August Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 3

Motherboards

When selecting a motherboard for our Value Gaming System, the main goal is to find the best overall value, while ensuring you get the most future-proof and high-performance hardware possible. Naturally, these goals are often at odds with each other, and the sticker price is usually the main stumbling block. To find that right mix, we need to ensure that the motherboard is affordable, and includes a nice mix of performance, overclocking and features. Whether you're buying a low-cost gaming system or an ultra high-end powerhouse, the motherboard is still one of the most important components, as it provides the backbone for your entire computer and determines your potential upgrade path.

Athlon 64 Motherboard: MSI K8T Neo-FSR (K8T800)

Current Cost: $83
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Along with the upgrade to the Athlon 64 3000+ comes a move to the Socket 754 platforms and a new motherboard selection. This is one extremely tough area to make a choice, as at this price level, there are always concessions. The MSI K8T Neo-FSR offers the best combination of price and performance, and even so, we spent a bit more than we intended. This is a very nice board, and is the little brother to the high-end K8T Neo-FIS2R, but still has more than enough features for our value system. Going the MSI route was an easy choice, as the company continues to deliver motherboards with high-end performance, an excellent feature set, and a retail price that fits our budget.

The MSI K8T Neo-FSR is powered by the VIA K8T800 chipset, which is at the top of the Socket 754 charts in terms of performance and features. This chipset offers a full 16-bit, 800 MHz HyperTransport connection and really keeps the CPU and system bus performance levels humming along. The System BIOS is another high point of this MSI board, and overclockers will be pleased with the features and options present. The MSI K8T Neo-FSR also offers a wide upgrade path, and supports up to the Athlon 64 3700+.

The MSI K8T Neo-FSR supports Socket 754 AMD processors, and features a single-channel DDR266/333/400 memory design through the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller. Other onboard features include AGP 8X, Parallel ATA133, 8 x USB 2.0, 6-channel audio, integrated Gigabit LAN, and 2 x SATA. This is also a CoreCell board, and supports Speedster (overclocking), PowerPro (powersaving), LifePro (constant temp control, smart FAN) and BuzzFree (noise management) features.

MSI has also included a ton of overclocking options on the MSI K8T Neo-FSR, including full FSB selections, and CPU, DDR and AGP voltage options. There is also a Dynamic Overclocking feature, which offers a military like progression (Captain-Colonel-General) up the chart from nominal to higher-end overclocks. With the K8T Neo-FSR, MSI has created a motherboard that rivals more expensive models, and offering a ton of high-end features for those with a slightly lower budget.

Pentium 4 Motherboard: MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum (i865PE)

Current Cost: $80
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Our AMD system received a significant motherboard upgrade, and as with the CPU selections, the Intel selection is a bit more of a conventional improvement. The MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum is a slightly newer revision of their 865PE line, and offers a bit more compatibility with Pentium 4 Prescott CPUs. This board supports up to 800 MHz Celeron and Pentium 4 (Northwood and Prescott) processors, and maintains an extremely nice price-performance ratio. MSI naturally leaves out more expensive features such as RAID or Firewire (available in the 865PE NEO2-PFISR) but it still has the performance, overclocking and onboard features our value system needs.

The 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum includes all the basics of an i865PE motherboard, such as dual-channel DDR266/333/400 and support for up to an 800 MHz Pentium 4 Northwood and Prescott processors. This motherboard ranks a bit higher on the scale than a basic entry-level product, and features both 4 x Parallel and 2 x Serial ATA support (no RAID), 8xUSB 2.0 ports, integrated RealTek Gigabit LAN, and 6-channel audio. The MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum also includes an excellent overclocking BIOS, complete with frequency control in 1 MHz steps, and some pretty hefty CPU, memory and AGP voltage selections. MSI can always be counted on to provide a super deal for our Value Guide, and the 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum simply improves on the success of the 865PE NEO2-PLS before it.