Help me pick a gaming mobo

[kristjin]

Hi all, thanks for taking a few minutes to read my questions.

I am upgrading my existing PC. I am upgrading the motherboard and processor, but keeping the rest for now. I would like recommendations (and reasons for the recommendation) on the motherboard. Here's what I got:

XFX GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB video
1-500 GB SATA main hard drive
4-500 GB SATA hard drives in RAID5
2-DVD-R
4 GB DDR2 800

I need to retain my array. There's 750GB of music there, and I use an external 1.5TB box to back it up. On two separate occasions, I have lost my entire music collection and have had to start over, so I insist on having both the internal array as well as the external backup.

The video card seemed, when I bought it, that it might one day get matched with a twin for sli mode, but more likely it will be replaced entirely with something more current when I get to the point of upgrading the video. That isn't happening now. When I DO upgrade it, I am not insistent on nVidia.

I absolutely intend to overclock this system as much as possible.

I will be purchasing an E8600 processor.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Proximon]

ASUS P5Q -E is a great overclocker, and has a solid RAID controller with plenty of SATA ports.

You could move up the ladder from there, but it's a pretty good price and has the features you seem to want. The whole ASUS P45 line will OC, and features are added the more you pay, but I don't think the Deluxe or Maximus have much more to offer you.

Gigabyte has a similar board, and I think DFI might as well.

P45 is probably what you want.

An argument could be made for P35 because of price, but it's not that much less and often needs a BIOS update to work with Wolfdales.

 

[kristjin]

I've currently got a P5WD-2 Premium, and my experience with Asus has given me confidence to buy their brand again. I have been looking at the Maximus II Formula as well. Can you tell me what the pros and cons would be between going with a Maximus II Formula and the P5Q-E? I see the Deluxe version is a DDR3 flavor, so that's not what I'm after. Thank you for your help!

 

[Proximon]

Actually there are two Deluxe versions, one is DDR2. Possibly there is a Premium in there too, but that is likely DDR3.

I have heard some bad things about Maximus II, but they escape me right now. You should find the base board is very similar between all 3. The Maximus will have the best cooling, including easy installation of a water block on the northbridge. Plus of course the X-fi sound card. And energy saving.

The Deluxe will have slightly better cooling and slightly better energy saving than the -E.

There should not be any significant performance differences between the 3.