Are motherboards cheap?

Question

Ok i know nothink about motherboards so first off buying a new one are they cheap? (only buying one so i can have a pci-e video card)

2) What do motherboard cards do? apart from have video card slots do they have memory or somethink else?

I dont want to build a computer i want to upgrade it. The first reply helped 2nd and 3rd gave me high prices so i didnt understand lool

Answer 1

$70-10,000 regular PC board about $120 for a decent one
unless you get the same board as you had you should get a match processor, which will run about $70 more if bought together.
Mother boards are the body structure of the computer You are limitted to what your mother board is designed to do.
Any new boards you'll find have memory slots for card strips. one two four strip slots are on your basic boards, the more slot the more RAM (random access memory) you can add. You can get your memory with your board too.
some have built in video/sound cards, which are ussually less quality than add on hardware.

Answer 2

Cheap is a relative term.

Compared to the price 20 years ago, they are at give away prices with performance unheard of years ago.

Seriously, upgrading your motherboard will prove expensive because:

1, your old memory may not be suitable, so you buy some new memory

2, You will need a processor that matches the motherboard - you old one probably won't fit.

3, Your power supply may need changing - the sockets and number of different voltages has changed over the years as has the power requirements of the baords.

4, The new board may not fit your case - the shape and size has changed. So you may need a new case.

5, You old operating system may not support many features of the new board or the drivers for the new board may not suit you old operating system.

6, You will probably want a bigger hard drive anyway.

My advise - if you think you need something bigger, faster, better, just go out an buy a new PC - they are very cheap, compared to the price of the bits.

Answer 3

They are not cheap. If you think of the processor, the memory and other cards as being citizens, then the motherboard is the city, basically. The only real features they offer is FSB speed (which is crucial to PC performance, perhaps more so than CPU speed), video card slot available, additional USB ports, memory frequency speed, motherboard chipset and processor slot type.

Answer 4

I have exactly what you are looking for:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/19/the-300-pc/

a step by step guide to building aq $300 computer

And this, a three-part guide to building your own computer:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/20/how_to_build_part_1/


the mobo is cheap relative to all the other stuff. (maybe 50-200 bucks) it contains no memory or cpu (sometimes it is bundled with a cpu, but you have to install it) it may or may not have embedded video, and usually has embedded audio.

here is a great place to buy motherboards, and I have selected a search for AMD compatible mobo with PCI-e x16 slots for your VDO card. They start at $50:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Order=PRICE&Page=1&Category=20&N=2010200022+1073416878+1125627400&Submit=ENE&Nty=1&Subcategory=22

Think of it as the thing everything else plugs INTO.

Answer 5

motherboards range from £25 to £200 depending on what type you want
a decent pci-expres board can cost around £40 but why not go for a motherboard bundle,you can get a amd based motherboard with a amd athlon64 3500 processor and heatsink for £88 inc v.a.t(http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=268473&CatId=2445)
this includes a pci-express slot which you need and 2xpci bus slots for expansion
on this board there is also onboard audio and onboard video so you can do without a graphic card initially until you can afford a decent one
memory comes in the form of 2xddr2 memory banks(slots) upgradable to a max of 2gb ddr2 ram
you get the heatsink with this board,this is easily applied to the processor using some thermal compound and lighly applying it to the processor and then securing the heatsink to the clips on the motherboard
finally all you need then is a case(around £30...http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=237926&Sku=110120),this includes the power supply which saves you a few quid,then the hard drive,at least 120gb(http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=253042&CatId=0)£30,then at least 512mb of memory(£35 finally you will need a dvd-rw drive which are quite inexpensive(http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=259480&CatId=1346)
as you can see by buying components seperate you can save alot of money and also have loads of fun building the p.c aswell
any probs when you finally build the p.c let me know
good luck

Answer 6

Heck yea they are expensive. Probably the most expensive component in your pc. Motherboards are "like" the brains of the computer. They just have slots for things like your cpu, ram, keyboard, mouse, etc.