QX9650 vs i7 CHOICES - OC - MOTHERBOARD - STABILITY - RECOMENDATION

[3dguyx]

Hi all

3Danimator(chop socky chooks, Ultra Sheen) and Avid Gamer (workstation / gaming rig)

Have a QX9650 proc given to me

Now I need a Motherboard What one? leaning towards a HIGH end ASUS (RECOMEND? striker II or Asus P5E3 WS Professional or a Asus P5E64 WS) or something 790i

I want Stability and some degree of Overclockability (On Zalman 9700 - AIR) later maybe H20 cooled

VID CARD a 9800 GX2 will be going into it(heat may be an issue)


P48 X48 X58 or I790 chip sets. RECOMEND?


Thank you all So much for your positive input!

 

[MRFS]

The X58 chipset only works with Core i7 CPUs.

Any of those ASUS motherboards should work well for you.

The P45 chipset also comes with Intel's ICH10R I/O controller hub,
and it supports 16GB of RAM.

Another possibility for you is the P5Q Premium:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131326

A lot depends on what expansion slot configuration you need --
for now and for the foreseeable future.

RAID controllers are seeing the most progress with the PCI-Express bus,
so you should probably forget PCI-X slots entirely -- they're quickly becoming
obsolete.

For example, check out the OCZ Z-Drive and Super Talent's RAIDDRIVE:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_z_drive_pci_express_ssd

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/RAIDDRive-Storage-Flash,7443.html

And, don't forget the Fusio-IO ioDrive and ioDrive Duo
(if you can afford them):

http://www.fusionio.com/Products.aspx

When in doubt, opt for PCI-E slots with at least x8 PCI-E lanes,
in order to future-proof your storage subsystem. By summer,
SATA/6G will become the standard, and PCI-E 2.0 is already here.

SATA/6G will mean that SSDs will have a higher bandwidth ceiling,
so the race will heat up to see who can come close to saturating
a 600 MB/second SATA channel.


With a pair of those P5Q Premium motherboards,
you can double-team LAN traffic between the two.


MRFS

 

[3dguyx]

Thank you, these are great recommendations as well as new things to consider.

So the 790i chipset is out? no real advantage stick with a X48 or P48 is what I am hearing?(best for future usage? expansion)


I guess all those boards provide a STABLE OVERCLOCK of the QX9650 so it may be a moot point what I choose, correct?

Working on TV shows with Maya or Houdini/edit AEffects, combustion just want to be able to render a BIG scene and have it chewed up quickly in a healthy stable overclock. Ram under Linux i should be able to see 8 gigs+ YES? or? NO. DUAL boot , for the windows side of things VISTA 64bit? will it hinder any of my 32 bit applications? Any Motherboards to avoid on the route?

what about this monster? or stick to a premium

Will be using NVIDIA CARD with this better choice? want SLI not CROSSFIRE

Asus P5E64 WS Evolution Socket 775 Intel P48 ICH9R Chipset Dual-Channel DDR2 1800(O.C.)/11600(O.C.)/1333/1066Mhz 4x PCIe x16 eSATA / 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s 8CH HD Audio Dual GigaLAN 12x USB 2.0 ATX



Ram recommendations?

 

[blackened144]

Will be using NVIDIA CARD with this better choice? want SLI not CROSSFIRE

Asus P5E64 WS Evolution Socket 775 Intel P48 ICH9R Chipset Dual-Channel DDR2 1800(O.C.)/11600(O.C.)/1333/1066Mhz 4x PCIe x16 eSATA / 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s 8CH HD Audio Dual GigaLAN 12x USB 2.0 ATX



Ram recommendations?

That Asus board will not due SLI since its using an older Intel chipset. For SLI you need either to get an Nvidia chipset or sell your QX9650 and buy an i7 with a X58 Intel chipset.

 

[sailer]

No, the X58 motherboard is out. The 790i will work and is required if you want to go with SLI. On the other hand, if your monitor is 1600x1200 or smaller, a single card should fill the bill, especially if you're using a 9800 GX2.

I personally choose the ASUS Rampage Formula X48 mobo for its ease of overclocking and features for my QX9650. Yes, I do think there is an advantage with the X48 chipset, but it depends a bit on how far into overclocking that you intend to go. You imply that it might make much difference which motherboard is used, but I would disagree. If you plan to use the QX9650 to its limits, the motherboard can make a great deal of difference. On the other hand, if you'll be satisfied with 3.6ghz or so, then almost any quality motherboard should do.

Any 64 bit OS, Linux or Windows, will let you see 8 gig of ram. Some people like dual booting, others don't I tried a dual boot setup years ago and found that I spent 90+ percent of my time on only one OS and no advantage when I did use the second OS, so I never did it again. I do see it as a possible advantage if you have a lot of software and/or hardware that will use only 32 bit software, while you want to slowly migrate to a 64 bit OS and associated software/hardware.

As to the heatsink you have, a Zalman 9700, it was a good heatsink a few years ago but its time has come and gone. While its better than a stock heatsink, there are many heatsinks that are far better and don't cost much money. I use a TRUE and run 3.84ghz stable with 8 gig of ram. With 4 gig or ram, some people have achieved up to 4.2ghz speed.

 

[3dguyx]

yeaH I got the qx9650 for free so i wont sell it for a i7


rampage sounds good


x48 eh ok good.


less ram allows for higher overclock? because?

8gig = 3.8ghz

4 gig = 4.2ghz ish achieved

ram type recommendation. high speed or don't bother

 

[3dguyx]

oh yeah best ram for OC'ing with that rampage and QX9650

 

[daship]

If you could sell it for a i7 it would be the smart thing to do since the i7 is a better/faster CPU even though it dont cost as much$$$ Not to mention the i7 will do the things your gonna do alot faster then the QX9650.

 

[apache_lives]

free qx9650? dang

its an unlocked multi so give it 8gb (give it a bit more v's) and raise that multi!

avoid nvidia chipsets - rubbish, nothing next to a P45/X48

 

[blackpanther26]

you could get $500 easily for that QX9650 and go i7 920 and a X58 chipset and still have enough money for a cheap memory kit.

 

[3dguyx]

was Told the I7 was not that much faster on any front.


i7 not faster than Qx9650

 

[3dguyx]

what proof is the i7 any faster than any of its predecessors, seems only hype

 

[3dguyx]

Are there benchmarks for MAYA MAX HOUDINI seen some vague things but nothing concrete. seems to go back to the old MHZ rating almost a 3.8 will out do a 2.4 no matter what the processor unless they are generations apart (pentium 4 - i7 is a far enough gap) but QX - i7 aint.

No proof the I7 is faster in rendering or practical manipulation of the packages interface.

 

[3dguyx]

thank you

Yes to the video card but again that is most as its a processor only question offered up. But unless you can afford a Quadro fX or firegl big boy. Ill stick to my cheap GX2.

Bench marks for i7 rarely beat a QX9650 here and there.



Again no proof the i7 have any practical advantage on the QX9650.

 

[3dguyx]

Seems the Nehalem i7 was touted as a fast chip but just ends upbing a good processor not a paradigm shift for speed.

 

[3dguyx]

nice and thank you much.


price and bang for the buck is case in point.


Stability as well as speed and just wanting something that will last and be at least a good piece of my tiny render farm.

so seems its an x48 chipset(rampage may be) and the QX9650 + 9800 GX2 850 antec PSU




what about ram, *** hot ram? at least a flavor of DDR3?

 

[sailer]

what about ram, *** hot ram? at least a flavor of DDR3?

If you get the Formula Rampage, which I use, then DDR2 ram would be used. I use 8 gig of OCZ DDR2-800 ram and have it at 2.1v and running 920mhz, though it can be taken as high as 1066mhz. Anandtech had a good article on this board here: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208 with some talk about ram here: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208&p=4

Specific brands that I've used with success are OCZ, Corsair, and Mushkin. There are other good brands as well. I decided to save some money and get DDR2-800 and clock it higher, as much of the DDR2-1066 is just factory overclocked DDR2-800 anyway.

As Wusy said, if you go to the the DDR3 Maximus Extreme board, the best ram package would probably be DDR3-1066/1333 in a 2x2 gig package, or if you want, a 4x2 package. I don't think the brand of ram matters as much as that its a high quality ram.

 

[arkadi]

I wonder what you all talking about...if you can get i7 instead of good but old and end of the line CPU , i can't find a reason not to do it....I7 will smoke the old quad on almost any fronts, performance, over clocking, and flexibility. The x58 boards are grate, many of them support sli and cross fire, the ram kits well priced. You have 2 be crazy not to get one. Just do more home work you will see. The good and old core2 make sense only if you on the budget and want to use cheap main board and cheap ddr2.

 

[3dguyx]

smoke may if you call 5% speeds gain only in some areas smoke and the i7 falls behind in other practical areas. Please don't say it beats it on all fronts, that is very wrong.

 

[3dguyx]

still looking for some practical proof? i7 vs QX9650

 

[3dguyx]

whoopeee what does this junk mean I mean honestly, 5 more FPS in some game or what? love to see a practical applications test.


http://www.passmark.com/baselines/top.html

Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz 5402 6
Intel Core i7 940 @ 2.93GHz 6062 4
Intel Core i7 965 @ 3.20GHz 6703 2

Intel Core2 Extreme X9650 @ 3.00GHz 4357 18
Intel Core2 Extreme X9750 @ 3.16GHz 4359 17
Intel Core2 Extreme X9770 @ 3.20GHz 4874 10

what 20% faster, what about long term stability? still i feel we will fall prey to i7 hype?

 

[3dguyx]

anyone see the new i7 overclock? looks tricky best board was the rampage 2

 

[3dguyx]

Better still X58 is unstable over the long haul overclocking.