Help in choosing new motherboard

[gvblake22]

Well, since you seem to plan on using an add-on video card anyway, I would say go for a full sized ATX board like the Asus M2N-E. This gives you more BIOS tweaking options and a more forgiving layout as well as better expandability and upgrade options in the future. But I'm also assuming your case is able to accept a full size ATX motherboard, is this correct?

[Mysterio]

I am not exactly sure about it to be full size, it was able to handle the ASRock AM2NF6G, but I will see if it will handle my computer case.

Also, if the Asus M2N-E can only handle DDR2 800, I am most certain that my stick is DDR2 400, I forgot about that... lol

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Mysterio

I am not exactly sure about it to be full size, it was able to handle the ASRock AM2NF6G, but I will see if it will handle my computer case.

Just check on the back of the case and count how many expansion card slots there are. If there are only four then it is a micro ATX case and will only fit microATX motherboards. However, if there are seven slots then you can fit both microATX motherboards as well as full sized ATX motherboards.

Originally Posted by Mysterio

Also, if the Asus M2N-E can only handle DDR2 800, I am most certain that my stick is DDR2 400, I forgot about that... lol

That is a rating saying it will handle up to DDR2-800 speed memory. It should have no problem running DDR2-400 RAM.

[Mysterio]

Oh Okay, well I have 7 extension slots if you mean... for those PCI/AGP or sound cards etc etc...

I am pretty sure my ram stick is a no brand name type, will this cause any problems? As well It's a 512MB Ram, but when I check on the computers, it's 4XX.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Mysterio

Oh Okay, well I have 7 extension slots if you mean... for those PCI/AGP or sound cards etc etc...

Yeah, you should be able to use the Asus M2N-E if you wanted to as it seems your case is big enough to accept a full sized ATX motherboard.

Originally Posted by Mysterio

I am pretty sure my ram stick is a no brand name type, will this cause any problems? As well It's a 512MB Ram, but when I check on the computers, it's 4XX.

There is a chance that the motherboard won't recognize it if it is some kind of extremely obscure memory type, but it will most likely work.

[Mysterio]

Mmmm, okay interesting... I guess my mind is made up now.. for the M2N-E..

But I really want to know, what exactly is so good about overclocking in general?

Does it make it go faster.. etc etc?

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Mysterio

But I really want to know, what exactly is so good about overclocking in general?

Does it make it go faster.. etc etc?

The primary attraction to overclocking is the fact that you can buy less expensive hardware and overclock it to get the same or better performance out of it as more expensive parts. For example, you can buy an Athlon 3800 X2 processor for about $135 which runs at 2.0Ghz and easily overclock it to 2.4GHz which is the speed of the 4600 X2 that costs about $200. If you're lucky and have good cooling, you can often get upwards of 2.6Ghz or more out of a 3800 X2 which is the speed of a 5200 X2 that costs about $276. As you can see, with a little luck in overclocking and better cooling, you can have a $276 processor for only $135.

Overclocking can also become sortof a hobby (or addiction). It's fun sometimes to try and balance overclocking speed/performance with heat output and get your system running at it's absolute peak performance potential.

[Mysterio]

Oh, thats pretty cool.

So... In the list below, what do you think what will help me teh most?

Intelligent overclocking tools:
- ASUS AI NOS™ (Non-delay Overclocking System)
- AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner)
- ASUS PEG Link (automatically performance tuning)
ASUS O.C. Profile: overclocking configuration-sharing tool
Precision Tweaker:
- vDIMM: 4-step DRAM voltage control
- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment
- Stepless Frequency Selection (SFS): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment
- PCI Express x16 Frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1 MHz increment
Overclocking Protection:
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
ASUS AI Booster Utility
Adjustable FSB frequencies with fixed PCI/PCI Express frequencies

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Mysterio

Oh, thats pretty cool.
So... In the list below, what do you think what will help me teh most?

Help you the most with what?
If you are wondering which of those specific features will help most with overclocking, then that would probably be the "Precision Tweaker" features as well as the "Adjustable FSB frequencies with fixed PCI/PCI Express frequencies".

But don't plan on doing much overclocking with DDR2-400 RAM. It probably doesn't have much overclocking headroom (if any) for faster speeds.

[Mysterio]

Oh okay cool, thanks for you help.