New Build, Ideas Folks?

[shahin156]

Hey ppl, i am in the process of building a new system for myself (expand to gaming in the future). These are the specs:

■Thermaltake VA7000SWA Shark Aluminium Full Tower - Silver
■EVGA nForce 680i A1 (Socket 775) PCI-Express SLi DDR2 Motherboard
■Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz 1066 MHz - Retail
■OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
■500GB Seagate ST3500630AS Hard Drive SATAII 16MB Cache 7200RPM - OEM
■Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter - OEM
■OCZ GameXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
■EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)


Can anyone tell me if i should get the above mobo or any other one.

i.e. What is the best ATI, SLI, and Intel mobo? (any price) because i want to have the best gaming platform pc. Therefore, i don't mind if it is ATI, SLI or an Intel chipset mobo as long as it is the best available so i can expand it later.

 

[g-paw]

I'd suggest an ASUS or Gigabute P35 board. Do a Power Search on newegg for Intel mobo that takes quad core and sli a large number of boards to look at. Look for reviews you're interested in and post a couple here for feedback

 

[akhilles]

Right now the best sli would be EVGA 680i A1. 780i mobos are coming in a month or two. It's actually a small upgrade to 680i: 3 x SLi PCI-E, more SATA & then some. + most likely bugs to be weeded out. 680i is very mature.

If you go P35, ASUS P5K DELUXE would be the best, IMO.

 

[shahin156]

do you think that all the previous problems with 680i mobos like the "EVGA A1" have been weeded out, i.e. would it be sensible to get one or do they still have problems?

Plus i am not going to be a serious gamer so i have no need for a triple slot SLI board.

Comments please, thanks.

 

[g-paw]

do you think that all the previous problems with 680i mobos like the "EVGA A1" have been weeded out, i.e. would it be sensible to get one or do they still have problems?

Plus i am not going to be a serious gamer so i have no need for a triple slot SLI board.

Comments please, thanks.

Little confused. In your original post you said you wanted the best gaming platform. If you're not planning on running two video cards the only reason to get a board with SLI or Crossfire would be because it would be the only way to get the features you want, e.g., onboard firewire or possibly a couple of DDR3 slots for later use.

 

[systemlord]

You have to ask yourself if you really need SLI, only if your gaming on a high resolution monitor like 1920x1200 with high image quality. If no then get a P35 mobo from Asus or Gigabyte.

 

[ComputerCustomizer]

Looks good to me. In particular, the CPU and graphics are killer.
Remember to overclock!

 

[akhilles]

A1 IS the updated revision. Especially for overclocking quad. Another other revision should be passed.

Also, EVGA JUST released P31 bios that fixed quad issues.

If you're still skeptical, get Asus P5N32-E SLI or PLUS. It's 680i.

I think you want dual SLI. BTW, my friend has been running EVGA 680i AR with Q6600 no problem, but his AR doesn't o/c quad. I'm gonna update his bios.

Crossfire doesn't work with GeForce cards. Makes sense. If you want CF, you must get ATi card like the HD 2900 PRO.

You can also go with one GTX for now if your monitor is less than 1200.

 

[shahin156]

Little confused. In your original post you said you wanted the best gaming platform. If you're not planning on running two video cards the only reason to get a board with SLI or Crossfire would be because it would be the only way to get the features you want, e.g., onboard firewire or possibly a couple of DDR3 slots for later use.

What i meant was that i am not going to need the TRIPLE SLI setup of a 780i mobo. I will be using SLI, but no need for three cards.