A board for I5

I went to a shop just now to get some parts for my computer. And I was told the board i wanted the ASUS P7P55D EVO was outdated because it doesnt not have the USB 3 feature and i should chose a USB 3 board. The salesman suggested the ASUS P7P55D-E which i noticed runs a second GPU at a slower speed(if i want to do crossfire/sli) or MSI P55A-G55 which i heard is quite a good board for gaming.

Overall can anyone suggest to me a board which can support 2 GPU(for future needs) and
Whats the difference between USB 2 and 3 how many times is it faster?
and difference between Sata 2 and 3.

Thanks!

Here is one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128409 that MSI looks good to.
Neither technology is mainstream but will be.
SATA3 6GB SATA2 3GB answers it self. USB2 480Mbit/s USB3 4.8Gbits/s

I believe the connector is the same it is just a speed difference. Both boards are good but if any then the Asus has a better reputation. I personally would buy the MSI.

best lga 1156 motherboard price vs performance is the asus p7p55d e pro

The problem is the limited number of data paths on the 1156 platform. On boards supporting USB/SATA 3.0:

- Both Asus and Gigabyte run a single vid card at X16. USB/SATA 3.0 works at 3.0 speed.

- When a second vid card is installed:
-- Gigabyte runs the cards at x16-x8, and USB/SATA 3.0 drops back to 2.0 speed. So you get crossfire while losing only a few percentage points of FPS vs x16-x16.
-- Asus runs both cards at x8-x8 leaving paths available to run USB/SATA 3.0 at 3.0 speeds. So you get crossfire while losing several more percentage points vs Gigabyte's approach.

Regardless of manufacturer, there will be some trade-off like this, and you need to choose your poison. For me, gaming FPS is more important and if I am protecting against needing crossfire, I'm going to want more of its performance than I need or would use USB/SATA 3.0 speeds over the life of a build done today. YMMV.

Actually, you must choose an approach - I just told you what I would choose and why to start you thinking about it.

Comparing 3 Gigabyte boards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 128-409-TS

UD3 supports crossfire @ x16-x4 and SATA/USB 3.0 simultaneously, UD3P adds eSATA + some features, UD4P supports crossfire & SLI at x16-x8 dropping USB/SATA 3.0.

Asus' current P55 line is a bit different:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 131-617-TS

$140 - Crossfire @ x16-x4, simultaneous USB/SATA 3.0
$150 - Crossfire @ x8-x8, no 3.0 support
$160 - Crossfire @ x8-x8, no 3.0 support, eSATA & some other features
$240 - Crossfire and SLI @ x8-x8, simultaneous USB or SATA 3.0 support

This Asrock board (Asus made) supports both SLI & Crossfire @ x8-x8, with simultaneous USB/SATA 3.0:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157193

No! None of current GPU´s can max out the bandwidth of the 16x and only the most powerful ones come close on the 8x. Two cards on 8x is almost double the performance of 1 card at 16x

Even at highest resolution with a HD5870 the difference in performance between 16x and 8x is only 2% http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews [...] ng/25.html

For the price it is!

It is not to cheap. USB2 is mainstream today a year from now USB3 will be more common, it is called progress.

get the asus board

Asus & Giga are generally recognized as the highest quality boards, with the Asus costing more and often performing marginally (unnoticably in general use) better. Asrock and MSI are generally seen as second tier boards, acceptable values and sometimes each brand produces performance surprises. At this point in time with a budget, none of these boards would be considered a mistake.

Here's an article that talks about the restricted number of paths and its impact on, eg, SLI that might interest you:

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2696.html

From articles like this, the general belief goes something like this:

If a single card gives 100 FPS in a game, SLI might give 175 (crossfire somewhat less) at x16-x16. At x16-x8 SLI FPS might drop to 165, and at x8-x8 to 155. Crossfire numbers would run parallel, but lower due to scaling differences.

Finally, give some thought to whether you'd really by a 3.0 HD for this rig, and what performance would improve if you did. Or if you had USB 3.0, what plug-in device would you use it for, and how often. And what are the odds you will need or install crossfire/SLI?

I've told you that for me, SLI/crossfire would be more important, because if I need it, I want higher FPS. If I don't have USB/SATA 3.0, I'm not sure I would miss it or even use it over the next few years. YMMV.

I am not sure if this was cleared up yet, but USB 3.0 ports work fine with usb2 devices. USB3 add additional contacts in the back for 3.0 devices but still works with usb2 devices. I know this since i have 3 boards with usb3(H55N-usb3, X58A-UD5 and 770T-usb3)

I think i will choose the MSI board its faster and cheaper. Because i am not going to pay for a SATA 3 Harddisk (which i just checked earlier on)for 3x the price of a SATA 2