A Simple Buyer's Guide For Intel Motherboards

When it comes to getting a computer motherboard, there are basically two choices: an Intel-compatible motherboard, or an AMD-compatible model. We will cover Intel motherboards here.

Whether you already have the additional components, or plan on buying them, the major factor when choosing between Intel motherboards is making sure it's all compatible. With that in mind, here's a breakdown of things that will affect compatibility.

The form factor of the Intel motherboards varies, depending on the case you will put it in. Most common is "ATX," which covers the majority of desktop computers. There's also Micro ATX, Mini ITX, and other form factors, or sizes.

If this seems confusing, don't worry: all you have to do is make sure the case you are putting the motherboard into accepts the motherboard size. As long as it does, you are all set.

Our next focus when choosing between Intel motherboards is CPU support. If you don't have a CPU, or processor already, this is pretty easy: just buy the CPU your motherboard supports. You should do some research on the cost and speed of Intel CPUs that are available, so that when you choose your motherboard, you know what CPU you are "aiming for."

Now, how to tackle memory support? This one should answer itself; the motherboard you choose supports a certain type, and speed of memory. Buy as much as you can of this type of memory, and that's that. Look carefully at the Web site you are buying from, or the box that all Intel motherboards come in, to get your answer.

Now we've come to storage, and we'll talk about internal storage first. When it comes to hooking up DVD drives, and hard drives, SATA has pretty much established itself as the new standard. The old standard was called ATA (notice the missing letter?)

If you have older drives you want to use, your board should probably support both ATA and SATA. If you haven't got to worry about older drives, make sure that the board supports SATA, and that you buy SATA drives.

PCI slots are next on our checklist. The more, the merrier here; more slots means you can add more cards, for video, sound, and many other things. You will also want PCI Express slots, to support faster things such as video cards. Of course, the video card in that case will need to fit a PCI Express slot.

The power supply connector on Intel motherboards can vary, so make sure the board you purchase, and the power supply match. If not, then they aren't compatible.

The last thing to check: the other features Intel motherboards support. Does it have Built-in sound?  Is it Ethernet/LAN? How many USB, and IEEE 1394 ports? Built-in video is the bare minimum; you would probably be better off buying nearly any add-on video card. If you aren't sure about the other features, more is generally better.

There you have it; just follow this guide carefully, double check your work, and you will have a painless experience with your Intel motherboard. It's not as hard as it might seem.

Matthew Kerridge is a computer hardware engineer. For more information about Intel motherboards, please visit http://www.ebuyer.com/

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Choosing The Right Motherboard - A Buyers Guide

When it comes to choosing the right Motherboard, you may want to start out by finding out exactly what a Motherboard is and what it is for. A motherboard is the main part of your computer, if you have ever opened up your tower or brain, as I like to call it. The motherboard is the large circuit board attached to the case. The motherboard is the brain that helps your hard drive to tell the computer what to do. All of the main components of your computer are attached to the motherboard. It can also be considered the highway that transfers information from one part of your PC to another. The motherboard is also where the BIOS system is; you know that black screen that shows up when you turn your PC on.

Now that we have an idea of how important the motherboard is. We can go onto how to choose the right one. When you go to pick out the motherboard, make sure you choose one that is compatible with the hardware you already own, such as your hard drive, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive, processor, audio video cards, or any other external or internal ports. With all of the things I just mentioned and the others to come, I would recommend writing down your computers specifications.

Remember the two most important parts in any computer is the Processor and Motherboard. Some recommend buying your processor first, I personally shop for the motherboard first. One main reason is that processors can be bought at a variety of places while the motherboard depending on manufacturer cannot. So once you know what features you need or want on your PC, you can begin looking at the Motherboards. You want to be sure your motherboard has one of the following socket sizes for the processor, as these are the newest and most common. The socket sizes are 754, 775, 939, and 940.

Another bit of advice is reading the manual for the motherboards you are looking at. Many manufacturers have downloadable manuals online. Another tip is to check the power supply, having the wrong type can seriously cause major damage. Make sure the memory modules you are planning to use have the right pin number; the pin is the part of the module that attaches it to the motherboard. Some computers built before 2000 use SDRAM, however newer ones use DDR or even DDRII. This is not interchangeable and I would recommend that you upgrade to a newer motherboard, as the older memory will not run as fast. Also remember that your memory may not be able to handle the motherboard and processor upgrade, so you need to consider that when upgrading.

Another factor to consider is your graphics card; this will determine what programs and games you can use. Many newer games now require a minimum 128 MB or more. The hard disks on your computer are the Hard Drive, Floppy or Zip Drives, and CD or DVD ROMs.

Now that you have the basics on choosing your next or first motherboard, you might want to check out some of these top manufacturers, MSI, FOXCONN and ASROCK.

Harry Love writes on behalf of Spire Technology http://www.spire.co.uk/ and specialises in I.T and A.V equipment, with his experience in cutting edge technology and up to the minute product knowledge he prides himself at being at the forefront of the technology industry.

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Media Planners and Buyers Unite!

Media planning used to be a job managed by various other titles in media and advertising agencies. Over the years, however, advertising and media use has become more complicated and media planning has become a specialist position in its own right. Media buyers in small agencies may be expected to manage everything from rate cards and advertising contract negotiations to selecting media formats and providing important market information. Larger agencies, on the other hand, are able to use media planners to find the best media platforms for businesses to achieve their advertising and media objectives, as well as keep up-to-date with market trends and developments.

In this new separation of tasks, media buyers can be distinguished from media planners by their reliance on pricing information (rate cards) and contractual terms, while planners are in the business of developing media strategies that exploit suitable formats. There is some overlap in that both need information on target audiences to get the maximum exposure for their clients.

According to Entrepreneur.com, media plans are comprised of three components:

• Defining the marketing problem.

• Translating the marketing requirements into realistic media objectives.

• Developing suitable media strategies.

A (very) comprehensive article on Admedia.org says that media planning is comprised of four components:

• Setting media objectives that support and are in line with marketing and advertising objectives.

• Developing a media strategy to meet those objectives.

• Creating a step-by-step process to implement the strategy.

• Develop evaluation methods to determine the effectiveness of the plan.

Media buyers are concerned primarily with advertising costs. They look at things like rate cards to determine how to get the most affordable deals for their clients based on the structure provided by planners.

The most effective advertising solutions are determined when media buyers and planners work together to develop strategies that take into account location, timing and media formats and balance them with costs and budgets. Together they can weigh the efficacy of different media formats, devise strategies that include an appropriate mix of said formats and determine how best to allocate the budget. For example, it may be best for a relatively small business to spend 50% of its advertising budget on local newspapers, 20% on local radio, 15% online and the other 15% on direct marketing.

Larger companies, especially those that are national, may do better to spend 40% of their budget on TV, 20% online, 15% on radio, 15% on print and 10% on direct marketing.

Basing advertising decisions purely on demographics and rate cards is a thing of the past. Now developing and implementing well thought out advertising and media campaigns is almost a science (albeit a not entirely accurate one) with more variables and factors to consider than one would think.

We write about media buying and planning for the leading resource for media, marketing and advertising professionals in South Africa, SARAD.

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