Recommendations for Gaming Motherboard?

by Paul
(U.S.)

Need some advice: we are building a new computer for gaming and home use. Considering gaming motherboards: asus rampageiiex58, p7p55de or p6x58 boards with i7 chip. Any other recommendations? Would also like good hard drive recommendations too. thanks

Response from Kris at Build Your Own Computer:

Gaming Motherboard Recommendations

The Gigabyte EX58 EXtreme Motherboard is basically what you need to look for/want to use. This is a very heavy duty and performance-based motherboard. Reviews are very good on this product, but you pay for what you get. Prices range from $320 to 350, depending what country you are in and where you buy. Gigabyte EX58 EXtreme Motherboard Video

Another board, called the Maximus III Extreme, has been getting very good reviews. It is made by ASUS but sold under the partner name ROG (Republic Of Gamers). Pricing is about $395 USD right now (because it's still pretty 'new') but check around to see if you can get a better deal in your area.

The p7p55de and p6x58 boards have been standing up pretty great as well in long term testing. They don't have some of the overclocking and other hardcore features as the previous 2 boards, but their prices definitely make up for that. Pricing of these are around $130-170 which make them a very good value, especially if you plan to use this computer for some everyday basics as well.

As far as hard drives go, Seagate / SATA 750gb are fairly standard and cheap. If you plan on spending a little more than average on this computer you should do some price checking on SSDs (Solid State Drive) haven't checked in a while but they were still too expensive for me last time I checked. They will most likely be the future desktop drive of choice once they become a little more affordable.

Good luck with the Build! And enjoy your system once it's running.

Kris

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