Hello everyone,
I have been browsing this forum for some time now and have discovered that the people here are very knowledgeable about everything PC related. I hope you guys can help me weigh the pros and cons of each board and come to a conclusion about which one best suits my needs.
I travel around the world once a year or so and end up living somewhere entirely new due to the nature of my job and so I am in the process of building a powerful rig with as few compromises as possible but in the smallest and lightest package without sacrificing future upgradability. The motherboard is where things have gotten difficult since I have already decided on an AMD mATX build with either a 955/965 or 1055T depending on prices in 3 weeks time along with either a 5850 or 5870. As a result of these choices and my desire to make my PC as future proof as possible I have decided I should purchase a board with both Sata 3 and USB 3.0 support. I have chosen the following boards from MSI as they seems to pack in the most features for the money:
MSI 890GXM-G65
MSI 880GMA-E45
Both boards carry very similar features aside from the two obvious differences. The MSI 890GXM-G65 has better cooling and power phase features as well as the ability to hold two graphics cards at 8x/8x. However, despite originally thinking that this was an obvious choice due to these advantages, I can't deny the fact that the 880G board has two PCI Express ports available for a sound card. The MSI 890GXM-G65 cannot install a PCI Express card if a graphics card is also installed on the system, and when you install two graphics cards you can kiss the PCI expansion slot goodbye as well.
If I wasn't such a nitpicker for sound quality as well as visual quality then I would easily choose the 890 board. Yet, I am sort of an audiophile at times and would love to add an Auzentech X-Fi Forte with a built in headphone amp to power my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros when watching movies, listening to music, and playing games. In a sense, I just don't trust the on-board Realtek sound to give me the quality I'm looking for but at the same time this limits my upgradability options as far as graphics cards are concerned.
If I had the money I would simply get a 5970 and the 880G board and call it a day but a 5850 at present with the option to crossfire later is very appealing as well.
What do you guys think?
I have been browsing this forum for some time now and have discovered that the people here are very knowledgeable about everything PC related. I hope you guys can help me weigh the pros and cons of each board and come to a conclusion about which one best suits my needs.
I travel around the world once a year or so and end up living somewhere entirely new due to the nature of my job and so I am in the process of building a powerful rig with as few compromises as possible but in the smallest and lightest package without sacrificing future upgradability. The motherboard is where things have gotten difficult since I have already decided on an AMD mATX build with either a 955/965 or 1055T depending on prices in 3 weeks time along with either a 5850 or 5870. As a result of these choices and my desire to make my PC as future proof as possible I have decided I should purchase a board with both Sata 3 and USB 3.0 support. I have chosen the following boards from MSI as they seems to pack in the most features for the money:
MSI 890GXM-G65
MSI 880GMA-E45
Both boards carry very similar features aside from the two obvious differences. The MSI 890GXM-G65 has better cooling and power phase features as well as the ability to hold two graphics cards at 8x/8x. However, despite originally thinking that this was an obvious choice due to these advantages, I can't deny the fact that the 880G board has two PCI Express ports available for a sound card. The MSI 890GXM-G65 cannot install a PCI Express card if a graphics card is also installed on the system, and when you install two graphics cards you can kiss the PCI expansion slot goodbye as well.
If I wasn't such a nitpicker for sound quality as well as visual quality then I would easily choose the 890 board. Yet, I am sort of an audiophile at times and would love to add an Auzentech X-Fi Forte with a built in headphone amp to power my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros when watching movies, listening to music, and playing games. In a sense, I just don't trust the on-board Realtek sound to give me the quality I'm looking for but at the same time this limits my upgradability options as far as graphics cards are concerned.
If I had the money I would simply get a 5970 and the 880G board and call it a day but a 5850 at present with the option to crossfire later is very appealing as well.
What do you guys think?
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