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Gaming Motherboard Advice...?

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  • Motherboards
  • Product
Last response: in Motherboards
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August 28, 2008 10:32:01 PM

Hey guys,
I was wondering if you guys could offer me some advice on motherboards.
I am planning on using an Intel processor and prefer Crossfire. The system is watercooled. From what I understand X48 is the best route to go. DDR3 or DDR2, either one doesn't matter. I am starting from scratch again since I finished college and no longer have need of a laptop.

Second thing, what type of PSU would I need for a general system like this. Motherboard w/ Intel Proccessor
2xGPU (using crossfire)
12gb RAM
4 or 6 Harddrives using RAID 0 or 5
Watercooling system

I am hoping to spend about $1,500 total on a new system and I am not heavy into overclocking and tweaking but hoping to work my way there slowly. So any advice on components or anything else is appreciated!

More about : gaming motherboard advice

a b V Motherboard
August 28, 2008 10:56:59 PM

Unless you want to Crossfire 2 4870x2, a non-crossfire (P45) board + a 4870x2 would probably cost less and give better performance.
August 28, 2008 11:00:39 PM

I was reading and everyone has recommended exactly what you are saying across many sites. Then what would be the best P45/X48 board within a $250 price range considering the info from above?
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a b V Motherboard
August 28, 2008 11:15:07 PM

Many people seem to like and recommend the Asus P5Q Pro and it's only 140$. Don't let prices fool you, today's motherboard price don't make much of a performance difference. With a single card setup a 300$ X48 board will perform nearly as well a a 100$ P45 one.
August 29, 2008 5:05:34 AM

I have the Asus Rampage Formula and although it's expensive (~$300) it is an outstanding board. The only thing I wish it had is e-sata but other than that it's great.
a b V Motherboard
August 29, 2008 10:18:58 AM

The 2 boards you were looking at are good, but they are worth the upgrade only if they got features you want (not quite sure what the P5Q Deluxe has over Pro, I think it's the optical audio output and eSATA port). Other than features, none of them will give you a performance boost remotely equal to the ~45%+ price increase unless you want to use Crossfire (in which case the performance gain of X48 does reach ~45%, but this does not apply to single dual-gpu card like the 4870x2).
!