I'm gonna build a new rig so I've narrowed my choices down to the Maximus Formula and the Striker II Formula.
I also have a few questions about them.
1) I have a PCIe 4x HighPoint RocketRaid 2320 Sata Raid card. My current A8N32-SLi Deluxe has a 4x PCIe port, but I've put the Raid card in the 2nd 16x port because of space restrictions. Neither of the above boards have a 4x port anyway.
My current motherboard is able to detect the Raid card as a bootable device and I'm running Windows off this. It also shows the Raid card's BIOS configuration menu on boot.
Its absolutely vital that I will be able to boot from the Raid card. I refuse to run a computer without ALL its data+OS on a Raid 5 array, as I've had enough painful experiences with single drives (and Raid 0 😗 ). How do I know for sure if any of these two boards will support my Raid card as a bootable device?
The Striker II being nForce, has a much higher probability of booting from my Raid card from the 16x port since it works fine with my current nForce board.
Has anyone successfully booted from a HighPoint Raid card on an Asus X38 board?
2) I've read a lot of complaints about Striker II (and I) boards that stop working. This is pushing me towards the Maximus because getting a board replaced in India takes many months, especially high end boards like these because no one buys them and there is no stock anywhere to get a replacement. Over here most people's whole computers cost less than one of these boards.
3) I'm planning to hold out on a graphics card until the 9900 comes out. The Striker doesn't have onboard graphics so I'll have to use my 7800GTX 512. I don't know whether I'll get SLi cheaper 9900s or a single high end 9900. I'll have to wait and see the 9900 benchmarks.
Hence having three PCIe 16x slots on the Striker is preferrable in case I get SLi. One for the Raid card, and two for the 9900s.
If I get the Maximus, I'm stuck with only one graphics card and the Raid card. Anyway its a CrossFire board so it doesn't matter.
4) I'm not going to overclock my PC because the room temperature here is 40 degrees Celsius, and all my previous attempts at overclocking (knowledgeably) have resulted in me going back to stock speeds.
I *might* overclock the new CPU since its a Core 2 and it should be a piece of cake to run it stably with a relatively "small" overclock. But I presume that the Striker will be able to handle a modest overclock of 500MHz, even though it doesnt support 1600FSB like the Maximus.
So considering that I *might* need SLi, my Raid card *has* to boot (known to work on nForce), rumors exist about dying Strikers, and I might be doing some small time overclocking, I'm tending to get the Striker.
Is there anything else I should know about which would make the Maximus preferable?
I also have a few questions about them.
1) I have a PCIe 4x HighPoint RocketRaid 2320 Sata Raid card. My current A8N32-SLi Deluxe has a 4x PCIe port, but I've put the Raid card in the 2nd 16x port because of space restrictions. Neither of the above boards have a 4x port anyway.
My current motherboard is able to detect the Raid card as a bootable device and I'm running Windows off this. It also shows the Raid card's BIOS configuration menu on boot.
Its absolutely vital that I will be able to boot from the Raid card. I refuse to run a computer without ALL its data+OS on a Raid 5 array, as I've had enough painful experiences with single drives (and Raid 0 😗 ). How do I know for sure if any of these two boards will support my Raid card as a bootable device?
The Striker II being nForce, has a much higher probability of booting from my Raid card from the 16x port since it works fine with my current nForce board.
Has anyone successfully booted from a HighPoint Raid card on an Asus X38 board?
2) I've read a lot of complaints about Striker II (and I) boards that stop working. This is pushing me towards the Maximus because getting a board replaced in India takes many months, especially high end boards like these because no one buys them and there is no stock anywhere to get a replacement. Over here most people's whole computers cost less than one of these boards.
3) I'm planning to hold out on a graphics card until the 9900 comes out. The Striker doesn't have onboard graphics so I'll have to use my 7800GTX 512. I don't know whether I'll get SLi cheaper 9900s or a single high end 9900. I'll have to wait and see the 9900 benchmarks.
Hence having three PCIe 16x slots on the Striker is preferrable in case I get SLi. One for the Raid card, and two for the 9900s.
If I get the Maximus, I'm stuck with only one graphics card and the Raid card. Anyway its a CrossFire board so it doesn't matter.
4) I'm not going to overclock my PC because the room temperature here is 40 degrees Celsius, and all my previous attempts at overclocking (knowledgeably) have resulted in me going back to stock speeds.
I *might* overclock the new CPU since its a Core 2 and it should be a piece of cake to run it stably with a relatively "small" overclock. But I presume that the Striker will be able to handle a modest overclock of 500MHz, even though it doesnt support 1600FSB like the Maximus.
So considering that I *might* need SLi, my Raid card *has* to boot (known to work on nForce), rumors exist about dying Strikers, and I might be doing some small time overclocking, I'm tending to get the Striker.
Is there anything else I should know about which would make the Maximus preferable?