Favorite motherboards? Thinking of building another video editing computer.

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite motherboards? Thinking of building another video editing computer.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:17:33 PM EDT

I built a video editing computer a few years ago and ended up going with Sony VAIO on the next 4 purchased for other departments because the first one was such a bitch to build that I couldn't justify spending that much time to try to build them instead.

Anyway, I realize that there has been a lot of progress made in the last 4 years and I'm considering trying to build a better one. I've also looked at Alienware but they're so damn expensive. Any suggestions for motherboards? also videocards, USB2 or Firewire? thin stream or regular memory? Any input would be appreciated.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:19:05 PM EDT

[#1]

I use a Gigabyte. No troubles with it at all. I would recommend Gigabyte or Asus.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:22:58 PM EDT

[#2]

If you want a reliable workhorse - go ASUS. Best MoBos out there for the money. I have also used Abits, but I have found that the VIA chipsets used for AMD processors have produced some undesired results. I have actually found a couple of software packages that will not run on a VIA chipset (imagine that!)

I personally like the newer ATI cards, I just don't think the new GeForce cards are up to par *my opinion*

USB2 v. Firewire. Like em both. 6 one way half a dozen the other.

As for storage, I really like the new SATA drives - lots of good speed and prices have plummeted since introduction.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:24:33 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
If you want a reliable workhorse - go ASUS. Best MoBos out there for the money. I have also used Abits, but I have found that the VIA chipsets used for AMD processors have produced some undesired results. I have actually found a couple of software packages that will not run on a VIA chipset (imagine that!)

I personally like the newer ATI cards, I just don't think the new GeForce cards are up to par *my opinion*

USB2 v. Firewire. Like em both. 6 one way half a dozen the other.

As for storage, I really like the new SATA drives - lots of good speed and prices have plummeted since introduction.

+1 for Asus. You can't go wrong with Asus boards. I'm building myself one with the Asus P4P800-E.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:25:56 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
If you want a reliable workhorse - go ASUS. Best MoBos out there for the money. I have also used Abits, but I have found that the VIA chipsets used for AMD processors have produced some undesired results. I have actually found a couple of software packages that will not run on a VIA chipset (imagine that!)

I personally like the newer ATI cards, I just don't think the new GeForce cards are up to par *my opinion*

USB2 v. Firewire. Like em both. 6 one way half a dozen the other.

As for storage, I really like the new SATA drives - lots of good speed and prices have plummeted since introduction.

Ati is better for video editing then Nvidia is, both are having some driver issues and Nvidia has been known to have reduced image quality then Ati for the past couple generations. Currently Ati and Nvidia are close to neck and neck when it comes to high end cards (X800 XT PE//Geforce 6800 Ultra).

For a MOBO, I'd go either Asus or Abit. If you want the Nforce 3 chipset you can get an MSI, they have been kind ot me in the past. For overclocking and such either chipset will be fine, since both of them have pci/agp locks. For editing, I can't think of a program that wouldn't run on either of em.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:31:26 PM EDT

[#5]

Btw, my Ati Radeon 9800 XT will kick the shit out of any Geforce FX card (Exluding the 5950 FX and 5950FX Ultra which was $150 more when I bought my card for $225, and my card is faster is MOST games, especially if I start adding on Ansiotropic Filtering and AntiAliasing). (The 6800 Ultra and 6600-6800 series is NOT an FX card), and it was cheaper. For the current mid-range cards ($100-$200)

Here is a good chart with some benchmarks for mid-range cards, both 3d games and some Video editing type benchmarks:

graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-04.html

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:33:20 PM EDT

[#6]

Asus or Abit

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:38:39 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
If you want a reliable workhorse - go ASUS. Best MoBos out there for the money. I have also used Abits, but I have found that the VIA chipsets used for AMD processors have produced some undesired results. I have actually found a couple of software packages that will not run on a VIA chipset (imagine that!)

I personally like the newer ATI cards, I just don't think the new GeForce cards are up to par *my opinion*

USB2 v. Firewire. Like em both. 6 one way half a dozen the other.

As for storage, I really like the new SATA drives - lots of good speed and prices have plummeted since introduction.

+1

I've used ASUS for my single-processor athlon builds, and Tyan boards for my duals. Both good brands - ASUS is a great bang for the buck.

And stay away from VIA chipsets, if possible. I've had trouble with them too.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:41:17 PM EDT

[#8]

I've used Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, Biostar and Epox.

Out 10 boards total in the last couple of years, I've had one bad Epox board and one bad Asus board. All were infantile failures and were replaced under warranty by the distributor.

Believe it or not, the Biostar boards have been utterly reliable and have proven to be the best value for the money. I use Abit and Gigabyte for my mission-critical work machines.

Posted: 10/6/2004 5:53:01 PM EDT

[#9]

I have a biostar, it's okay...

ASUS, if you get into overclocking, you'll be glad you did

Posted: 10/6/2004 6:00:58 PM EDT

[#10]

My preference for MBs are MSI and ABIT.

Although ASUS has a good reputation, I don't recommend them. At my previous job we had a cluster made up of ASUS MBs, and they would constantly burn up. The chipset heatsinks were warped and did not make contact with the heatsink. Also had a few desktops with different ASUS MBs that I didn't like (bad layout, user unfriendly, so-so stability etc). These were all old boards so maybe things have changed but the thing I hated most about them is that they don't have a CMOS clear jumper, you have to short two solder pads to clear the CMOS.

Whats up with the VIA chipsets? Are they producing troublesome chipsets again? They had growing pains with their early chipsets (K6 and Athlon) but I haven't had any troubles with mine (KT266A) and haven't heard of any problems with the newer ones.

Posted: 10/6/2004 6:05:58 PM EDT

[#11]

These guys rock.

The only place!

Posted: 10/6/2004 7:21:10 PM EDT

[#12]

ASUS is the best.

Posted: 10/6/2004 7:25:23 PM EDT

[#13]

I've been riding this ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe hard for the past year without any problems. Might be time to upgrade to one of the new 775 boards soon.

Posted: 10/6/2004 7:54:24 PM EDT

[#14]

For video editing it is best to stick with an Intel CPU and a motherboard with an Intel chipset. Intel CPUs are just much better at encoding video and music. AMD CPUs are a better all around chice if gaming is a concern.

Have said ASUS for a motherboard if you are building for video editing and will not be overclocking ASUS is still the best all around BUT you can get an Intel motherboard cheaper that will be rock solid. Intel motherboards don’t overclock but they tend to be bulletproof.

With a video editing system stability is the prime factor so a Intel MB will work. DO NOT scrimp on memory get at least 1GB ram and preferably 2GB.

Someone also said above that ATI graphics cards are better for video editing computers. This is categorically WRONG ATI cards tend to cause far more problems in video editing setups that Nvidia and the most stable cards are probably Matrox graphics cards but Matrox cards are not very good for gaming.

Posted: 10/6/2004 8:04:31 PM EDT

[#15]

How about using Athlon64? Nice hot chips.

Depends on whether your software is compiled for it, of course. If you're going to run Windows, I guess it's moot.

I'd avoid Gigabyte due to a bad experience I had with them. ASUS has excellent reliability.

Shuttle's XPC line is pretty nice. I have an SN41G2B with an AMD 2600+ in it. The only issue is that the machine won't boot if you put two hard drives in (or if you only have a CD-R* drive and boot Knoppix) -- it only boots and runs reliably with exactly one hard drive on IDE1 and one CD-R* drive on IDE2. (With zero hard drives, it will boot Knoppix, but the machine spontaneously resets about every five minutes.)

Posted: 10/6/2004 8:50:44 PM EDT

[#16]

Another for Asus

Posted: 10/6/2004 10:30:42 PM EDT

[#17]

Abit.

My last two Asus motherboards were shipped to me broke.

Abit. Abit.
Abit.

Posted: 10/6/2004 10:46:03 PM EDT

[#18]

I used to work for an OEM that uses all the major manufacturer's boards.

The boards with the lowest RMA rate were Asus and MSI.

The ones with the highest RMA rate were Intel, Tyan and Gigabyte.

I have also owned or built systems with most as well. Currently all my systems use Asus boards.

If you are going with an Intel CPU I would get an Asus. For an AMD CPU I get an MSI or Abit.

Posted: 10/6/2004 11:45:27 PM EDT

[#19]

My children built a system unit using a MSI mother board and an AMD 2100 processor, hasn't failed us yet. Almost 1.5 years old.

Posted: 10/6/2004 11:49:53 PM EDT

[#20]

I have used ASUS lately. I had alot of problem once, but that was with an older ASUS board

Posted: 10/6/2004 11:53:45 PM EDT

[#21]

Abit here.

Good success. I still have 2 BP-6 boards running like butta. Old, but still runnin.

Posted: 10/7/2004 12:10:20 AM EDT

[#22]

Good advice in this thread

If you can, get a dual-processor board. Will really help most "real" video editing packages (ie, Adobe or Avid, not the low-end stuff like ulead).

That and as much RAM as you can put in it.

Firewire vs USB2 .... if possible, include both.

Posted: 10/7/2004 8:30:59 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
How about using Athlon64? Nice hot chips.

NO

The Althon 64 runs much cooler that the current P4s.

Posted: 10/7/2004 8:56:21 AM EDT

[#24]

I've had very good luck with nforce2 boards...using Biostar right now, and have had NO issues whatsoever with them. I've had to replace an Epox and MSI board due to some issues. If you want no fuss no muss, the nforce2 boards can't be beat. Haven't tried the nforce3 boards, 'cos the 2s are rock solid and CHEAP...less than $50 shipped. They have sound and lan on the board, so there's no issues there. These are not great overclocking boards, but they're stable...and at this point, I'd rather have that than 2 extra FPS in Doom 3.

Obviously your video card will make a difference too...I'd go with ATI on that...the All in Wonder cards are supposed to be the shizzle for video apps.

Posted: 10/7/2004 9:39:19 AM EDT

[#25]

I have used Asus boards for years. They are my favorite, and I have had great success with them. Abit also has a solid reputation. At work (IT dept), we used MSI boards for a couple of years until just recently, and they are darn solid too.

Posted: 10/7/2004 9:47:35 AM EDT

[#26]

Asus.

I've had extremely good performance from 5 separate K8V SE Deluxe MB's.

Posted: 10/7/2004 9:48:39 AM EDT

[#27]

I like Intel boards.. but I am not into "overclocking" or anything like that... I have a 2.8/800mhz bus ,with an intel 875pbz board, 1gig of dual channel DDR400, and using the onboard SATA raid with a pair of Raptors.. It really screams.

I have had a few Asus boards as well, I like them.

For a cheap board, I have had great luck with Biostar boards.