Motherboards more important than you think...

I have an MSI p7n-sli that had the exact same hardware on it as my Asus P5Q.

I will tell you that web pages load much faster and browsers are much more reliable with my Asus board.

both boards had the same:
intel 9650 cpu
same 4 gigs of ram-same sticks
same sound card
same NIC
different case,power supply

Just saying....

That's why I choose Asus motherboards when I build my own computers.

I decided (because of lack of time) to buy my last computer instead of building it (I bought a HP a6000), and some months later I was already regretting my decision.

From what I have seen, Asus motherboards are extremely stable and reliable, one of the two computers I built with an Asus motherboard was finally shut-down after 10 years of work, and for the last 6 years it was never shutdown or restarted, only when there was a power cut or I had to change something in the hardware.

My other Asus-based computer was stable enough for me to plug and unplug PCI network cards without shutting it down, giving a different meaning to plug-and-play.

That's something I want to do in the near future, build my own computer. I'm going to have to plan it a while though. I like my machine now pretty much, I know it won't last forever though. Its loaded with USB ports out front for easy access and faster than Bugs Bunny filling in for the Road Runner.

Does the ASUS motherboard allow to boot from USB?

There's not really a lot to a computer. A mother board, a power unit, sound card, ethernet card, a couple of HD's , USB ports and a DVD player. Doesn't seem so complicated.

Not sure exactly what the best fool proof storage is, I have a failing SATA HD now that I had to move my linux Os's off of. I copied Windows XP to it, I'll see how long it'll last with that on there. I just won't put any DATA on it.

Pretty much every modern board does boot from USB now - although I though it was more of a BIOS function? It took me a while to figure out my BIOS option for booting from USB was USB zip...



You forgot your graphics, your RAM, your processor, heat sink and CPU fan... Quite often you can save money on the initial build cost by leaving out the graphics and sound cards as you can get those 'on board' or built straight into the MB - then at a later date when you've got more cash then you can upgrade...

Your Ethernet and USB ports should also be on board - but it's handy to have front loading USB's - you can get some tidy units that have 5 or so USB's and the various other card readers and it would fit where a 3.5" floppy drive would go - they are pretty cheep now a days... Or if you pick the right case they can be built in... Little note on USB... USB 3.0 is about to go main stream, so everyone is going to have to upgrade for that sooner or later (1,000 X's faster than USB 2.0!!)...

I tend to choose a processor and build around that - others like to build around the MB - suppose that's just personal preference... If your going for a microsoft windows system (and your doing it all ligit ) DON'T BUY WINDOWS FROM A HIGH STREET RETAILER!! Save some money and order the OEM version straight from microsoft - you will save about half and all you loose out on is the pretty box! (and the opportunity to call the microsoft helpline up) - but you get a fully working copy but cheeper, or you could just get the premium or ultimate versions for what you would of got the home version for on the high street )...

reply to post by mrmonsoon

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I have never used an ASUS board but have had a couple of MSI boards and was never happy with them.

I am currently using an EVGA board and I am very happy with it although next time I will go with an intel chipset instead of nforce.

reply to post by Now_Then

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Well my WinXP install is legit, it came on my computer new. I have a fresh installation of it backed up and put away on an IDE drive. If my system trashes out I can just copy it over in about 10 minutes, put the backup drive away and go again.

Gigabyte makes great boards.

Asus is what I have in my game box and it runs great overclocked.

EVGA is great. They also make bad ass graphic cards for gaming.

MSI and Biostar are the same. Used to build using MSI but then started to get boards after a few years back for repair that had swollen capacitors.

Zotec is a great inlet Atom board if you want small and low power. Good for small file servers.

Intel makes great boards that are fast and stable. No overclocking though. Good for high performance servers and desktops.