Asus Motherboard for my 8800

[Robosquirrel]

I have not chosen a motherboard to go with my 8800 yet nore have i chosen the module 8800. I am confused when looking at these 4 different mobo's from Asus. Im going with a 680i Sli. Look at these and tell me the difference other then price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073R

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074R

I still havent found out whats the difference. The thing i dont like about newegg is why sell the same stuff but difference prices its sometimes confusing. Please help me and thank you.

 

[chookman]

The second 2 are open box items that i would pass on. these are items that have been sold and then returned, hence why they are cheaper, they are less likely to work and will most certainly have something missing from the usual sealed box.

As for the other 2, the first is the Striker Extreme which is an ROG (republic or gamers) board which is ASUS top line product. To be honest the main difference is the packaging contents the Striker has more copper for cooling (better OCing) and onboard LED's and power/reset buttons. For the price IMO not worth it get the 2nd one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073

 

[Robosquirrel]

k thank you!

 

[roadrunner197069]

Actually you only picked 2 different boards. One of each new and one of each openbox. I personally wouldnt spend that much on a open box item. Open boxes are products that someone else had problems with.

 

[dragonsprayer]

u dumb!

680i mobos suck there are so many issues! sli sucks

mobo choice:
p5k-e wireless - $150 killer mobo
p5k deluxe great mobo
maximus this mobo rocks - se has water cooling


i spent 4 hours tunning a stiker to get 3.15ghz with q6600

i dropped in the maxumus and ran 3.6ghz first try


its a no brainer p35/x38 chipset blow away thing from nvidia


evga - memory burn out
striker - cpu int error - general lock up

all nvidia - can not run quad core too small voltage regs

 

[Robosquirrel]

well, im gonna stick with the 680i Sli ATX, and if it dont work to well ill return it.

 

[roadrunner197069]

I got a P5K SE and a E2180 overclocked to 3.3GHZ from stock 2.0 on stock fan. Booted at 3.8 but got hot fast. 3.3 is the sweet spot for my setup. Idles 49C and load temp never goes over 56C. 2770 cpu score on 3dmark06.

Not bad for a $89 CPU!

 

[ausch30]

The difference between the two boards you linked is the Striker has a e-sata port as well as buttons on the board for power, reset, and clear cmos. The Striker also has some onboard LED's for a little bling factor and a display on the back which displays error messages when an overclock fails. I have the P5N and it's a good board but I have had my problems with it. I think the Striker is overpriced and if your dead set on a 680i board you should go with the P5N or the Evga 680i.

One thing you might want to consider is the 780i chipset which Nvidia should be releasing soon. It really is nothing more than a 680i but has a few added features like PCI Express 2.0 support and an extra PCI Express controller that adds additional lanes to the ones in the 680i to make three-way SLI possible with three x16 PCIe slots.

If you never plan on getting a second video card I would strongly suggest getting a P35 board, something like the P5K-E for $142 is a great board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131225 . That said if you plan on SLI at some point then the 680i is your best option and I would suggest the P5N32-E SLI or the Evga 680i A1 Revision.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=246713

 

[Robosquirrel]

Once i get some cash ill plan on sli'ing some day.

 

[WebMaximus]

i spent 4 hours tunning a stiker to get 3.15ghz with q6600

i dropped in the maxumus and ran 3.6ghz first try

Sorry for waking up an old thread but I just got a Q6600 with the G0 stepping and have been thinking about the Maximus card, what memory are you using when running at 3.6 GHz? Currently I have Corsair Extreme DDR2-800...guess I will have to replace them...?

 

[goodie]

not at all, just run 400X9, ram 1:1 = 800mhz = 3.6ghz

 

[WebMaximus]

OK, thanks - will start with my old memory then and see what sppeds I can reach

 

[JammerM]

On a distantly connected question....Can someone please explain the PCIe 2.0 connection compared to the PCIe x16 connection. I am confused about compatibility. The 8800 GT cards are PCIe 2.0, so does that mean they can't work in a PCIe x16 connection? If so, do they limit their ability to operate, etc? Help?

 

[totenkopf]

All the info you want on PCIe 2.0 is right here: http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie2.0_faq/

The two standards, PCIe 2.0 and 1.1/1.0, are backwards and forwards compatible respectively, No issue there. However, don't expect to see any difference, at least not for a while (I hope I'm wrong... I like things faster). So to answer your question, JammerM, they are compatible and your Mobo is always the bottleneck for speed.

 

[n2microwave]

Robosquirrel -
I've been fortunate w/ my Strike Ext. With no O/C it still posted a 12272 on 3dMark 2006. But I've heard a lot of negative as well. I guess I'm the chosen few.
View my specs:

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
ASUS Striker Extreme
BFG Tech BFGE88768UOCE GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB OC edition
Thermaltake Toughpower W0132RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1000W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) x 2 (4Gb total)
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
XP Pro
SB X-Fi
Various additional cooling fans