Help pick my motherboard

[duke44jb]

I am going to order my computer today. Trying to figure out the best configuration. It is going to be used mainly for internet browsing, some photoshop, and just for general use. I am getting an INtel Quad Core i7 2.66 GHz processor. My question is which motherboard should I go with?

ASUS P6X58D -ATX- INTEL X 58 CHIPSET
or
INTEL DX58SO -ATX- INTEL X58 CHIPSET

The ASUS cost is $80 more. Is it worth it? Which one should I get?

 

[o1die]

If you don't overclock, get the Intel. x58 is overkill for what you use your system for. If you live near frys, they have some i5 and i7 combos for less. You won't notice the speed difference.

 

[capt_taco]

First, unless you're planning on doing some intense gaming or HEAVY-DUTY photo and video editing, you're building a system that is WAY overkill. I would seriously look into an AMD-based triple-core or quad-core, which should be half the cost and be more than enough for your needs.

Second, Intel boards are pieces of crap. You're basically limited to only running standard-issue low-performance parts at stock settings, and even that doesn't work sometimes. I would only get one if it was cheap and I was using it for a low-end machine to do office tasks.

Third, another thing the Asus board has over the Intel one is support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s, which you'll definitely want if you're building a new machine now. So in that respect, and for the reasons mentioned above, if this was the only choice I had, I'd pay the extra $80 to get the Asus.

However, you don't need a $300 board unless it's for SERIOUS gaming. If you go the AMD route, you can get a board with both of those features for less than half the price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

So anyway ... it's up to you, but I'd say unless you're up to something you didn't mention in the original post, there's no need to spend upwards of $1,000 on a bleeding-edge machine when you can get an amazing, almost-bleeding-edge machine for $600 or so.