Need advice on a new motherboard

Hello everyone,

well I'm in the process of putting together a new computer and I could use a little advice.

Here is the components I chose:

• GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-EXTREME LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128350)

•EVGA 512-P3-N873-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130376)

•Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037)

Now heres the problem I'm having, my motherboard shipped in non functional used condition so I RMA'd it to New Egg and they informed me that they could not replace it because they had sent me the last unit. So now I am unsure of what motherboard to get, I liked the GA-EP45T-EXTREME because it seemed pretty robust and upgradeable for quite a while.

What motherboard do you think I should get? I need to keep the price under $266.


PS i am considering this motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188024)

If you haven't bought the DDR3 yet, you're in luck. You can get a much cheaper eVGA 750i FTW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 750i%20ftw
and some (cheaper) DDR2.

If you haven't bought anything yet, consider switching to an X48 MB with DDR2 and a pair of HD 4850 cards. The Intel X48 is more stable than nVidia's chipsets, and HD 4850 CF will usually beat 9800GTX+ SLI. Edit: or a GA-EP45-UD3R ($104) and a HD 4870 X2. That beats both 790i MB + 9800GTX SLI and X48 + HD 4850 CF and it's cheaper too.

I recommend getting 2 identical less expensive boards if you don't like downtime. It can take 2-3 weeks for an rma to the manufacturer, and they may send you a completely different board. I never spend more than $100 for any motherboard, but if you'll use all the x48 features, then get it.

this probably sounds like a stupid question but what do you mean by x48 features?

You could go with the EP-45 Extreme instead. It uses DDR2 instead of DDR3.

I know that it doesn't support SLI. You can't use either X48 or P45 with two nVidia cards in SLI. You need a 750i or 780i board for that.

Seems like a good deal but I also don't know what 48x is.

Google "x48 chipset" for example.