Good God......sooo many choices, so little knowledge...

[barthautala]

I thought I sort of new what was going on in the PC world and what meant what. Now I dont know.

I do know a couple of things. I want 2 video cards and I dont care which chip ATI or Nvidia. I want support for 8gigs ram. I want support for the 45nm chips when they come out.

Thos are the things I know.

But what I dont know is whats a northbridge and a southbridge?
What chipset do I want?
Are the intel boards any good?

I know that I want a board that I can tweak myself and overclock the hell out of the P D 830 I have.. I was thinking an ASUS P35........but then I saw an Abit fatality that will support up to 36gb Ram or maybe that Intel board but I dont know if it overclocks well.

It seems like I should want 2 PCIe 16x slots for the 2 card setup?

I know I dont want 300 dollar mobo because it seems like I can get a good board for less than that.

best bang for the buck with the features I want?

Im such a confused noob.

 

[aevm]

Asus P5N32-E SLI, two 8800 GTX cards, Windows XP. You want the 680i chipset from nVidia. Intel chipsets are great but don't do SLI. 680i will support 45 nm. It has 2 PCI-E 16x slots for SLI (i.e. two nVidia cards).

To be honest, I don't get it. SLI only makes sense these days with 8800 GTX cards. That will set you back $1100 just for the cards. On the other hand, you are worried about the cost of the motherboard...

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

What is your budget?
What is your screen resolution?
Are you aware of the disadvantages of SLI?
Are you aware that a Pentium D will bottleneck your $1100 video cards?
Do you already have any parts you want to reuse?

 

[barthautala]

Oh yeah I know it will bottleneck. Im going to do my upgrade in stages. It offsets the expense a little and makes the erroneous spending seem less useless. In other words, its alot easier to spend alot over time then spend alot at once when it comes to justifying the cost to your wife.

My plan is to get a mobo (SLI or Xfire I dont care) get one good card now which seems to run anything fine then get another card down the road when cheap and or necessary.

Ive got a 750w PSU.
Im only going to use the Pentium D until it burns/smokes/melts whatever - then get a Q 45nm.
Ive got a couple sticks of 1gig DDR2 800Mhz sitting here in front of my face.

Im not worried about the cost of the motherboard........it just doesnt make sense to me to pay a 40% higher price for something that may only be 5% better thats all.

I want some motherboard advice.

Funny thing is, I was into "the scene" about 15 years ago when I had to type commands and write my own DOSi proggys. Then I quit caring because things got easier. Then I mustve slipped into a time warp wormhole because now I have no idea whats going on.

 

[aevm]

All right. So, a good motherboard for two 8800 GTX cards would be the P5N32-E SLI. The Asus Striker Extreme is very similar but much more expensive.

A good motherboard for two HD2900 cards would be P5W-DH Deluxe or GA-P35-DQ6.

They're all pretty expensive though, and I suspect you'll have better options for that money in a couple of weeks when the X38 motherboards are released. Those will also be expensive but they will support PCI E 2.0 and Crossfire at 16x+16x (instead of 8x+8x). Can you wait until some time in September to get your new motherboard?
I've read some reviews for the upcoming GA-X38-DQ6 for example, it will be a really nice board...

 

[barthautala]

Yeah I can wait for that. Whats the advantage to 2.0 vs current? Im guessing speed for the obvious? Im gonna search around for more info on the 2.0 boards........

Would you SLI or Xfire? Or just by a good single card?

 

[aevm]

Advantage of PCI-E 2.0 right now: nothing at all. However, some time in 2010 if I want to get the latest and greatest video card, it will probably work at partial capacity or not at all in a PCI-E 1 slot.

I would just buy the best single card I can. In fact, I just got my new PC two weeks ago, it's got a GA-P35C-DS3R and one BFG 8800 GTX OC2. I don't have the option to add a second video card, but I don't need it and I doubt I'll need it any time soon. My monitor is only 1680x1050, and a single 8800 GTX can handle that very well in every game released so far.

Check the threads about SLI on this forum, you'll see how it works. Basically, it's useful at 1920x1200 or more, it brings 20% to 80% more power than one single card depending on game and settings and resolution, it involves cost/heat/noise issues, drivers are not ready for it on Vista, etc. It's not a bad thing, but it's a lot of problems so don't do it unless absolutely necessary.

 

[aevm]

Edit: Crossfire drivers for Vista seem to be better, kudos to AMD/ATI. If you want Vista and two cards it's probably best to go with the HD2900. There's a Diamond Viper version with 1 GB of RAM that competes well with the 8800 GTX in almost all benchmarks.

 

[barthautala]

1900x1200 seems a little rediculous............

I cant really tell the diff between 1280 x 960 and the next highest in 32bit color.

Back to mobos............if I run liquid, then does that render heat pipes and huge heat sinks useless?

 

[aevm]

Yeah, it is. On a 24" monitor the pixels are too small at that resolution for most people. I'd need a 27" but that costs a lot more.

No idea about liquid cooling. You're probably right...

 

[barthautala]

So if I were to get one now..........680i or P35?

 

[aevm]

Now, P35. In September, X38. You said you could wait, and I think it's worth it.

 

[Mr Techguy]

Remember, you get what you pay for. Having your fast cheapy mobo may save some bucks now, but when the problems start, you will be spending more money replacing burned out parts. Some of the advantages for a quality board:

All solid capacitor design
True x16 PCIe
Better quality circuits and transistors
Thermal design may be better
More options and expandability (future resistance)
Better/stable over clock options

It really does make a difference. Cheap boards have cheap parts. If a Ferrari had a balsa wood frame, it "wood" be a very crappy car.

 

[barthautala]

LOL......thats a good one. I just mean why by a Striker vs a P5K...........Do i really need all the stuff the striker extreme has on it or would the P5K be just as good minus a few extra sparkles..........

Kinda like the Ferrari 575M vs the superamerica............sure the fold down hard top is cool but is it necessary?