Motherboard Help!!! =(

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guannyeuc

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I currently have the Asus P5QL Motherboard but I want to go Crossfire in a few months... I've been suggested, on another thread, to get the P5Q Pro Turbo, which isn't that bad of a price! But I have a few questions before I make any final decisions:

1. If a motherboard says SLI or Crossfire ready, does that mean they are LIMITED to SLI or Crossfire ONLY? or do they support both SLI AND Crossfire?

2. When having a really good Motherboard, what are some of the biggest differences that you'll notice? When do you see a change in performance? (Please, nothing about overclocking... I don't OC )

3. Will upgrading from P5QL to a P5Q Pro Turbo have much of a difference? (Other than the fact that P5QL has no Crossfire and P5Q Pro Turbo does...)


Here's what I have right now:
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout w/ CM R4~~ 120mm Fan & Silver Apollish
Motherboard: Asus P5QL
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600
RAM: OCZ 4GB DDR2 PC6400-800MHz 5-4-4-15
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital 320GB SATA
Hard Drive 2: Seagate 1TB SATA
Video Card: XFX HD4870 1GB
Power Supply: Corsair 650HX Modular

Thanks for your help guys!
 
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aford10

aford10

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1. It depends on the motherboard. Some support both.

2. The higher end motherboards will have more OC features, more PICe x16 slots, more SATA ports, SATA 3GB, USB 3GB...etc. The cost difference is usually in the features.

3. The main difference is the crossfire support. That's a big cost to pay for that feature. If you were going to put that much $$ into a new motherboard, it may be a good idea to upgrade to a new socket and DDR3 RAM.
 
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guannyeuc

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Well Thanks to you both first of all... GREAT HELP!!! and good suggestions...

but umm... first of all, cause i don't want to spend so much money on a new CPU... i-series are all around $200... and i don't plan on downgrading to dual-core... i like the sound of quad... haha

Also, as for the 58xx cards... i am definitely thinking of it... but only thing is that i recently (about 1 month and a half ago) just got my XFX 4870 (for a great price of $145 after MIR) but i just realized... i can't even crossfire the two together... =( so i don't think i will be moving on with any new plans... i think my next step would indeed be the i-series CPU or if im desperate for a new CPU soon, then a quad-extreme since the prices are coming down REAL low... $1300 CPU's selling for $500... still expensive but just saying... that's a big price drop... thank god for new technology ^_^ but i think i'll sit for a while till i-series decrease in price... and the 4870 is pretty sufficient at the moment...
 
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guannyeuc

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btw... one more help! o_O sorry...

i just realized that my P5QL is a P43 chipset... is there a big difference between the P43 and the P45? how about performance-wise? will i see a change in speed anywhere? whether games or just normal application loading? any? any?

please let me know!
THANKS!
 
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guannyeuc

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oooh... i see i see!!! so not much difference! just slightly less OC ability, no crossfire and no virtualization support... which i don't even know what that last one means... =/ virtualization support? >.< but im guessing it's not worth replacing my P5QL for...

THANKS AGAIN AFORD10!!!
 
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capt_taco

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That's not a bad idea at all. Your system is by no means out-of-date yet, and there's some overclocking room with that CPU if you need it as a free upgrade.
 
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guannyeuc

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you think it's a good idea? i've been thinking about it for a while... but where would i see the difference in speed? :/

cause... also... i usually don't overclock other than my vid card cause i just got it and it's still under warranty... so im not afraid to kill it... o_O haha but as for my CPU... it's sort of old... i got it like RIGHT when quad came out... it's at least 2-3 years old now so... im afraid it'll die on me after i overclock it... or am i just worrying too much? =S is it really worth overclocking at this time and risk it dying? i know Q6600 is a great CPU to overclock... so like i said... if it's going to be a risk... i rather wait till i-series start getting cheaper... and then probably start overclocking then XP nothing to lose cause i'll be getting a new one by that time anyways! =D
 
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aford10

aford10

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You could probably bump up the FSB and multiplier a little without any danger. The problem becomes your CPU cooling. OC'ng increases CPU heat. Without good cooling, you can overheat your CPU.

If you're thinking up upgrading, start saving up some $$. IMO, the best thing to do, is do it right the first time. You don't want to upgrade to an outdated socket now. It's not going to be a very good long term solution. Save up until you have ~$550 - $600 for a guts overhaul, or $900+ for a serious overhaul. That's just my opinion though.
 
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capt_taco

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Honestly, if your performance isn't so slow it bothers you now, there's no need to overclock your CPU, just know that option is there if you need it.

But in the meantime, I agree, upgrading any single component on that system is going to be far less effective than doing them together. So I'd wait until you can go to a full upgrade, and in the meantime, your current setup might not be anything to write home about, but it's still more than acceptable.
 
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guannyeuc

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Why $900? o_O when will i need to use up to that much speed? =/ $900... what does that include? New mobo~$150... i-series CPU~$220... DDR3 RAM~$125... and im guessing a vid card? =/ the vid card must be included in that $900 right? =.=""" and if so... then that's going to be like... 58X0 level right? o_O

hmmm... sounds nice... right now... the only thing i feel... and only started recently (past 2 days) that's too slow on my system is my vid card... cause it's only till recently that i started to play COD4 Modern Warfare 2! >.< sigh... just got the vid card within the last 2 months too >.< dang.... oh well... c'est la vie! >=I oh well... works pretty darn good with all the other games like grid and dirt2 maxed out... as well as modern warfare 1 =) ^_^ and i JUST finished modern warfare 1 so... im already sort of getting tired of number 2 =/ after only playing one day... it's all the same... impossible missions where you kill 200 ppl without dying cause you recover every 10 seconds =.= anyways... im not hating on COD for the graphics are SICK on the new one and so are the guns... but it's just getting dull after just finishing the previous one =/ just my opinion...
 
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aford10

aford10

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With ~$900, you can get an i5 or phenom ii x4 system. The i7 920 would be getting a little tight around that price. If you keep your monitor, mouse, keyboard, optical drives, and have a legal OS, you could get a decent i7 system for the $900 range. Yes, that price range would include a 5770/5850, something like that.

I'm a little surprised your 4870 is having that much trouble. Is that on the highest settings? Try turning them down a little.
 
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guannyeuc

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really??? so you're saying my 4870 should run smoothly for COD MW2? =O well i don't like turning graphics down... especially once they're up already >.< no i mean like.. it's not lagging... but it's not as smooth as the first modern warfare... i see a difference if that makes more sense? =/ and i actually UNDERclocked it... >.< cause for some reason... when playing dirt 2... im not sure why... but ONLY for dirt 2... when im racing... half way through the race my system just crashes... and ever since i UNDERclocked it... it hasn't happened =/ WEIRDDD that but it wasn't every race that it would crash... just once in a while... but still... now it's 100% fine... and i don't see much difference in performance after underclocking by 50MHz... so now it's running at 700MHz which is pretty ok... but i might overclock it again everytime i start to play MW2... XP

what's a safe number for both the memory speed and gpu speed for overclocking a 4870? :S
 
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hosereh

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COD4 MW2 runs fine on my system with a nvidia 8800 gt and a q6600 quad core with 4 gbs of ram ,same with Dirt 2 and i have a lesser video card.So I'm thinkin you got a few issues

1.Your card is overheating and throttling ,causing game crashes and slow downs.Download and install a GPU temp program , either Speedfan or GPUID and i believe Ati catalyst will have the temp displayed.

2.You have a driver issue either a old driver or a corrupt driver , wipe out the driver and do a clean install of the recent up to date drivers.

3.Your PSU is not providing enuff juice to power your Video card causing issues.TBH i dont think this is the issue but its worth rulling out , if you got a bud that can let you use his PSU for a few hours swap out yours for his and test to see if yer Video card screws up.

4.Your Hard drive that you have the game installed is slowly dieing...sounds odd but it has happened to me.My old 160 gb drive was slowly dieing while i was running CoD4 MW and Driver it slowed my games down to a crawl and it sometimes crashed.

other then that i'm not sure , but like others said OC the cpu if you can keep it cool , and save yer cash for a whole system upgrade.
 
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RetiredChief

RetiredChief

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Fair to good "New"
$440 -> $525 (Subtract $20 if you live close to a micro center.)
I-750 $200 (180 @ uCenter Bought mine for $150)
MB $120 - 185 (185 = Gigabyte P55A-4UD4P)
Memory 4 Gigs $90 - $!40 (140 = G-skill ripjaw 1.6V 7-7-7-24)
Optional, but recommend, aftermarket HSF for approx 30-40 bucks

Reuse all of your other components

No biggy on no Virtualization - runs a 4 core cpu as if there were 8 cores.
 
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guannyeuc

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wow thanks for the help guys... and i think i exaggerated on the my lagging issues for COD MW2... =/ it's not that bad... it was only on one scene where a car was driving through a huge dust cloud created by an explosion... i think it's just that something was running at that particular moment or wtv so it sort of lagged... probably wasn't even vid card problem... cause later on... you have to throw smoke grenades and run passed it... no lag there =) so it's all good!

as for the crashing... seriously... donno why but when i UNDERclocked my card to 700MHz, it's like perfect now... and i don't really see a performance change! =) just 50MHz... meh... also, I'm using GPU-Z right now to keep track of my temps... my 4870 is running at a max of 75C and load of maximum of 96% when playing MW2... i believe playing dirt2 actually gets me up to 98% and 78C for temperature =/ is this bad? i mean... i think the temp is good but what's worrying me is how hard my GPU is working =O close to 100%!!! o_O will it die really fast? lol! was underclocking a stupid idea? please helpp ^_^ THANKS!

and virtualization sounds cool =) ... hehe easy to do? what are the risks? really don't want to kill my CPU at the moment! XP haha not ready to get a new one yet =/
 
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guannyeuc

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oh ya... i used to use that... well what's a good fps to have? i remember i used to run on avg 45fps on games like Grid... it seemed pretty smooth already... =/ i guess i'll reinstall fraps... and see how my performance is now =)
 
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