Can't decide between these two. PLEASE HELP!

[akondray]

So I'm a nub and can't figure out which one's better. I'm going to be using this in my new AMD gaming build.. I'm planning on crossfiring 6870s with it.


option 1:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131646
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

price: $119.99

option 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131636&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=
ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

price :139.99


I just can't figure out why option 1 would be $20 cheaper and yet have usb 3.0 support when the 139.99 one doesnt

 

[Maziar]

I don't know why the second option is cheaper but definitely go with the first one.
Because first of all you want to use 2 6870s on it and the second motherboard supports SLI not CF.
Second,(even if you wanted to use a single card)Nvidia chipsets aren't quite good as ATI chipsets for AMD CPUs.

 

[Emperus]

Even option 1 is useless as the second pci express port works at X4 speed.. Better opt for this -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435

 

[akondray]

I've been reading a lot of scary reviews about Gigabytes showing up either DOA or frying the pci ports upon boot. Is that something I should really be worried about?

 

[Emperus]

I've been reading a lot of scary reviews about Gigabytes showing up either DOA or frying the pci ports upon boot. Is that something I should really be worried about?

Really.!! I personnely have never heard or experienced any of that.. Have always found Gigabyte products (motherboards) to be of top notch quality bested only by Asus IMO.. My only grudge with Gigabyte motherboards is the pretty boring color scheme they employ.. But anyway, if you are not that sure then no reason for you to opt for them.. There are other motherboard manufactures with equally good products.. Asrock 890GX Extreme3 is an excellent option to consider.. Its also cheaper (price wise) compared to the Gigabyte motherboard..

 

[akondray]

I've really only been reading the reviews on Newegg itself so you never can be 100% sure of the honesty of reviews there.

Any thoughts on this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

I got recommended it in another thread

Oh and I saw you were the one who recommended I get 8g of DDR3 1600 ram. Would I really need 8g if I was just using my computer for gaming/photoshop?

 

[Maziar]

Even option 1 is useless as the second pci express port works at X4 speed..

Actually no,if it had a PCI-E slot then yes you were right, but things are different with PCI-E 2.0
You won't see much of a performance hit in x16x4 mode (compared to dual x8) with PCI-E 2.0 cards.

 

[akondray]

So I'd be fine going with option 1 after all?

I kinda was hoping for that because it has a good deal right now with the CPU I want

 

[swifty_morgan]

So I'd be fine going with option 1 after all?

I kinda was hoping for that because it has a good deal right now with the CPU I want

I'd go with the Gigabyte board listed above. I don't know where you heard they were not good boards but they are very dependable and run cooler running than all other boards IMO. And I wouldn't xfire a board with a 4x slot for my second card.

 

[Maziar]

So I'd be fine going with option 1 after all?

I kinda was hoping for that because it has a good deal right now with the CPU I want

Yes, its a great choice

 

[Emperus]

If its lower price for which you are opting for a 16x + 4x motherboard, then consider this also as an option -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275