building a gaming rig and need some mobo help.

[TheOriginalSamoyed]

So I'm getting down to the nitty gritty of picking my parts for my new rig. I can't decide on either to get a P35 or a 680 sli board. The more I think about it the more I realize that if I want to upgrade my gaming rig later adding another 8800 gts would be better than the benefits of more technologically advanced memory. I plan on keeping my 6600 or better cpu so the penryn thing won't matter to me. Thus, methinks the 680 sli boards will fit my situation better than a P35. Any thoughts on that? Also, after researching the 680 sli boards, I'm looking at the two EVGA mobos. I don't want to spend more than about $200-240 so they seem to be a good fit. What is the difference between the EVGA 122-ck-nf68-t1 and the EVGA 122-ck-nf68-a1? What does the a1 and t1 mean? Also, how do these mobos compare to the BFG680i SLI? Aren't they essentially the same board? I'm also considering the ASUS P5n32 SLI just because of the ASUS namebrand. Out of these boards which one would ya'll recommend? Am I doing myself an injustice by not considering 965 and 975 boards? Please help clear this fog for me. I can't tell the trees from the forest at this rate. My parameter list is a 8800 gts 320 and a core2duo 6600 or 6700 to start with. The mobo has to match up with these components. Please help! :?:

 

[aevm]

Two 8800 GTS cards and a mobo supporting SLI will cost more than a 8800 GTX card and a mobo that doesn't support SLI, and performance will be lower, especially in games that need more than 320 MB of video RAM. RAM doesn't add up 320+320=640 in SLI, you should know.

I would recommend one of these mobos ($150 CAD in my city) and an 8800 GTX.

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 S775 i965P ATX MB (Raid/GbE/SATAII)
Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 650i ATX Mainboard (SLI/Audio/GbE)

Edit: the second mobo supports SLI, but it's based on the 650 chipset which means a second video card would run at 8x, not 16x. That should not matter unless you want to add a second GTX later. Even then it's not a big deal IMO. If it matters to you then get the P5N32-E SLI mobo.

 

[TheOriginalSamoyed]

Right. I understand that two 8800 gts are slower than a gtx. But, I was talking about getting a second gts down the road a bit. Purchasing a gtx now would blow my budget for my build plus take away $$$ for other components and I can't reinvest for awhile so one 8800 gts is going to have to do. That's kinda the deal I'm stuck with. I have to build a rig now(next two months) and I can't afford to update it for a bit (a year) but I would like the possibility of upgrading it in the future. Do you understand my choice for the 8800 gts now? Its the best single card I can afford right now.
In a gaming rig, is it more important for upgrades to add a 2nd gpu (sli board) or have the p35 upgrades? Thats the biggest question I have. If an additional gpu is the best way to improve my rig for the future then what is the best board($180-240 range) for me to choose right now for my new rig? Does anyone know about the mobos I mentioned in my first post? Out of the evga a1 or t1, bfg sli and asus which is the best for gaming? Am I wrong to assume that a second card is the most important upgrade for a gaming rig?

Also, I want a mobo that can support two at x16 so if and when I do get a second gpu I can get the most out of it I can. Also, I like the idea of having a third slot for a physics card if I really want to overkill it later. Is that a waste?

 

[aevm]

- Intel will cut prices on July 22, wait and get a Q6600 for $266 then. I've also heard that the 8950 GX2 is in testing already. The 8800 cards should drop in price when it's out.

- P35 won't run two GPUs at 16x, one will run at 8x. You need 680i or X38 for that. X38 will be out within 3 months, not sure if that's any help to you.

- adding a second GPU will do more for games than the new features in P35 IMO. It is the most important upgrade for a gaming rig.

I think the best mobo in your price range and with two full 16x PCI-E slots is the P5N32-E SLI 680i
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073

- eVGA A1 is also excellent. Don't know about T1 or BFG.

- the part about the physics card is a waste all right. Physics cards are doomed now that quad CPUs are becoming mainstream

You'll probably find these useful:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_nforce_680i_roundup/
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/intel_p35_bearlake_chipset/

 

[geofelt]

My 2 cents:
In a year, any current high end graphics card will likely be able to be replaced by something better and cheaper. I would suggest that you get the best vga card that you feel comfortable with now, and when and if the need to upgrade arises, you plan on selling it and replace it with something better and cheaper. If you can spend $240 on a motherboard, cut back to a $110 board now and get a 8800gts-640. If you can find a way to get a 8800-GTX, so much the better. For games, the vga card is usually more important than the cpu; consider cutting back on the cpu now so you can get a GTX and upgrade the cpu later when cpu's are cheaper. SLI does not seem to me to be a good way to go if you can avoid it.

 

[foxrocks]

SLI is only worth it at the bleeding edge level IMO (currently 2 x 8800GTX/Ultras). I don't think buying one less expensive GPU with a view to add in another in a year's time is a worthwhile thing to do; you'd be better off buying whatever single card you can afford now and then whatever single card you can afford when it's upgrade time. You'll almost certainly get better bang for buck that way.

Just buy your 8800GTS and then in a year when you feel the need you upgrade, buy a 9800 or whatever is around at the time.

 

[TheOriginalSamoyed]

Well I've about come full circle on this now. I started off thinking the P35 was the mobo for me. Then, the idea of a 680i with its sli ability and overclocking appealed to me. Now, deciding that a single card is the way to go, I'm back to the P35. But, subtracting out the ddr3 and penryn factor, is the P35 chipset better than the 680i for a gaming rig? I think I've narrowed my selection to the asus P35 ws newegg or the asus sli newegg
I'll be using a 6600 c2 and 8800 gts so if you have opinions on what mobo is the best fit for these parts as a gaming rig please let me know soon cause I'm about to start ordering within the week.

 

[geofelt]

The graphics performance of a system with one vga card is almost entirely due to the power of the vga card, with almost no difference due to the mobo or the chipset. The same is true of the CPU power. The mobo or chipset makes very little difference; the power of the cpu is the most important. If you plan to get into overclocking, then some boards are more friendly. As an enthusiast, I would get a P35 or X38 board. As a non-overclocker, it makes more sense for you to to get a P965 board from a quality manufacturer. The big reason is that these boards have been out for a while, and have had enough bios revisions to fix the new board problems that inevitably show up. By the time you will want to upgrade, in a year or two, the then current technology processor will likely need the chipset that follows the P35/X38.

 

[foxrocks]

P35 recommendation -- Gigabyte P35C-DS3R

P965 recommendation -- Gigabyte 965P-DS3

680i recommendation -- EVGA CK-NF68 (or Asus Striker Extreme/DFI Lanparty of you're willing to pay another $50).

It depends on what your budget is and what your aims are. The 680i boards are really only worth it if you're an enthusiast with the cash for two 8800GTX cards. Otherwise I don't see a lot of point, personally.