Computer Upgrade Help [see page 2]

[Deathslayer7]

Hey guys,

I have a computer which is partially broken. From what I understand this is the basic issue:

When I put in my CMOS battery, my computer will not boot up at all. The video output to the monitor goes into power saving mode and it beeps horrendously.

When I take out the CMOS battery, my computer will boot up fine though I do need to go into BIOS first and change the time and date settings.

I checked my graphics card and it works fine. I contacted our OIT department, and they were able to tell me that the problem is the CMOS battery/Motherboard and that to fix it, I would need to replace the motherboard.

Does anyone know why this is happening? The computer is custom built.

I attached part of the email OIT sent me.

Picked up the unit.
The unit is not a Dell or any other supported UNLV computer.
I did some testing on it. The video card is fine. The unit will only work if the CMOS battery is removed and if you power cycle the unit.
System board would need replacement.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

[Keris]

May be a silly question, but have you tested the battery itself? It would be a shame to replace the whole motherboard for the sake of a coin cell.


The video output to the monitor goes into power saving mode and it beeps horrendously. If this is a regular pattern of beeps, it could be the motherboard telling you what error it's experiencing. Try looking up the POST codes in your motherboard's manual or on the manufacturer's website.

[Drumbum42]

May be a silly question, but have you tested the battery itself? It would be a shame to replace the whole motherboard for the sake of a coin cell.

If this is a regular pattern of beeps, it could be the motherboard telling you what error it's experiencing. Try looking up the POST codes in your motherboard's manual or on the manufacturer's website.

Definitely. Beep codes are life-savers. If that doesn't immediately solve your issue could you say a little bit more about the computer? New, Used? Personal custom build, store/website bought? Motherboard model?

[Deathslayer7]

Its not a regular pattern but just continuous beeping.

I did get an error message saying this but some googling hasnt helped.:

mulit-bit ECC Error

Beyond that, this is a custom built computer built back in 2008. It was used for 2-3 years and then just sat around for 2-3 years before I cleaned stuff out and pulled this sucker out.

some specs:

GeForce 9600 GT graphics card
Intel Core2 Quad processor Q9450 (2,66 GHz)
Cooler Master RS-460 PCAR A3 Power Supply (460 Watts)

RAM - Corsair Dominator 8500C5D
I am a bit unsure whether or not it is dual channel. My total RAM is 8 GB and I see 4 RAM sticks connected, so I am assuming here. (2x2)

Motherboard -

MSI Model number Ms-7514 Ver 1.0
P43Neo3

https://www.google.com/search?q=msi+7514&aq=f&oq=msi+7514&aqs=chrome.0.57j0j60j0l2.3767j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Hope that helps.

[factotum]

Well, have you tried the advice already given of just changing the CMOS battery? Five years sounds about right for it to have gone flat, or maybe even shorted out somehow (hence the beeping when you try to fire it up with the battery in place).

[Brother Oni]

Its not a regular pattern but just continuous beeping.

Well this MSI page (link (http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/bios-beep-codes)) lists all the possible beep codes depending on BIOS type.

Multi-bit ECC errors indicate the memory's at fault, but if it works fine with the battery removed, try replacing that first before moving onto troubleshooting the motherboard and/or RAM.

[Deathslayer7]

Already replaced the battery. When the battery (new or old) is inserted, it beeps horrendously.

When the battery is removed, it works.

[Emmerask]

If I remember correctly the battery is only there to keep the bios changes that are made.

However since you removed the battery presumably for more then 5 minutes the settings should have been reseted to factory standard which rules out seriously wrong bios settings.

Have you put in the battery the correct way? + side is up afaik!

If not then the only thing I can think of is that the mainboard is damaged where the battery connects (electrical surge maybe?) which sadly would mean that you have to replace the mainboard :smallfrown:.
(or repaired by a professional though that can be quite costly)


The other option would have been to flash the memory but for that you need the battery... which you can´t put in :-////

[Deathslayer7]

Yes i put it positive side up :smallbiggrin:

But yeah, every time i boot up the computer i have to go into bios and change the time and date settings before i can log into windows.

Ah well. I was hoping it was fixable without the motherboard having gone bad. But thank you.

[razark]

Pull the RAM. Try booting with each module to see what happens. If that fails, then consider the motherboard.

[Deathslayer7]

What exactly do you mean by pull the ram?

I have 4 sticks of 2x2 RAM presumably dual channel.

[razark]

Grab ahold of the ram sticks. Pull them out of the machine. (Preferably in a manner that doesn't break them.)

[Deathslayer7]

right. But do you mean pull out one stick test the computer to see if it turns on?

With or without the cmos battery?

IF it works, put it back in and pull out another and test again? :smallconfused:

[bluewind95]

right. But do you mean pull out one stick test the computer to see if it turns on?

With or without the cmos battery?

IF it works, put it back in and pull out another and test again? :smallconfused:

I think that's exactly what he meant. With the battery in.

[Don Julio Anejo]

With the battery in, one stick at a time in the same slot. If that doesn't help, try a different memory slot.

[Brother Oni]

We're trying to trouble shoot the RAM sticks before moving onto the motherboard.

If it doesn't boot with one of the RAM sticks, then that stick is faulty (that multi-bit ECC error you mentioned earlier).
If none of the sticks work in that module slot, then that slot is faulty.

It's cheaper (and a hell of a lot easier) to replace a RAM stick than it is to replace a motherboard. However even if you get a new motherboard, if a RAM stick is knackered, then you may just get the same fault again.

I gave a list of beep codes earlier - I don't know what BIOS type you have, but the patterns can extend up to 13 short beeps long. Unless it's a critical hardware failure (unlikely) it's going to match a beep code.

[Deathslayer7]

I haven't checked the RAM yet, but I talked to my professor and it seems that we are just going to do a full blown upgrade on the computer.

Thanks for all the help though.

edit: to be fair it is one of these errors.

*repeated beeps - DRAM error
*repeated short beeps - Power error

I don't know what the sound difference between a beep and short beep is.

[Deathslayer7]

So I have a $500 budget.

We plan to reuse the graphics card, optical drive and floppy drive.

We want to upgrade from a 500 GB to 1TB hard drive. I found two, but what is the differences between them? One says power usage while the other says daily computing? Does it really make that much of a difference? If it matters, this computer will be doing computation processing with some graphics program to read the outputs. No gaming on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

I was looking at getting as new processor as the one I currently have is Intel Core TM@ Q9450 (2,66 GHZ). I was looking at the Intel core i-5 processor. One question here: what is the turbo boost for?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=72279&vpn=BX80637I53470&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1281

For RAM, I pretty much settled for this one:

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62281&vpn=CML8GX3M2A1600C9B&manufacture=Corsair

Now I have to replace the motherboard because it is obviously flawed in all probability, so I was looking at this one: I have some questions though, I believe it is all compatiable with all parts, but if I wanted to use two monitors, what would I need to do here? The reason I ask is because I only see 1 video output card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

Lastly, I believe I will need to update the power supply. I was wondering about how to calculate wattage. I was using this wattage calculator, but I am confused on one part.

Under PCI cards and additional PCI cards, what are all those options for? Are those taken from the motherboard?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

[Don Julio Anejo]

So I have a $500 budget.

We plan to reuse the graphics card, optical drive and floppy drive.

Really, floppy drive? :tongue:


We want to upgrade from a 500 GB to 1TB hard drive. I found two, but what is the differences between them? One says power usage while the other says daily computing? Does it really make that much of a difference? If it matters, this computer will be doing computation processing with some graphics program to read the outputs. No gaming on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

Black is the Western Digital performance hard drive line. In general, they'll give you better read/write and seek times than other lines. Blue is their "general purpose" line. They also have Red (high reliability, for use in industrial applications, backups or file servers) and Green (marketed as eco-friendly, but that's moot, main selling point is Green drives are silent and relatively cheap). I have a 1TB black (the same one you're looking at) and a 2TB Green, and Black runs about 20-30% faster for most operations, although Green is the slowest line. Both a lot slower than an SSD that I use for Windows and applications, though.


I was looking at getting as new processor as the one I currently have is Intel Core TM@ Q9450 (2,66 GHZ). I was looking at the Intel core i-5 processor. One question here: what is the turbo boost for?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

Turbo boost is a built-in "overclock" feature, however that's a somewhat misleading way of looking at it. It's better to look at it as maximum operating frequency of a CPU that's disabled by default (to save power/reduce heat) and only turns on when a program (such as a video game) demands it. BTW, both links you posted are for the same processor.

Also, if you don't mind waiting a bit (depending on how annoying it is to use your current motherboard), the new generation Intel Haswell chips are due to come out in several weeks. While they'll initially be more expensive than Ivy Bridge you're looking at, read up on them to see if it will be worth it to you, they're 5-15% better for some uses at the same clock frequency (and virtually identical for others).

Otherwise, the 3570k is a very, very good chip (and an amazing overclocker) as long as you don't need hyperthreading (not used much outside hardcore math, rendering, photo and video editing or virtualization) or VT-d (ignore completely unless you virtualize a lot). If you have no idea what I just said, or your main use will be games, this is the best chip to get.


For RAM, I pretty much settled for this one:

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62281&vpn=CML8GX3M2A1600C9B&manufacture=Corsair

Now I have to replace the motherboard because it is obviously flawed in all probability, so I was looking at this one: I have some questions though, I believe it is all compatiable with all parts, but if I wanted to use two monitors, what would I need to do here? The reason I ask is because I only see 1 video output card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
Good choice on both; I have the exact same motherboard too. I believe it's possible to use your motherboard's onboard video card (the Intel HD 4000 that comes with Ivy Bridge chips) as an extra output for a second monitor, but you might have to jump through a few hoops (most likely, set the onboard video card as primary in BIOS) but I'm not sure how exactly.


Lastly, I believe I will need to update the power supply. I was wondering about how to calculate wattage. I was using this wattage calculator, but I am confused on one part.
Unless your power supply is less than 450W and by a poor brand, has been giving you problems, or your video card is along the lines of a GTX 690, don't bother. Use the money to get an SSD instead (which also means you can get away with a slower hard drive).


Under PCI cards and additional PCI cards, what are all those options for? Are those taken from the motherboard?
Are you still talking about the power supply? If yes, then that's if you have additional PCI cards connected (i.e., a USB hub or a network card) connected in addition to your video card.

[Deathslayer7]

thanks for all the information.

The professor is old school. :smalltongue:

Our grahpics card is a NVIDIA 9600 GT (and I just realized that there is two video outputs on that). So I don't need to worry about the dual monitor.

Also updated the link to the correct processor.

The power supply the computer currently uses is a 460 Watt power supply. I can't remember the brand at the moment. Terrible efficiency (but hey I don't pay the power bill). So I could get away with what we have.

I'll look up SSD drives and see if it might be worth it.

edit: what size drive would I need with an SSD?

[factotum]

edit: what size drive would I need with an SSD?

The same size drive you'd need with a spinning rust HDD--namely, enough for the programs you want to use and the data you want to store on it. Get the smallest one you can that fits those criteria, because large SSDs are very expensive compared to HDDs.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Generally, what people do is buy a regular storage hard drive, and a small-ish SSD. It simply makes no sense to pay several hundred bucks to keep movies/music/pictures on an SSD. Generally, you can get away with a 64 GB SSD as long as you don't install very much stuff and keep any/all of your games on a separate drive. A 128 GB one will let you install a good amount of software and 2-4 games.

In either case, you can keep any and all stuff on your regular HD, the main point is to put Windows on the SSD.

Also, if you get an SSD, make sure to get a good maker: Intel, Crucial, Samsung and stay away from OCZ.

i5-3470 is more or less the same as the i5-3570k if you don't plan to overclock. It can save you some money, but keep in mind that with a $30 cooler, you can squeeze about 25% more juice out of the 3570k (which either increases its effective lifespan till you have to buy a faster CPU, or gives you more power now).

[Erloas]

You have your power supply listed early in the thread, and while it isn't great, it is at least reasonably good.

At a $500 budget I find it hard to justify an SSD, but you might be reusing enough old parts to make it fit. If you do though I would probably go with 128GB as it gives you a reasonable amount of space and for the most part aren't that much more then a 64GB. And at that point you can reuse your current 500GB hard drive (also something you can easily upgrade or add later when you have more money).

The rest of the parts look pretty good and I don't have much to add to what has already been said.

The last part though is that depending what you want to do with this computer you really could use an upgrade on your video card. If you are going to be playing games the 9600GT is getting a bit old (especially if you're going to be running a multi-display setup). You can easily get a significantly more powerful graphics card for $80-120. Although it makes little difference if you aren't playing games and it is something that can be replaced at any time, unlike most of the rest of the parts you are getting which have to be upgraded now or would just be a pain to upgrade later (like the drive the OS is going to be on)

[Deathslayer7]

This computer is not for gaming, but I will be using a program to output my experimental results into visual profiles.

But thank you for the help. I think I'll pass on the SSD for now.

[Deathslayer7]

Question: My professor was asking me if it is worth it to get an i7 processor rather than an i5 processor.

The computer use will be mostly research and computing equations with some graphics program outputting the results. Most of the heavy load of the processing time is transferred to the supercomputer.

So the question is, is the i7 worth the price increase from the i5?

Right now it seems he likes this combo deal, but he is wondering about using an i7 processor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1291151

From what I saw, i7 are about $100 more expensive then i5's but seem to have the same processing. I know they are better but why exactly?

[Erloas]

I'm honestly not sure what the difference between the i7s and i5s are now. I know there used to be some fairly large differences when they first introduced the naming convention but I don't think that is the case any more.

The i7s will be faster, but its hard to say if it would be noticeable in that situation. If he were running computationally heaving multi-threaded calculations then it would probably be worth while, but if that is all being unloaded to a supercomputer and the PC is just being used to develop the equations then probably not.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Main difference is that i7's have 4 cores + hyperthreading. That is, if an application is written to take advantage of it, the same core can run two processes at the same time. This in essence makes it similar to an 8-core processor, but the big issue is whether an application can actually use 8 cores. Many programs, especially older ones, still use 2 cores at most.

Your math programs might just be multithreaded (this is one of the cases where more cores in parallel usually does equal better performance), but if you're going to use a supercomputer for any heavy lifting:



The i7s will be faster, but its hard to say if it would be noticeable in that situation. If he were running computationally heaving multi-threaded calculations then it would probably be worth while, but if that is all being unloaded to a supercomputer and the PC is just being used to develop the equations then probably not.

[Erloas]

Main difference is that i7's have 4 cores + hyperthreading.
That is what the difference used to be, but when I checked to make sure it said that the i5 had Hyperthreading as well, at least on the Ivy Bridge processors. It is possible that the i5 page I looked at on Newegg was wrong though, as when I check now the "overview" page is missing on quite a few of the i5s so maybe they pulled them down to fix that.

[Don Julio Anejo]

That is what the difference used to be, but when I checked to make sure it said that the i5 had Hyperthreading as well, at least on the Ivy Bridge processors. It is possible that the i5 page I looked at on Newegg was wrong though, as when I check now the "overview" page is missing on quite a few of the i5s so maybe they pulled them down to fix that.
Laptop i5's are usually 2 cores + hyperthreading (=4 logical processors), desktop ones are 4 cores. All i7's are 4 cores + hyperthreading.

[factotum]

All i7's are 4 cores + hyperthreading.

You mean, apart from the i7-6xxM series (2 cores) and the i7-970 and 9xxX Extreme Edition (6 cores)? Not to mention the i5-23xxT and 34xxT, both of which are desktop parts that have only 2 cores. This is the problem with Intel's current naming convention, there are no absolutes you can lock down on--you have to compare the specific CPU you're looking at!

[Don Julio Anejo]

You mean, apart from the i7-6xxM series (2 cores) and the i7-970 and 9xxX Extreme Edition (6 cores)? Not to mention the i5-23xxT and 34xxT, both of which are desktop parts that have only 2 cores. This is the problem with Intel's current naming convention, there are no absolutes you can lock down on--you have to compare the specific CPU you're looking at!
Sorry, should have mentioned "commonplace chips". Extreme edition are, well, extreme edition and start at like $600, so I didn't even think of them. T-series are special low-heat CPU's that can be passively cooled and are typically used in servers or home theatre PC's. I.e. places where you can't or don't want to attach a fan.

They are not CPU's that you'll normally find in your typical PC. For everything else, the i5 = 4 core, i7 = 4 core + HT distinction holds accurate.

[Deathslayer7]

Well apparently my professor is set on a i-7 processor. So can anyone recommend some good ones?

My maximum budget is $770 after tax and shipping. I absolutely cannot go above that.

So right now I have this as for sure:

We plan on re-using our NVIDIA GeForce 9660 GT graphics card as well as optical drive.

1 TB Black Hard Drive (http://www.frys.com/product/5643481?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)(SSD are out of my price range at the moment)

8 GB RAM (2x4GB) (http://www.frys.com/product/6552683?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)

Which leaves me about $580 for a motherboard and i-7 processor.

I was looking at these processors:

http://www.frys.com/product/7028331?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

http://www.frys.com/product/7028341?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

and probably still stick with the same motherboard as last time.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

edit: with a preference towards the K I think.

[Erloas]

Those look like good choices. It kind of seems like Fry's has the prices of the two processors switched... but whatever. Either is a good choice, I wouldn't pay more for the K version (as in most places it costs more) because unless you plan on overclocking the unlocked multiplier is meaningless.

It looks like the only thing you are missing now is the case and power supply. Case can be almost anything for the power supply I would look at a good quality 450-500W supply from a reliable manufacturer. Probably run about $50, chances are if you find a $20-30 supply it probably isn't worth using.

[Deathslayer7]

I currently have a cooler master 450W power supply. Bad efficiency but I don't have to pay for the power and plan on reusing the old case as it comes with two built in fans.

[Deathslayer7]

Just a quick question.

I have this old monitor in the lab but no power cable for it.

It requires a IEC Cable C6 (commonly referred to as Mickey Mouse Cable because of the three prongs)

I was hoping this would work for it?

I checked on the back and it goes up to 240 AC Volts and 1.5 Amps which this cable is rated up to 250AC Volts and 2.5 Amps.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=110-125&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

[Deathslayer7]

Once again I turn to the playground:

Justifications would be good. I went to Fry's nearby and they recommended I get the new motherboard chip, though the guy there couldn't justify why.

I saw the comment it is 5-15% better in performance but is that worth the cost?

Anyway, the guy recommended these two (note I don't plan on gaming) for a motherboard and processor. I believe the price on the processor was reduced in the store though I could be wrong (can't remember).

http://www.frys.com/product/7698127?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://www.frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&query_string=7680387&submit.x=-410&submit.y=-151&cat=0

versus my old set up of motherboard and processor:

http://www.frys.com/product/7154382?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://www.frys.com/product/7028331?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

cost wise it is $460 VS. $400 (which is still doable and within the budget)

plus the $100 1 TB Black Western Digital Hard Drive
plus the $70 8 GB memory RAM Corsair Vengance
Both are compatible with either motherboard

So I guess is the $60 more worth the price?

Proof would be best because I have to recommend one or the other to my professor.

[Erloas]

As for the power cable, they are pretty universal so as long as it is looks like the right one it probably is.

As for if the price difference is worth it... well I would first like to say I'm rather surprised Fry's is that much cheaper then Newegg. I think Newegg has gotten too well known to be cheap now, everyone goes there first so they don't need the lowest prices.

No one can really answer the question of is a small increase in price worth small increase in performance except for you because there is no right answer. A lot of it also comes down to how much that extra speed is being utilized, in something like a game it almost always works to your benefit but you may never notice. If you have a really intensive process that it cuts a couple minutes off of and you do that process several times a day it probably is, if it cuts 5 seconds off a process you do once a month it probably isn't. If your process takes 10 hours to run or 11 hours to run and you start it and come back the next day you'll never notice if it had been sitting idle for 6 hours or 5.

You could also cut some of the price difference down by using another motherboard, there are probably 2 dozen good motherboards out there for that processor that are cheaper then the particular one recommended by the people at Fry's. Just make sure it has the options you need (such as USB 3.0 or RAID or something else if you happen to need that) and any LGA 1150 motherboard will work with the new processor (the other processor is an LGA 1155)

[Grinner]

If you're not planning to do gaming, why are you getting 8 GB of RAM? You could easily cut that unnecessary cost in half, at least.

[Deathslayer7]

because RAM is cheap.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Keep 8 GB of RAM, if only "just in case." Some programs now easily use 3-4 by themselves. 8 allows you to disable paging file, in many cases significantly increasing responsiveness by keeping everything in your RAM. Don't buy the most expensive stuff, timings at CL10 or even CL11 are perfectly fine, and so is 1600 MHz.

Agreed on motherboards: Asus P8Z77-Lk is good, but it's got a lot of features you will likely not use that are there for gamers. It will, however, allow you to overclock a non-K CPU further than normal (i.e. I can run my i7-3770 at 4.6 GHz, 4.4 if I want to keep temps low, that's with 3.9 GHz max turbo*).

If you have no plans to overclock, go with a B77 chipset instead of a Z.

Do consider going Haswell - an i5-4670k can be had for ~ same money as an i5-3570k at Newegg. While not worth an upgrade from Ivy, it is worth it to buy the new generation. The cost is going to be virtually identical, maybe $10-20 on the CPU (5-7%) and the same on the motherboard. Heck, Sandy Bridge (2 generations old now) still costs the same.

[Deathslayer7]

What about initial problems with the motherboard? Would there be any?

[factotum]

Keep 8 GB of RAM, if only "just in case." Some programs now easily use 3-4 by themselves. 8 allows you to disable paging file, in many cases significantly increasing responsiveness by keeping everything in your RAM.

I don't think disabling the page file is a great idea. If you have sufficient RAM then Windows won't swap to the file anyway (we've come a LONG way since the pretty brain-dead swap file usage of Windows 95), and there are some Windows features which actually make use of the pagefile--memory mapped files being one of them. You may never run into an application that uses those things, but if you *do*, it simply won't work if you've disabled paging.

@Deathslayer7: Why would you expect problems with the motherboard? So long as you get a reputable brand (which MSI is) and the motherboard itself has been out for a few months so any teething problems have been sorted, you should be golden. (Provided you don't do what my boss once did, years ago, and short out the motherboard by installing the metal standoffs from the case in the wrong place :smallsmile:).

[Don Julio Anejo]

I don't think disabling the page file is a great idea. If you have sufficient RAM then Windows won't swap to the file anyway (we've come a LONG way since the pretty brain-dead swap file usage of Windows 95), and there are some Windows features which actually make use of the pagefile--memory mapped files being one of them. You may never run into an application that uses those things, but if you *do*, it simply won't work if you've disabled paging.
I've kept page file disabled on most of my systems with 4+ GB of RAM. Trust me, at 4 GB a memory-hungry application (Firefox with 20+ windows + tabs or Photoshop) might complain, at 8, I've never had a single issue and avoided a lot of lag from applications that keep stuff in PF just for its own sake (which severely degrades performance).

@Deathslayer7: Why would you expect problems with the motherboard? So long as you get a reputable brand (which MSI is)
Asus and Gigabyte are good brands too.

[factotum]

I've kept page file disabled on most of my systems with 4+ GB of RAM. Trust me, at 4 GB a memory-hungry application (Firefox with 20+ windows + tabs or Photoshop) might complain, at 8, I've never had a single issue and avoided a lot of lag from applications that keep stuff in PF just for its own sake (which severely degrades performance).

Asus and Gigabyte are good brands too.

6Gb of RAM here and never had a problem with pagefile swapping causing lag--maybe I just run different apps to you, who knows? I know about Asus and Gigabyte, but the motherboard Deathslayer7 linked to in his earlier post was an MSI one, which is why I specifically mentioned them in my comment.