Looking for a cheap(price) mobo for budget build.

Basically like the title says i was looking at upgrading and jumping over to AMD for kicks, and here recently it looks like my current board/ram may be getting dodgy. Anyhow, I'm trying to continue my luck with budget builds and keep this one cheap as well. Currently I'm looking at getting a Phenom X2 555, and 4 gigs of ram atm probably G. Skill. I have seen some cheaper boards on newegg for about $60-$80, but even for me that seems kind of low price wise. Most seem to get decent reviews and I am not looking to overclock too much, no more than what I can do without much hassle anyway. I plan on recycling everything else, i no longer have the 8800 it finally died about 6 months ago so now i think i have a 250gs(?) Other than maybe a heat sink i plan just doing a mobo swap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290

Were kind of the ones I was looking at. Being that I haven't had AMD since i popped a 3100+ in my old rig before I got this one I was looking for some recommendations and a smidgen of help. TY

I like Biostar for mid- to low-end boards and prefer the 870 chipset over the 880G for overclocking. Here's my suggestion - just to complicate things farther.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138303


Edit
It's unclear whether this board has the unlocking feature. Most 8xx chipset boards do but I've looked and can't tell for sure so you might need to do just a little more research. With a 555BE you want to make sure the board can unlock cores. I looked at a couple of the other boards you picked and I'm not sure all of them can, either. Dig a little deeper if you need to and make sure whatever you get can unlock.

Did some more poking around and i think i may have found one that could work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

I'll do some more looking into that biostar as well.

pillfred said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

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That's what I was planning to get until Newegg came up with a shell shocker for this MSI board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130276&Tpk=MSI 880GMA-E45 and 4GB RAM for $75 (after the rebate.) It had the features I was looking for (USB 3.0, SATA 3) and I got the overclock I was looking for w/out too much effort.

For the heat sink I went with a Coolermaster hyper 212+ which can be had occasionally on Amazon for about $27, shipping included. (Today it is $21.49 through a store front with no mention of free shipping.) Wow! $35 now on Newegg and with $7.56 shipping too. I can see why trents has been recommending this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_core_contact_freezer-_-35-207-004-_-Product which looks pretty similar and is $17 after MIR. (And about half for shipping.)

QuietIce said:

... and prefer the 870 chipset over the 880G for overclocking.

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I just noticed this and connected this with the fact that I have a mobo with an 880G chip set. I'd be interested to hear why you prefer the 870 chip set. I'd apologize to the OP for polluting his thread, but since I just recommended a mobo with an 880G chipset the information may be useful to him as well.

I was actually looking at that cooler as well, but ill check amazon thanks for the info. And no worries about pollution here.

HankB said:

I just noticed this and connected this with the fact that I have a mobo with an 880G chip set. I'd be interested to hear why you prefer the 870 chip set. I'd apologize to the OP for polluting his thread, but since I just recommended a mobo with an 880G chipset the information may be useful to him as well.

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i have to agree with Quietice, the integrated graphics just adds to hassle, i would pick 870 over 880G for overclocking if i had a discreet gpu.

TheQuadFather said:

i have to agree with Quietice, the integrated graphics just adds to [the] hassle, i would pick 870 over 880G for overclocking if i had a discreet gpu.

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That's exactly the reason!


The one IGP board I've tried OC'ing on I had problems with because the IGP didn't like it when I raised the HTRef too far - I've seen many others complaining about similar problems with IGP chipsets.

QuietIce said:

The one IGP board I've tried OC'ing on I had problems with because the IGP didn't like it when I raised the HTRef too far - I've seen many others complaining about similar problems with IGP chipsets.

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For the ignorant among us {raises hand slowly...} What would be the symptoms of this?

thanks,
hank

HankB said:

For the ignorant among us {raises hand slowly...} What would be the symptoms of this?

thanks,
hank

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well i get funny graphical artifacts, even though the onboard is supposedly disabled, also i have found a board with an IGP doesn't take to extra nb volts to well.

HankB said:

What would be the symptoms of this?

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From my experience it can lower the top-end HTRef but I know not all of them (at least, not the 890GX) have that problem. Sometimes you can compensate by adjusting the IGP and/or side-port memory speed and/or voltage. Like I said, it complicates things.

Thanks both for expanding on that. If I ever try to squeeze more performance from my rig that will be useful information.

HankB said:

Thanks both for expanding on that. If I ever try to squeeze more performance from my rig that will be useful information.

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It is especially difficult when you don't have a BE - like your 820. On my old IGP chipset I couldn't get above ~215 MHz without increasing the IGP speed and then I only got to ~225 before I started getting artificing. I may have been able to go higher with a discrete GPU but didn't have an extra lying around at the time.

I usually don't get IGP chipsets but this was a really good deal. It's all good, though. I converted that cruncher into an HTPC (still crunches) so it runs stock with a relatively quiet cooler, now.

QuietIce said:

It is especially difficult when you don't have a BE - like your 820. On my old IGP chipset I couldn't get above ~215 MHz without increasing the IGP speed and then I only got to ~225 before I started getting artificing.

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I guess I got lucky then because I got to 250 without difficulty. I didn't so much pick the board as Newegg picked me off with a shell shocker. But it has not disappointed.

Mine was an older board. I would hope the newer chipsets would have solved that problem - and it looks like they have. Glad to hear it!