Hello,
I am building a gaming machine for the first time. I am working with a budget of between $1500 and $2000. I plan on keeping this computer for 3-4 years, therefore upgrading is a factor. I also plan to learn how to overclock. However, I am stuck on a few things.
I have narrowed down the motherboards to two choices:
ASUS P6X58D-E X58 ATX LGA1366 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFire SLI USB3.0 SATA 6GB/S ($261), or
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 4PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 Sound GLAN CrossFireX SLI ($222)
The Gigabyte seems to have slightly more features but the Asus seems to have better options/patented technologies of their own (i.e. Asus turboV or gateway express SSD to name a couple). The Asus mobo is slightly more expensive than the Gigabyte mobo. The same is true for video cards. This is making me lean slightly to the Gigabyte because I assume I am paying more for the brand name than anything else. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong since I am not sure myself.
The CPU I will use is a i7 930
Does this Asus mobo support hexacore CPU's? Do all LGA1366 motherboards support hexacore CPU's? I plan on upgrading in the future.
I will most likely be purchasing the HD5970 ATI graphic card because i will buy another in a year and a half when they go down in price and use two in crossfire mode (four GPU's has me excited and worried at the same time). I was thinking about doing this with an HD 5870 but figure the latter idea is a better option. What do u guys think?
Do both graphics cards in crossfire mode have to be the same?
Memory: whichever of the two motherboards I chose both feature a total capacity of 24Gb of memory. I will want to use my machine to its fullest extent so I envision myself using 24GB somewhere down the road. Because 4Gb and 6Gb modules are expensive right now i was thinking of just buying 4GB of memory (2x2GB). The plan is that since the motherboard features 6 DIMM sockets I buy 8GB (2x4GB) when 4GB modules are cheaper and then later on down the road 12GB (2x6GB). My reasoning for doing it this way is i do not overpay for memory at any point in time and can utilize 24GB of memory without having to replace any memory modules (thus saving me more money).
Is this sound reasoning?
Another concern of mine is: Do all the memory modules have to have the exact same speeds and timings or can each module have different specs?
I really do appreciate any thoughts, opinions or suggestions.
I am building a gaming machine for the first time. I am working with a budget of between $1500 and $2000. I plan on keeping this computer for 3-4 years, therefore upgrading is a factor. I also plan to learn how to overclock. However, I am stuck on a few things.
I have narrowed down the motherboards to two choices:
ASUS P6X58D-E X58 ATX LGA1366 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFire SLI USB3.0 SATA 6GB/S ($261), or
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 4PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 Sound GLAN CrossFireX SLI ($222)
The Gigabyte seems to have slightly more features but the Asus seems to have better options/patented technologies of their own (i.e. Asus turboV or gateway express SSD to name a couple). The Asus mobo is slightly more expensive than the Gigabyte mobo. The same is true for video cards. This is making me lean slightly to the Gigabyte because I assume I am paying more for the brand name than anything else. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong since I am not sure myself.
The CPU I will use is a i7 930
Does this Asus mobo support hexacore CPU's? Do all LGA1366 motherboards support hexacore CPU's? I plan on upgrading in the future.
I will most likely be purchasing the HD5970 ATI graphic card because i will buy another in a year and a half when they go down in price and use two in crossfire mode (four GPU's has me excited and worried at the same time). I was thinking about doing this with an HD 5870 but figure the latter idea is a better option. What do u guys think?
Do both graphics cards in crossfire mode have to be the same?
Memory: whichever of the two motherboards I chose both feature a total capacity of 24Gb of memory. I will want to use my machine to its fullest extent so I envision myself using 24GB somewhere down the road. Because 4Gb and 6Gb modules are expensive right now i was thinking of just buying 4GB of memory (2x2GB). The plan is that since the motherboard features 6 DIMM sockets I buy 8GB (2x4GB) when 4GB modules are cheaper and then later on down the road 12GB (2x6GB). My reasoning for doing it this way is i do not overpay for memory at any point in time and can utilize 24GB of memory without having to replace any memory modules (thus saving me more money).
Is this sound reasoning?
Another concern of mine is: Do all the memory modules have to have the exact same speeds and timings or can each module have different specs?
I really do appreciate any thoughts, opinions or suggestions.
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