enabled one. I assume that will make a big difference??
Click to expand...

The SSD will make a difference but your SATA 2 drive will still only run at SATA 2 speed even when plugged into a SATA 3 port.

EDIT OOPS, just saw that you mentioned nothing about upgrading the PCU so probably will need to ignore the previous post.
 
petersmart said:
I have this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-B75-Motherboard-Instant-Charger/dp/B007RQ0HSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385896679&sr=8-1&keywords=b75 pro 3 m

Coupled to the i7 2770K and 2 SSds, a Samsung 830 120Gb SSD for the OS (Win7 64 bit) and a Samsung 840 250GB SSD as a separate scratchpad.

With that setup it's reasonably fast for video rendering and photoediting but I have no idea what it would be like for gaming.

It has 8 Sata3 ports, (1xintel and 2x Asmedia) and a UEFI Bios.

The only problem with the 2 Asmedia ports is that they are set in a slightly awkward position about half way up on the R/H side.

It also has 2x USB 3 ports at the back and a USB 3 header on the M/B so you can fit a couple of USB 3 ports on the front of your PC as well, if you have a spare 5 1/4 bay or floppy bay on the front.

Cost £48
Click to expand...

EDIT: OOPS didn't realise you wanted an AM3 M/B!

In that case just using the SSD will give quite a boost on its own - try that first, even at SATA2 there will be an increased zippiness to your PC.
.
 
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petersmart said:
Both the same and both out of stock.
Click to expand...
It wasn't when I posted it ;) but yes, I did put two of the same links in doh...

Don't seem to be many AM3+ micro ATX boards available unfortunately :(
 
I'd love to be able to upgrade my CPU as well, but that's just not going to viable for a while (just bought a new guitar) with Christmas a-coming.
 
The23rdman said:
I'd love to be able to upgrade my CPU as well, but that's just not going to viable for a while (just bought a new guitar) with Christmas a-coming.
Click to expand...

Have you considered Pre-Christmas busking? :lol::lol::lol:
 
I'd certainly be okay for rotten fruit!
 
I bought this SSD in the end. That's a damn good price, if anyone is interested in one.
 
mrgubby said:
I use a SATA III card in a spare PCI-E slot in one of my "old" machines, it works well :)

Like this one for £28


It also a lot less hassle than swapping motherboards / drivers etc :D
Click to expand...

That might be a good alternative. I'll just check my mobo will support it properly...
 
Also check what PCI-e both the card and mobo are. PCI-e 1.x is only 250Mbytes/sec for an x 1. You'll need PCI-e v2.0 (which is backwards compatible with 1.x) as that doubles the data throughput to 500Mbytes/sec per lane. It's why my SATAII HBA (PCIe-SATA cards) are x4 - 4 lanes, each at 500MBytes/sec....
 
arad85 said:
Also check what PCI-e both the card and mobo are. PCI-e 1.x is only 250Mbytes/sec for an x 1. You'll need PCI-e v2.0 (which is backwards compatible with 1.x) as that doubles the data throughput to 500Mbytes/sec per lane. It's why my SATAII HBA (PCIe-SATA cards) are x4 - 4 lanes, each at 500MBytes/sec....
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks. I'm aware of that. :)
 
Well, I discovered that my pci-e is only 1 so sent the controller back and figured I'd try it straight into the board, but the performance is meh so it looks like a new mobo after all.
 
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