3 Choices... pick 1.

[Blank2k2]

Right, im totally losing my mind over this whole computer build thing. so whatevers decided here will be what i do.

Spec:

Processor: E6600
RAM: 2gb PC6400 (or 8500)
Motherboard: You Decide.
OS: Vista 64x
HardDrive: RAID-0 Raptors
Graphics: 1x 8800GTX
Soundcard: X-Fi


ok, ur building a computer with the above specs with a £1500 budget but u need to buy a motherboard.

would u buy..

1: Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi 975x Motherboard (£1450, £50 left over)
2: BFG 680i Motherboard & PC8500 RAM (£1600 - BUDGET OVER, But doable if u really think its worth it & break into ur childs college fund)


now take into account all the problems & bugs ull get with all of the above parts (OS included).

Which motherboard would you buy?


please think about this seriously! - thanks

 

[slavadon]

Get 1 Raptor and 1 7200 RPM 200 GB HDD and get a 680i mobo. Everything I've read about RAID 0 suggests that it isn't worth using in home PCs. The 680i mobo really shouldn't be THAT much more expensive than a 975X, make sure you're getting competitive pricing on both.

 

[Blank2k2]

the BFG is the cheapest of them all atm (atleast avalible to me) at £180.... rest are all £250ish, raptors i already have RAID-0 is great too

tis the ram to go with it that pumps up price btw, ram is an extra £80 + mobo an extra £30 etc

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

You could dumb the video card down to the GTS. How much performance difference would you really notice, anyway?

 

[geofelt]

If you want no issues and don't plan on overclocking, get an intel mobo. If you will not go dual vga cards, then get the P965 board, just be certain you get compatible 1.8 volt memory. For a full featured board in a 64 bit environment, consider the intel d975xbx2.

 

[starkie24]

I would say go with the 680i motherboard. It is a very good motherboard and is becoming a very popular board among gamers. And if it is porving a squeeze with the budget like YourMothersAnAstronaut said you could always dumb down your graphics card to the gts instead.

 

[PCAnalyst]

The 680i mobo was engineered for enthusiasts with big budgets (at this time).

It has a lot of features that give you some headroom... SLI, a third PCIe slot for physics card, Massive Overclocking, 6 SATA ports... the list goes on.

It also has some poor performance benchmarks with RAID set-ups compared to the 965 & 975 chip based mobos... coming in as much as 66% slower in RAID 0.

Now read/write speeds of 110 - 115 MB/sec is not bad(to Me) for the 680i... So the question you propose just requires to ask yourself the main questions in forming this decision:

Are you going to OverClock?

Are you going to eventually get a second Graphics Card and run SLI?

Can you live with the fact that while a GREAT board, the 680i board will be delivering data at 30 to 40 percent of the other boards speeds?

I answered yes to all.

 

[scorch]

I have used a lot of asus mainboards in the past and can definately recommend them. I may be out of the loop a bit here but I didn't know BFG made mainboards. I have however used there video cards with little to no problems, never had to return them for RMA.

 

[Blank2k2]

hmmmm seems ppl are favoring the 680i...but i cant tell if its cause "its new! u gota get it!" or if its truely an upgrade from 975x


ill research the 680i RAID being slower thing & if there bringing a fix for it

mmm think im favoring 680i at the mo


though, no i wont be overclocking.
and, dual graphics "MAYBE" in the future but its not a do or die feature for me.


and scorch i thought the same, was quite supprised when i saw a BFG motherboard lol

 

[BUFF]

you can buy an Asus 650i SLI mobo for ~£75 in the UK if you don't need all the bells & whistles of 680i.

 

[4745454b]

Seeing as you are worried (a bit) about price, then this applies to you. Don't get DDR2-800MHz ram or better. Stock C2Ds require DDR2-533, so getting even DDR2-667 allows for some overclocking. Get this ram which across the pond is about $50ish cheaper.

As for the motherboard, I haven't seen anything in the 680i that is a must have. I think the best reason to get it is that it supports SLI instead of the 975/965s CF. If you want to run SLI, then you'll need an SLI motherboard. (which rules out the intel chipset motherboards.) They all seem to overclock up to 500MHz, so there isn't really one better then the rest. Pick your features, then pick your price.

 

[Blank2k2]

Seeing as you are worried (a bit) about price, then this applies to you. Don't get DDR2-800MHz ram or better. Stock C2Ds require DDR2-533, so getting even DDR2-667 allows for some overclocking. Get this ram which across the pond is about $50ish cheaper.

As for the motherboard, I haven't seen anything in the 680i that is a must have. I think the best reason to get it is that it supports SLI instead of the 975/965s CF. If you want to run SLI, then you'll need an SLI motherboard. (which rules out the intel chipset motherboards.) They all seem to overclock up to 500MHz, so there isn't really one better then the rest. Pick your features, then pick your price.

ahh a good reply.

i was under the impression DDR 800mhz ram would be bottlenecking my processor so i should go for 1066mhz insted to stop the bottleneck.
which of course, means 680i chipset.. tho looking at the website for the boards they all say DDR800 not 1066mhz *confused*.

so other then SLi & crappier raid (since it doesnt do higher ram?) is there any reason for 680i?

 

[Newf]

I was looking for a UK vendor that sells the brand new Asus P5N-E 650i.
This would be the board Buff recommended also. My list of UK vendors is rather limited, but none of these have it:

Overclockers (UK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
Komplett CO. (UK)
http://www.komplett.co.uk/
ebuyer.(UK)
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/
dabs.(UK)
http://www.dabs.com/
scancomputers(UK)
http://www.scancomputers.co.uk/

Since you live there, I'd guess you have other sources...
This is what I'm talking about:

Asus P5N-E LGA775 nF650i SLI 2IDE ATX Conroe $150+7 1/06/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131142
Asus P5N-E Review 12/22/06
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2894

The review above spells out quite well the advantages and drawbacks to this board in particular and the 650i chipset in general.

 

[njvsav]

Lower the video card to the GTS version....less power and easier to fit in a case.

And go for the 680i mobo. You can always add another GTS in SLI later on, but I doubt anything you'll throw at a GTS now would make it stutter, unless you're running some crazy hgh res.

That's exactly what I did, and at 1900x1220 on a Dell 24" Widescreen, the card screams with the settings maxed in most games.

 

[BUFF]

I was looking for a UK vendor that sells the brand new Asus P5N-E 650i.

http://www.xtsit.com/browse/product_details.php?id=11523&sr=2
none of the usual mainstream suppliers seem to have stock yet.

 

[Blank2k2]

there really is too many motherboards / chipsets to pick from.


Does 680i support/run 1066mhz memory without overclocking etc? - i need this answered!

 

[Statross]

dual Gbit ethernet is the only other reason to go for a 680i intstead of a mid-range+ 965 mo/bo...975s have that too i think, though.

most poeple who look at 680i see PCI-e x16 fully utilised even in SLI, dual Gbit ethernet is useful for us who have LANs and use these new-fangled mo/bos that drop alot of PCI slots....either 680i or 965 has a problem with x-fi soundcards (i think its 965...but it may be down to individual BIOSs)

if you arent OCing then quantity over quality is essential.

no need for more than one raptor...use it for booting and for games use a nice big 320GB seagate for everything else.
RAM is also quantity over quality if you arent OCing (if you are its DDR2 800 at a minimum) for OCing e6300/400 DDR2 667 is the minimum.
also make sure you differentiate between PC and PC2 in RAM descriptions. although its almost totally unlikely to happen some shops list all RAM and mix in DDR and DDR2 PC is DDR and PC2 is ddr2...i got confused once looking through RAM like that, just didnt notice.
same for Mo/Bo...look for a specific feature then get the lowest price and dont worry about chipsets (unless youre gonna SLI GTXs (costly:/)).

other than that, read reviews...they benchmark against other similar products, lower quality products and higher quality ones so you can find your own price/performance through research not through advertising

 

[Blank2k2]

so if i went for Asus P5H DH Deluxe WiFi mobo for my

1x 8800GTX
2gb PC6400 ram
E6600 processor
raid-0 raptors (i have the raptors in my current PC, so ill be using them in raid
anyway, of course after a good formatting etc.)


im not gunna think "oh shit! i should of gone for the 680i" ?


i dont do LAN's.... its a pretty much certainty im not gunna be doing a SLi setup in the near future.

i just enjoy gaming & love gadgets n toys but hate stutters & poor graphics.

will the Asus mobo make me happy?

 

[exo12]

most decent advise has been said, u should tone down on the memory a bit if overclocking's not your thing, and save some money. 667mhz is fine

and i may not be wise to the massive gains buy using raid 0, but i believe its a bit over hyped. 2 raptors in raid are not the way to pc heaven, even if they are fast they cost a lot.

i think i would go with the P5W DH from the choices, just my views. its a solid m/b and fills all the boxes

 

[4745454b]

Heres the deal. The stock base frequency of the C2Ds is 266MHz. This is then quad pumped to achieve the 1066MHz FSB. It is double pumped (Double Data Rate) to achieve DDR2-533MHz. Unless you go overclocking or messing with the memory devidors, then this is what you need. You could buy DDR2-800MHz ram, but then run it at DDR2-533. (not my suggestion, but you could.) You could also go into the bios and with a devider increase the ram rate to DDR2-800, but this doesn't get you much more.

I also don't suggest AID0. I see however that you already have the drive, so at least you are buying them. I do suggest not having the OS on an AID0 drive. That way when a drive fails, or the RAID driver gets hosed, you don't have to reinstall everything. As long as you know the risks however, have fun with your build.

 

[PCAnalyst]

so if i went for Asus P5H DH Deluxe WiFi mobo for my

1x 8800GTX
2gb PC6400 ram
E6600 processor
raid-0 raptors (i have the raptors in my current PC, so ill be using them in raid
anyway, of course after a good formatting etc.)


im not gunna think "oh ****! i should of gone for the 680i" ?

Here is a decent article on the evga 680i mobo that tells you what you get

 

[BUFF]

I was looking for a UK vendor that sells the brand new Asus P5N-E 650i.

http://www.xtsit.com/browse/product_details.php?id=11523&sr=2
none of the usual mainstream suppliers seem to have stock yet.

Mine arrived today - dispatched from MESH computers
Guess that XTSIT=MESH