Motherboard - Wait or no?

[rezident]

Originally I was going to do a whole lot of stuff when my computer died. I was going to do a minor upgrade that changed into getting a e6600, I was going to get an ASrock mobo so I could use my old videocard & ram, That turned into 2 GB DDR2 800MHz ram & a possible Geforce 7950. Now I'm deciding which motherboard to get, it will be a couple weeks before I can afford the video card, and I figure I'll be ordering the Motherboard tomorrow. So for at least 2 or 3 weeks I'll still be without a computer.

Should I wait until I can afford the video card then buy a Motherboard then? Or is that pretty pointless because the "New" motherboards for the Conroe won't be out for several months, not the next couple of weeks.

And if I do buy a new motherboard before the video card, what should it be. I've seen people talking about that P5W, is it really that good with the Conroe? What should I DO?!

Also, as far as video cards go, the 7950 seems pretty damned awsome, how long until thes aleged dx10 cards come out and what are they, how much will they cost & are they worth the wait? (1 gig of video memory is way too sexy)

 

[jaguarskx]

Buy all your components at the same time when you have enough money. By then the average retail price for the E6600 will be $339 - $349. I think the best motherboard to get is the Asus P5W DH Deluxe, but they are out of stock everywhere and the price ranges between $240 - $320 for it. The DX 10 card may not come out until next year, but that is merely a guess.


The Asus P5W DH Deluxe is pretty stable and a good overclocker, and should support Kentsfield when it comes out. Kentsfield is the quad core version of the Conroe. Since the P5W DH is out of stock everywhere I am considering the MSI 975X Platinum Power Up motherboard. It's is a little cheaper at $210 and it is in stock.

MSI 975X Platinum has been available for a while, but only the Power Up version (a.k.a. v2.0 or version "H") is compatible with Conroe. The FSB of the mobo is currently limited to 445MHz, if you want to call that a limit since 445MHz X 9 multiplier = 4GHz. You will need RAM that is faster than DDR2 800 and watercooling for the CPU though.

However, based on some research the BIOS seems to have a few minor bugs. The original MSI 975X Platinum was very stable, and I have not read anything that suggests anything different of the Power Up version. Lastly, MSI included some software utilities for this mobo that at best seems to be only 50% functional. I'm not sure if those utilities have been updated.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130051

 

[BigguN]

If you are considering jumping on the DX10 as soon as it hits then I would not bother with purchasing the 7950, probably overkill. I would go with a more copetitivly priced x1900xt or xtx. They would definately keep you up to speed with basically any thing you throw at them until the DX10 cards come out.
Save a little coinage to throw at vista(which you will need for DX10) or a nice LCD.
But then again this is all dependant on your budget. If ya like to floss, and got the coin by all means..

 

[rezident]

I don't floss, I just need a new PC and don't want to go half assed. So if DX10 is gonna require vista then screw it, I'll get the 7950, cause I don't plan on going Vista when it comes out (Unless it's rediculously uber) in which case I'll ebay my card and see what DX10s are out there.

I'm not one of those guys that needs the latest & Greatest stuff at all times, in fact if my PC hadn't died I wouldn't even be in the market. But I am a guy that when I spend money, I like to spend it on stuff that will last me a long time. My Geforce 5900 in my eyes is still good, but I'm not gonna upgrade to a core 2 duo processor so I can use it with a 2 year old video card.

I was going to Get that asrock that has both agp & PCIx but I couldn't bring myself to fork over the cash (Even though it's only $55) if when I DID get an PCIx card it would be limited by the 4x PCI Express. So I decided to be patient and just save for a few weeks and get the nice video card.

 

[ArbY]

You will save money by going with the X1900XT or XTX.
As a single GPU in a single slot, that card is outstanding. Its 48 pixel processors enable the card to handle HDR + AA at the same time. The X1900XT & XTX are also better when it comes down to rendering higher image quality. If you're willing to spend a lot of money on a video card, you might be a tad bit sensitive towards image quality. The 7950GX2's on-board SLI will kick into better use at high resolutions, such as 1600 x 1200 and beyond. Though as I said, it can't handle HDR + AA at the same time.