About to overclock, 780i or 790i motherboard?

[englandr753]

I searched for a direct topic on this and found dozens of threads unrelated so if you know where a thread on my question I'm asking is please paste a link here.

Im about to overclock my gaming rig and have a question about the best hardware matchup for my setup.

I currently have the following hardware specs:

Q9550
EVGA 780i mobo
8gigs DDR2 1066 Corsair (found good deal on 2x2g extra)
Ultra TEC CPU Cooler
Corsair 1000watt PSU
8800GTX ACS3 SLI x3
Coolermaster CMStacker 830
Windows XP (had Vista 64, going to upgrade to Win 7)

How much of a OC limitation am I facing with a 1333fsb cpu and 1066 fsb ddr2 and mobo?

I found a great deal on tigerdirect for 159.99 for the 790i Ultra. I know I would need to purchase DDR3 which is fine. I can easily sell my old mobo and ram to recover the bulk of this cost to upgrade so cost is no issue.

I do understand that EVGA doesnt appear to have windows 7 driver support on thier website yet. I may call their CS to ask about this proir to making the final decsion. I would anticipate they would release a driver for this since this mobo is still on their active product list but you never know. I dont want to "ass-u-me" anything.

Im no overclocker, just an enthusiast that likes the latest upgrades that makes sense cost/benefit wise.

So I'm asking those of you that have done this or know something about it to give your 2 cents.

Thanks...

 

[englandr753]

^^Bump^^

 

[englandr753]

No input from anyone?

 

[englandr753]

I'm amazed its been two days already and no replys at all. Wheres everyone?

Usually someone posts within the day at least, oh well. I think I've decided to stay with the 780i mobo until I see a reason otherwise based on the complaints of the 790i freezing up all the time. I got this info from the EVGA forum.

 

[flasher4q]

I for one have a 790 ultra now...and have had a 780i before this......it took a little bit of work to get a good OCing going but higher than the 780 would do....I was thinking of going to i-7 but money is tight.....and my system is good and stable.....what more could you ask for.....just my opinion.....
_____________________________________________________________________
Evga 790 Ultra SLI (P08) | Q9450 @ 3.72 GHZ. |Zalman CNPS 9700
4Gig Patriot G2000LLKN | X-FI Gamer | XFX 260 GTX Black Edition
1-WD VELOCIRAPTOR 300 Gig | 1-Maxtor 300 Gig | 1-WD 500 Gig ||
Running Raid
Enermax 850 DXX | 2-DVD Burners
OS: XP Pro 32 Bit / Win 7 Build 7229 64 Bit

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=588316

 

[englandr753]

Yeah I was thinking of only going to the 790i due to low cost upgrades. I7 is too much money for a marginal increase in performance.

I want to make my Q9550 work a while and give it a break later when the next gen chips come out and maybe then I can get a 25-35% performance increase to warrant redoing the entire system.