I'm going insane - Which Motherboard?

[yabyab]

I'm really going insane, I cant decide.

I want a motherboard that will last for a long time. I don't care about the price, I want a quality motherboard. I want it to support the new technology like 2.0 PCI-E and maybe SLI. Is the FDI nForce 680i good? (I know it doesn't support 2.0, which is a turn off for me).

What are my options? I want a "quality" motherboard. Is GIGABYTE good? robust? last for a long time?

I don't want to Over Clock.

Is Intel Motherboards good?

Which is better, Asus or Intel or Gigabyte of all the p35chip. Should I consider the X38?

I'm going insane, I don't know what to get.

 

[goodie]

you really need to ask yourself
"do i need SLI?"
if so your going to have to get a 680i or 780i
compatability with penryn still seems a bit sketchy!
i've just bought X38 Maximus Formula, Best board i've ever had!!

 

[Strid]

If you're not going to OC, basically any board will do ... Gigabyte or ASUS are the most popular brands - can't go wrong with those! I'm on my ASUS board number God knows how many? Anyways .. Do you need SLI? What are you going to do with you're computer eg what apps and/or games?

 

[yabyab]

I don't want to SLI now, but maybe I will need to SLI later but I"ve heard that it's just better to buy the next generation VGA than to SLI to keep up with the requirements. I want to build a Game machine. I want my motherboard to stay for a long time. My current Motherboard has no PCI-E and it has a x4 AGP I really felt crippled for not aiming for these features when I bought my motherboard. If I've bought a more expensive mobo back then, I wouldn't have crippled myself. With a PCI-E slot I could have got a decent VGA. So, I don't want to repeat my mistake again. My current motherboard is Asus, this brand really last for a long time. But I'm not sure about Asus new motherboards if they are still good.

I'm planning to get a
1. E6750(2.66 core 2 duo)
2. 2 x2GB Ram 800mhz
3. nVidia 8800 GT 512
4. Xfi Xtreme Gamer sound card
5. 500GB HDD 7200rpm SATA WD
6. SATA DVD writer Samsung
7. 22' LG Flatron wide


I just don't know which motherboard to go

 

[Silverion77]

Suggestion.......why don't you get a X38 motherboard and a HD3870?
Later you can Crossfire them which gives nearly the same results of SLI'd GT's

It's just a suggestion so by all means you do not need to follow it

 

[random1283]

try getting getting a ASUS x38 mobo and grab a ATI 3870 then if you want to later on cross/x fire another 3870 when you have the money. Better than two 8800GT's in SLI and cheaper.

 

[zenmaster]

You can't get a Motherboard that will last for a long time and remain current.

I hate to break the news to you.

#1) Intel will be releasing a new chip 1yr from now that will require a new socket which means a new mobo.

#2) DDR3 will be the "In" thing by this time next year, but is not priced reasonably for any recommended build today.

You can toss money at a system to try and make it future proof, but in reality that does not help you. Buy a good system today. In the future, sell that system and buy a new system with the money you saved by not going crazy today.

You could by a DS3L board from Gigabyte for $80-$90 which will work for most folks. You could spend $300 on a great board.

Pocket $200 and save for later.

The same goes for the CPU.

The E2160 will do great for most current games when OC'd and can be had for $80. You could spend $280 on the Q6600 to future proof. However when this time next year comes round, the Q6600 will look old.

You just banked another $200.

You could get DDR3 today instead of DDR2, but that is another $200+ down the drain.

Instead take that $600, Bank it, build a good system today and sell this system for still good money in 1yr. Build a new system with the funds from the sale and $600. You know have a system that is good today and you will have a good system in the future.

No matter how much you spend today, you will not be able to upgrade it easily in the future for tomorrows technology.

 

[yabyab]

Well, if my system can run games for not less than 30fps then I will be happy. I'm not power hungry, my system that I have now is 4 years old. But I've spent the last 2 years feeling crippled. If I've invested in a PCI-E motherboard back then, which was available, I would have played vanguard a long time ago by upgrading to the new PCI-E GPUs and get a 30+ fps (what I get now is 20fps max with sound disabled).

How good is a HD3870? equal to the 8800GT 512 G92?

Asus x38 sounds like a good choice. What do you think of DFI?

 

[rockyjohn]

I basically agree with ZenMaster. As he and others have said, the technology is always improving and something better is always just around the corner. However, I think this is a particularly bad time to plan a long term move up if you expect it to be reasonably current for three years. PCIe 2 is just out, but the graphics cards have not caught up. DDR3 is recently out but expensive and the timings are high. X38 mobos to support those technologies are out - but very expensive. 45mm CPUs are about to come out, but the new Nahelem chips - a year or more away - should be the ones with the major architecture upgrades.

The good news, however, is that you should be able to purchase modest priced system now that will greatly exceed your needs of "not less than 30fps" Just get a P35 mobo, 2 GB or DDR2 RAM, a good mid range CPU, 8800GT 512MB GPU, and you are in business. You could put such a system together for around $800 - $1,000 - including OS.

Then in about 18 months, upgrade with a new X38 or X48 mobo, Nahelm CPU, and DDR3 RAM - and it should be good for another two or three years - with a graphics card upgrade sometime along the way.

You might also find that with your modest requirements the first machine lasts a little longer than 18 months and still gives you good game play.

But I think you will be unhappy if you spend a lot of money trying to purchase a system today that lasts for three or four years. The technology just changes too fast and right now a lot is changing or about to change.

 

[apache_lives]

I'm really going insane, I cant decide.

I want a motherboard that will last for a long time. I don't care about the price, I want a quality motherboard. I want it to support the new technology like 2.0 PCI-E and maybe SLI. Is the FDI nForce 680i good? (I know it doesn't support 2.0, which is a turn off for me).

What are my options? I want a "quality" motherboard. Is GIGABYTE good? robust? last for a long time?

I don't want to Over Clock.

Is Intel Motherboards good?

Which is better, Asus or Intel or Gigabyte of all the p35chip. Should I consider the X38?

I'm going insane, I don't know what to get.

ASUS P5K-se or Gigabyte P35-S3 - reliable, fast and decent.

 

[DrMaV]

Any P35 or X38 chipset will be great, from either Gigabyte or Asus.

I like the Maximus ... I had the 8800gt installed, and it played all games perfectly maxed at 12x10, even Crysis, with Q6600 at 3.0.

I tried HD3870s in crossfire, and they played really well ... actually, they were overkill at 12x10 ... so I gave one away to a friend for Christmas.

😉

 

[Raviolissimo]

life is too short for computer hassles.

the Intel 975 XBX2 is a good mother board,
also made it onto Wusy's OC'ing guide.
i have one with an E6850 running Vista.