Suitable motherboard for i5 750

[welliam]

Hello,
I am confused about choosing suitable motherboard for intel core i5 750, can you recommend me one for single and double vga ?

- I see this motherboard GA-P55-USB3 and I see it has two PCI one PCI 2.0 and one PCI x16 at x4 what does this mean ?
- is it possible to install two vga on this motherboard ?
- is it possible to install two vga one of them is sli and the other has sli connection ?



Thanks

 

[ekoostik]

- I see this motherboard GA-P55-USB3 and I see it has two PCI one PCI 2.0 and one PCI x16 at x4 what does this mean ?

If you put a graphics card in there it will not run as well as the x16, or x8 slots (which other motherboards have but this one does not). However it could be used for other components as well that require an expansion slot.

- is it possible to install two vga on this motherboard ?

Yes if they are AMD cards you could CrossFire them, but it is not recommended because the performance degradation on the second card, which is running at x4, is so low.

- is it possible to install two vga one of them is sli and the other has sli connection ?

It is not possible to run SLI on this board.

If you want SLI or true Cross Fire, look for a board that has two PCIe channels that run in x8, x8. The card should say that it is certified for SLI. You should be looking at P55 motherboards.

You picked a USB3 and SATA 3 motherboard. If you want a USB 3 and SATA 3 motherboard, these are the ones I could find on newegg right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%201070549182%20107172615%201796849719&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE
EXCEPT: Two of those boards do not support SLI/CF. The Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 and the GA-P55A-UD3P. There may be others but those are the only two I noticed. Again, if you want SLI / CrossFire, look for one that says something like: 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16 or dual at x8 / x8 mode).

The other thing to note is that if you want SLI / CF and the new implementations of SATA 3 and USB 3, Gigabyte's board makes some sacrifices. You'll see on the link I sent the Gigabyte boards say "Note: When dual graphics cards are used in 1st and 2nd PCIex16 slots, SATA3 / USB 3.0 (Marvell 9128 /NEC USB 3.0 Controllers) will work at normal mode." The following Tom's article states "while those with two cards must live with 2.5 Gb/s bandwidth limits on USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s controllers." The articles follows up stating the sacrifice "is [not] huge or even noticeable on most of today’s hardware". It's a good article to give you an understanding of how it works on the Gigabyte and ASUS boards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-performance,2490.html

 

[welliam]

many thanks,
- what this mean :
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16) 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (@x4 mode, 2.5GT/s)

- many people complain about the asus:
Cons: DOA. nothing to so... cpu led on, fail to boost
what DOA mean ??
other reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=13-131-407&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Page=1&Keywords=

- can I install DDR2 on motherboards P55 ?

Thanks

 

[ekoostik]

many thanks,
- what this mean :
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16) 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (@x4 mode, 2.5GT/s)

That means it cannot run SLI and if you put in two AMD cards in CrossFire it will run CrossFire, but at a disadvantage. I can't find any articles right now that show the performance difference between x16, x4 and x8, x8.

- many people complain about the asus:
Cons: DOA. nothing to so... cpu led on, fail to boost
what DOA mean ??

DOA = Dead On Arrival. Every once in a while someone's going to receive a bad board. That can't be prevented by any manufacturer.

can I install DDR2 on motherboards P55 ?

No. It must be DDR3 and it must run at 1.65V or less. Personally, I would look for 1.5V or less. With an i5 750 you cannot run at frequency greater than 1333 MHz without OCing your CPU or making trade-offs such as disabling Turbo.

Here's two RAM articles you may find useful:
Value DDR3 For Intel's P55: Six 4GB Kits Rounded Up
LGA 1156 Memory Performance: What Speed DDR3 Should You Buy?

 

[welliam]

Best answer selected by mdk4ever.

 

[welliam]

With an i5 750 you cannot run at frequency greater than 1333 MHz without OCing your CPU or making trade-offs such as disabling Turbo.

sorry what is OCing and what is turbo , it is in CPU ? is it important ? I cant buy i7 now so is there any other choices ?

 

[ekoostik]

OC = overclocking.

I'm not sure why you mentioned an i7 or asked about other choices. You can get an i5 750 and 1333 MHz RAM. Is that your plan?

 

[welliam]

yes yes , I dont mind have 1333 mhz as a maximum, many thanks appreciate your help

what do you think of the asrock motherboard, it has very good rate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157172&cm_re=p55-_-13-157-172-_-Product

 

[ekoostik]

I try to base my decisions on actual reviews. Comments from retail sites factor less into my equation. I don't have any experience with Asrock so I can't comment on it. But I did find one article that discusses it you may want to look at. Or google around for more information: http://www.techspot.com/review/214-intel-p55-motherboard-roundup/

Here's two other articles that discuss Asrock boards, but not the Extreme, as well as other manufacturers:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/lga-1156-motherboard,2463.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-p55-motherboard,2436.html

 

[welliam]

thanks alot

 

[ekoostik]

you're welcome. good luck.