Trouble w/ mobo selection for SLI and AMD P2

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J

jackslap

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I'm shopping around for new CPU, RAM, Mobo. I have 2 Seagate HDD's to RAID and an EVGA GTX 260.

I was going to go with the Phenom 2 940 and a good manufacturer board, but I'm struggling to find many offerings to go with SLI. I don't have two Vid cards now, but might in the future. It seems that all the AMD stuff is only crossfire compatible.

Is my mobo selection limited because I chose Nvidia over ATI?

I found this one and it seems decent, but I've never used any AsRock products before. I've always stuck to names that I know (ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte). It has good reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157134

I will be running Win XP 32 bit for now (because its what I have), but may swtich to Vista or just wait for Windows 7 (unsure of what thats all about). I've been reading about Linux, sounds great except for it struggles w/ games which is what I may do with this machine.

It would look something like this for now:

AMD P2 940
(insert good SLI AM2+ mobo here)
4GB Dominator RAM
2x640 GB seagate HDD striped
1 340GB seagate HDD backup
EVGA GTX 260 896MB

Should I just scrap the AMD choice and go over to Intel Q chips for better SLI choices? Not interested in i7 stuff. Too rich for my blood. Thanks everyone.
 
IH8U

IH8U

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Look for an ASUS M4N72-E (nForce 750a) $135. Also replace the RAM soon (I've had some issues with Corsair RAM recently). Or the Crosshair II Formula (780a SLI) $250, the M3N-HT Deluxe (780a SLI) $180. These are all on http://www.newegg.com/
All these boards are AM3 compatible, AFTER a BIOS flash.
 
J

jackslap

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I read some reviews about that ASUS board you mentioned and some users said stuff about "The 4th core is unstable" or "4th core can be unlocked". WTF does that mean? Sounds like maybe a headache. I might just go with the Intel Q9400 and this board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232

Looks like that setup will do what I want. That combo is a bit cheaper than the AMD setup I had chosen, but was the AMD thing more future proof? I know that these Intel Q chips are not compatible with the i7 stuff, but the AM2+/AM3 compatiblity thing is attractive.

I'm not a fanboy of either brand, I just want value for my cash (of which I'm not putting up a ton right now). Not looking to spend more than 400 for a chip and board.
 
gkay09

gkay09

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Well for the SLI board, +1 for the ASUS M4N72-E (nForce 750a) $135...
Even the mobo you have chosen looks gud...
Actually even if you switch to intel also, you will get the same options for the SLI...

But generally these SLI chipsets tend to have more problems...The perfect chipset for SLI is x58 right now...But as you said you are not willing to spend that much...
 
Why_Me

Why_Me

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Those Nvidea chipset boards are a buggy nightmare. This mobo is set up for SLI and Crossfire. Intel ftw :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128386 $209.99
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=I7-920 $265.99 Free Ground Shipping
Intel Core i7 Processor i7-920 2.66GHz 8MB LGA1366 CPU, OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247 $99.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail


 
gkay09

gkay09

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Well regarding the 4th core, they are talking about the P II X3 720 and not P II 940...
 
A

aberchonbie

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I believe they are talking about the Phenom Tri-Core cpu's where the fourth core is either defunct or disabled. With certain motherboards, they can actually activate the fourth core to get a quad core.

You would need a motherboard with an Nvidia northbridge that's capable of SLI. I don't really know much about NVIDIA chipsets but some that i remember off the top of my head is the 760i, 780i, 790i. Also, from what I can recall, a lot of the nvidia chipsets are buggy. Not too sure though.

Why_Me gave an alternative to looking for an NVIDIA chipset with the gigabyte x58 motherboard. The X58 mobo's run a X58 northbridge that is capable of SLI and crossfire. (Careful on which one you choose as you should make sure the mobo is SLI capable as the mobo manufacturers must enable it since they pay NVIDIA some fees to enable it on their mobo)

The X58 mobo's all run on the Intel i7 platform requiring an Intel i7 CPU and DDR3 RAM. If you have the budget, Core i7 would be solid.
 
J

jackslap

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Yeah that i7 stuff is just a bit too rich for my blood I think. It would be nice I guess but I just dont think I want to part with more than 200 for the CPU and around the same (hopefully less) for the Mobo. I just don't see a need for myself to have bleeding edge. Just want to play occasional games at 1600x1050 or 1280x1024 and use it for photoshop.

I don't really care if it applies a photoshop filter in .3 seconds instead of .5

So I suppose I'll just go with the P2 and that AsRock board. I don't know much about AsRock but I'll gamble I suppose. Anyone heard good things?
 
batuchka

batuchka

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Hmm reading the reviews and scanning general prices of 780a i think you've hit on a rather decent choice! At the AMD forums peeps have been praising Asrock's 790GX and the feedback on that 780a is along those lines hehe So in summary: its not a risky gamble :p
 
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