Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Yeah, I'm gravitating towards the MSI G45, since it has the better audio chipset, but again I'm worried about MSI quality. I've read that ASUS and Gigabyte make the sturdy, durable boards. At the same time, if you say SLI is not a good idea then I don't really need a board with 2 PCIe slots, so I could make do with the Pro4, D3HP, or G41 and add an audio card. I want a motherboard that is good for overclocking (I want to OC the 4670K to at least 4.5 GHz), that will be sturdy and stable and won't die out in a couple of years, that has room for expansion in case I decide to add a sound card or wireless card, that is easy to overclock but simple because I don't really know how to manage voltage and temperatures and speed and all that, . Do you know anything about warranties for these motherboards? I heard that Asus has good warranties. Otherwise, I am just looking for a long life over everything else. I really, really want it to at least last until the next gen after Skymont comes out.

XFX PSU costs $55 w/ coupon after rebate. SeaSonic costs $87.

CM Seidon is $35 after MIR at Newegg. $5 more than Hyper 212 (which is only $30 after a $5 MIR anyways). The review seems to suggest the Seidon is better, but I do worry about quality/longevity/leaking

Oh sorry! My audio setup for the computer desk is just my headphones (I got nice Koss over ears). But if the PC is not TOO heavy, I might be able to hook it up to my HDTV, which is hooked up to a Sony 7.1 surround sound system.

EDIT: Oooh, 7770 GHz for only $80 and comes with Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon. That's a good card to stick in the old desktop and won't dent my wallet too much if the PCIe slot is broken (I can always sell on ebay, even if that is a pain).

Quote:I've read that ASUS and Gigabyte make the sturdy

Asus - high end boards are durable indeed
Asus - low budget boards are piles of junk , even worse than low budget Asrock , Gigabyte boards ( local store manager told me this)

So what's "high end"? The Sabertooth/Gryphon/Maximus boards?

Asus low budget boards : 0->150$
High-end : 150->2xx$
After seeing the PSU - XFX specs , it seems ok to me

turtlefu Wrote:I want a motherboard that is good for overclocking (I want to OC the 4670K to at least 4.5 GHz), that will be sturdy and stable and won't die out in a couple of years, that has room for expansion in case I decide to add a sound card or wireless card, that is easy to overclock but simple because I don't really know how to manage voltage and temperatures and speed and all that, .

They pretty much all meet those conditions.

And you're going to want to learn how to OC manually. Like AnyOldName3 said manual overclocking is a lot more reliable even these days.

turtlefu Wrote:Do you know anything about warranties for these motherboards?

According to newegg they're all three years except the sabertooth which is 5 years (makes sense since it's a high end board).

turtlefu Wrote:XFX PSU costs $55 w/ coupon after rebate. SeaSonic costs $87.

I agree with admin. Go with the XFX.

turtlefu Wrote:CM Seidon is $35 after MIR at Newegg. $5 more than Hyper 212 (which is only $30 after a $5 MIR anyways). The review seems to suggest the Seidon is better, but I do worry about quality/longevity/leaking

I recommend the evo but it's up to you. I also recommend that you OC to 4.3GHz not 4.5GHz. For a long term build it's safer.

turtlefu Wrote:Oh sorry! My audio setup for the computer desk is just my headphones (I got nice Koss over ears). But if the PC is not TOO heavy, I might be able to hook it up to my HDTV, which is hooked up to a Sony 7.1 surround sound system.

Be more specific. Please don't tell me it was a home theater kit (home theater in a box, or HTIB). What are you using as an amp and what speakers do you have? How is it wired?

What are the requirements for hooking it up to the hdtv? You mentioned weight, can you be more specific? Also if this is going to act as your normal pc why would you want to do that? What kind of hdtv do you have?

Motherboards go from about $60 to $400. I would say anything above $100 is high end quite frankly.

The MSI G45 has optical and coaxial TOSLINK for surround sound, as well as 6 3.5mm audio jacks, so it will have no problem with a surround sound system, as practically ny decent one has at least one of these ports. Failing that, there's also HDMI sound out.

I don't know about any of the others, though.

So then, what is the difference between all the motherboards? Besides having more USB 3.0 ports, more SATA III ports, more PCI-e 3.0 16x ports, is that really it? Because quality is what I am looking at the most. What possible reason could a person have to buy a Sabertooth over a UD3H or an Extreme4, other than number of ports? Durability is the most important thing and if one will last longer than the other. I don't want to spend $100 on a motherboard for it to crap out after 3 years when I could have spent $115 and had it last 4-5. I've read things that say Gigabyte focuses on durability.

Eh, an extra two years of warranty is not worth double the price!

Oh, I thought 4.5 GHz was possible since that's the OC on the Wind Waker benchmark (it also got the best score, 113 fps). That's why I wanted the Seidon since I thought it would help me with OCing. But if I have to worry about leaking or low quality, then you are right, the EVO is better. The difference is about 4-6 degrees, is that a big difference for OC or would I have to worry about temperature?

How specific, lol? The HDTV is a Vizio 1080p with two component ports, two optical ports, and three HDMI ports. The surround sound is indeed a Sony HTIB, but I got it as a gift and there is no better value than free. It sounds lightyears better than my TV speakers anyways. The only problem is that it does NOT have HDMI in, so it's hooked up to the HDTV through HDMI out (if I am playing DVDs) or optical in (if I am watching TV or playing video games). The Sony HTIB has two rear speakers, two side speakers, two front speakers, and one of those front-soundbar type speakers, and a subwoofer. They are all wired directly into the receiver.
The following is hooked up to the HDTV: PS2 through Component, Wii through Component, HD Cable Box through HDMI, HTIB/DVD Player through HDMI, Optical from TV to HTIB. That leaves one empty HDMI port that I could hook up the computer to. The reason why I saw "not too big" is because there isn't a lot of space, I would have to put it behind the HDTV, where there is a huge amount of space, but if it's too heavy I won't be able to move it from my gaming room to the TV room and lift it behind the TV.
I think the HTIB has two audio (optical and coaxial TOSLINK) so I think I could hook it up using those, otherwise I could just hook it up using HDMI directly into the TV and use the TV as a pass through. Not ideal, but it could work.

EDIT: There is always a sale. Newegg has some processor/motherboard bundles. Get a 4670K with select motherboards and get $80 off, then a $10 gift card. Prices after gift card:
ASUS Sabertooth - $200
Gigabyte UD4H - $140
MSI Z87 MPOWER - $185
ASRock Extreme6 - $140
I'm still thinking that MicroCenter has a better deal, I don't really think the difference between the Extreme4 and Extreme6 is important.

AnyOldName3 Wrote:The MSI G45 has optical and coaxial TOSLINK for surround sound, as well as 6 3.5mm audio jacks, so it will have no problem with a surround sound system, as practically ny decent one has at least one of these ports. Failing that, there's also HDMI sound out.

Every modern motherboard does surround sound audio output over 3.5 mm TRS, optical spdif, or hdmi. And every modern graphics card can do audio output over hdmi. It's not connectivity I'm worried about, it's quality.

And by the way toslink is a connector for fiber optic cables. It's used on optical spdif cables. So "coaxial toslink" doesn't make sense.

turtlefu Wrote:Because quality is what I am looking at the most. What possible reason could a person have to buy a Sabertooth over a UD3H or an Extreme4, other than number of ports?

Lots of little things.
-Looks
-UEFI options
-Quality components and design to ensure long lifespan under heavy overclocking
-High end audio and networking chipsets
-Dual gigabit LAN
-Lots of I/O ports like you mentioned, both internal and external
-Convenience features like diagnostics lights or multiple UEFI backup chips or in the case of the sabertooth a button that lets you jump straight to UEFI setup from sleep mode and back.
-PCI is usually only supported on high end boards these days
-SLI/Crossfire is usually only supported on high end boards these days
-Etc.

turtlefu Wrote:Durability is the most important thing and if one will last longer than the other. I don't want to spend $100 on a motherboard for it to crap out after 3 years when I could have spent $115 and had it last 4-5. I've read things that say Gigabyte focuses on durability.

They all focus on durability. You're not going to see a whole lot of difference between them in that area.

turtlefu Wrote:Oh, I thought 4.5 GHz was possible since that's the OC on the Wind Waker benchmark (it also got the best score, 113 fps). That's why I wanted the Seidon since I thought it would help me with OCing. But if I have to worry about leaking or low quality, then you are right, the EVO is better. The difference is about 4-6 degrees, is that a big difference for OC or would I have to worry about temperature?

4.5 GHz is possible, that doesn't mean it's recommended though. 4-6 degrees can make a difference depending on the circumstance.

turtlefu Wrote:How specific, lol? The HDTV is a Vizio 1080p with two component ports, two optical ports, and three HDMI ports. The surround sound is indeed a Sony HTIB, but I got it as a gift and there is no better value than free. It sounds lightyears better than my TV speakers anyways. The only problem is that it does NOT have HDMI in, so it's hooked up to the HDTV through HDMI out (if I am playing DVDs) or optical in (if I am watching TV or playing video games). The Sony HTIB has two rear speakers, two side speakers, two front speakers, and one of those front-soundbar type speakers, and a subwoofer. They are all wired directly into the receiver.
The following is hooked up to the HDTV: PS2 through Component, Wii through Component, HD Cable Box through HDMI, HTIB/DVD Player through HDMI, Optical from TV to HTIB. That leaves one empty HDMI port that I could hook up the computer to. The reason why I saw "not too big" is because there isn't a lot of space, I would have to put it behind the HDTV, where there is a huge amount of space, but if it's too heavy I won't be able to move it from my gaming room to the TV room and lift it behind the TV.
I think the HTIB has two audio (optical and coaxial TOSLINK) so I think I could hook it up using those, otherwise I could just hook it up using HDMI directly into the TV and use the TV as a pass through. Not ideal, but it could work.

When you say HTIB what you mean to say is "A/V receiver". The A/V receiver is the box that acts as the source switch and amplifier. The HTIB is the whole kit including the speakers.

Does your A/V receiver and HDTV support hdmi audio return channcel (ARC)?

Since you are using an A/V receiver you should not buy an audio card or a motherboard with high end integrated audio. It won't benefit you in any way. If you're using it with headphones and a monitor however it will benefit you greatly.

Quote: And by the way toslink is a connector for fiber optic cables. It's used on optical spdif cables. So "coaxial toslink" doesn't make sense.

I have a 50% chance of guessing TOSLINK, and a 50% chance of guessing SPDIF. I always seem to guess the wrong one.

Okay, hm. Does Dual gigabit LAN means faster speeds for internet? That's something I could want. If so, I could get the ASRock Extreme6 for $140 after gift card from NewEgg...

Also, it seems like even some motherboards with two PCIe ports don't support dual 16x, just dual 8x, because the second PCIe slot shares bandwith with the first one. Is dual 16x ideal when using SLI/Crossfire? If so, then maybe it isn't worth getting a motherboard that has dual 8x and I should just forget about SLI/Crossfire. In which case I don't need two PCIe ports. Or does that not actually matter?

So then 4.3 GHz is not "heavy" overclocking therefore I shouldn't need one of the high end boards?

I don't think my TV or A/V receiver support audio return channel. The HDTV is a Vizio VW42L FHDTV10A and the A/V receiver is a Sony DAV-HDX277WC. I haven't been able to find anything online and there is no ARC next to the HDMI ports on the TV

It wouldn't always be hooked up to the HDTV, more often it would just be on my desk, and I would be using headphones. So I just have to weigh whether I want to get something like the G45 or get the G41 and then buy a low-end soundcard.