Which motherboard to choose.

[coverfire]

Two choices I've come down to.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131030

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128042

In light of the ATI HD2900XT being released I've been left with a conundrum. I currently have:

Opty 170 S939 @2.5ghz
2gig OCZ gold DDR400
X1800XT

Was thinking about purchasing the HD2900XT or going with the following for now.

E6420 (OC to atleast 3ghz or higher)
2gig DDR2 800 OR 1066 (opinions or suggestions would be helpfull)
one of the two motherboards above and
Evga 8800GTS 320mb on my 21" widescreen 1650x1080 monitor.

 

[custompcz]

You can't go wrong with the DS3, especially @ that price point. Don't get me wrong, I like Asus too but the best bang for the $$ is the GB.

I've had good luck with the corsair xms2 in my sig (DDR2-800) but that can't be said for everyone according to newegg's customer reviews.

The E4300 you see in my sig is going into a HTPC using a GB 945 chipset since I've had such good luck with the DS3 builds I've done (4 up to now). I'll be geting the E6420 next and OC'ing to the max.

As for video cards, I'd be looking for the best bang for the $$ there too once the dust settles. Good luck.

 

[badge]

Two choices I've come down to.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131030

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128042

In light of the ATI HD2900XT being released I've been left with a conundrum. I currently have:

Opty 170 S939 @2.5ghz
2gig OCZ gold DDR400
X1800XT

Was thinking about purchasing the HD2900XT or going with the following for now.

E6420 (OC to atleast 3ghz or higher)
2gig DDR2 800 OR 1066 (opinions or suggestions would be helpfull)
one of the two motherboards above and
Evga 8800GTS 320mb on my 21" widescreen 1650x1080 monitor.

Well no one else so I'll answer. The ASUS P5B you have listed uses the 4 phase voltage regulators found on micro boards. The P5B-Deluxe has 8 hase voltage regulators and is the more stable, overclockable of the two. I'm pretty sure you will need a BIOS update before the P5B will run the E6420 processo. So if you have a spare socket 775 CPU laying around you can get the board up and running and update the BIOS hen install the E6420. The Gigabyte may be the better choice. The latest 965 Gigabyte revisions are hard wired to support 1066 mhz.FSB. The ASUS P5B series uses a BIOS update to accompolish the upgrade. I' not sure which revision you chose.

This RAM runs wel over 1000 mhz on my ASUS P5B-Deluxe. RAM prices have come down so there are a ot of great dels right now. Time to buy!

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065

 

[coverfire]

Question on the GB motherboard. it says only accepts 1.8volt ram but I would assume I could adjust the voltage in the bios to handle the G.Skll (which was what I was looking at purchasing). The whole voltage thing has got me confused with these motherboards.

Also thanks for the advice I looked more into the GB motherboard and it does support the 6320 and 6420 chips out of the box.

By going this route I may even have enough $ to put in an HD2900XT.

 

[badge]

The G. Skill I listed is rated at 2.0-2.1 volts at 800 mhz. 4-4-4-12. You may have to use one stick in slot one to get to BIOS and set the voltage at 2.0 v., but I believe the RAM will run great for you. It does for me in my ASUS boards.

 

[jay2tall]

You can't go wrong with the DS3, especially @ that price point. Don't get me wrong, I like Asus too but the best bang for the $$ is the GB.

As for video cards, I'd be looking for the best bang for the $$ there too once the dust settles. Good luck.

I agree with both of these statments. I have used ASUS mobo's for years and never had issues. But have used the DS3 on a friends PC and at that price it's just a GREAT buy. It's also a good mobo so with the price its a good deal.

And as far as video cards. I would let the dust settle as well because the ATI cards just came out. Let them sell a few and see if Nvidia brings their prices down to attempt to chock out ATI. I think personally Im holding tight until the next round comes out with die shrinks to 65nm and I actually need to go to Vista *GAG*