New System - Best Motherboard for my needs?

[xanthippus]

'lo all,

Getting a new system (see below) but I am unsure if I have picked the right motherboard - currently selected the Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680 (Socket 775).

Want one that has Firewire, 8+ USBs, good quality 7.1 onboard sound, 1333 FSb and at least 3 PCI Express (Graphics card, TV Card + 1 spare for future use). Out of the boards that can support all this, which one also is best for other features (i.e. friendly support for over-clocking/additional system info/+ great consumer reviews).

Also should I buy my own fan to cool the CPU?

Any advice will be carefully considered and looked into, cheers!

Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming case
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 1.80GHz
Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680 (Socket 775) Motherboard
GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz DDR2 4-4-4-12
Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATAII 7200.10
GameXstream OCZ 600W Powersupply
Samsung SH-182MRSMN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter

 

[mythos]

Hi there

Edit - some links for you
P5B Deluxe


Your motherboard is overkill for your needs, in my opinion. The 680i chipset has been garnering rave reviews from the professional critics, but most of the features that set it apart from the crowd simply won't be used by even the extreme user.

In my opinion, you would be better off with a good 965 board such as the P5B Deluxe (non-wifi). Great board, great reviews, meets your specifications, overclocks, has a mature bios, supports quadcore for when you think you'll need it - and significantly cheaper than the p5n32-e sli.

You could go cheaper still with vritualyl all the features - such as the P5B-e - which is also a great board. But since you seem to value peace of mind, I would still recommend the p5b deluxe - you can rest assured you're paying for a quality and don't have to worry that the few bucks you saved might come back to bite you in the arse.

The rest of your system looks good, but may I suggest:

1) Cheaper 6400 C4 RAM - have a look at the qvl for the P5b-deluxe, and pick the cheapest from there. Unless you are an insane benchmark fiend, you won't notice the difference. I'm taking not even a few percent.

2) Consider an E4300 instead. Cheaper, but that's not the point - it's BETTER than the E6300. It's lower multiplier means you can overclock it higher without pushing your motherboard's FSB as much, which means lower heat and failure rate, and that's a good thing all around - even in a case with as many fans as the one you're getting.

Also, and this is just imho, dual-core cpus are just a stepping stone to the multi-threaded future, and once apps and such really start to make use of multiple cores, you'll be wanting a quad core because then the productivity boosts will truly be phenomenal. As it is right now, your second core even with "lower" conroes are mostly unused.

Cheers

 

[xanthippus]

Cheers Mythos, some really detailed information there, most of all you reflect a similar to approach to my build as I myself have in mind. I.e. Getting value for money - retaining a good performance - and have a logical upgrade path in the future.

Will certainly look into the parts you have suggested, many thanks.

Would still welcome any other views.

 

[xanthippus]

Looks like a good board Mythos, the only thing it does not support is 1333 Fsb, and I want a board that can handle it in the hope that Penryn will be compatible when it is released and I have a hassle free upgrade path in the future.

Took your suggestion about the RAM, opted for GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2, £25 ($50) dollars cheaper but lots of positive comments.

CPU wise think I may well go for an E4300, but pausing to consider going up to the E6700 as well....maybe that's a reaction to going to the E4300 with such a low starting clock speed - although as you say, plenty of over clocking potential.