Best P55 motherboard Nov. 2010

kernal mantis

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Nov 25, 2010
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Hi all,

Im looking to upgrade my computer. (i built it in '06 with an X2 4400+, 4gb ram, and DFI lanparty UT mobo. Ive upgraded the video a few times to GTX 260 (oc'ed to 756, 1512, 1116)) Ive also got a water cooling loop just on the video card right now. Anyway, Im looking to upgrade to an i5 760 and put a waterblock on it for OCing. Im looking into different motherboards with SLI/Crossfire including some with Fuzion tech (different video cards, same board). Ive read the review here on Toms about the Fuzion and am on the fence about the new tech, but sounds awesome. So anyone that has experience with these boards or good current P55 boards and could shed some light on the best ones right now would be appreciated, thanks
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Do you plan on mixing cards? HydraLogix could be a great option as it's developed further, but right now I don't think it's worth the extra $35.
 
Your mobo is the LANPARTY UT NF590 SLI on AM2 with DDR2?

A mobo with fusion is the MSI Big Bang Fusion and this allow to run AMD and Nvidia cards at the same time:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130259

But since Nvidia cripples a lot of features if their driver detects a card from the competition it's not worth it. The cheaper 1156 boards can do both crossfire and SLI just not Nvidia+AMD cards.

You can get a new platform (mobo/CPU/RAM) on 1156 and run your GTX 260 until you get a new video card. That new card won't work in SLI with the old one unless it's the same card. You can get a new platform on AM3. You can get the AM2+ platform, the AM3 CPU and reuse your DDR2 RAM.

1156 SLI and CF:

Intel Core i5-760
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621
G.SKILL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

$439.97

AM3 with Crossfire, no SLI:

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO + AMD Phenom II X4 955
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.552990
Same RAM

$329.97

AM2+, no SLI or CF:

MSI 785GT-E63
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130266
or Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Socket-DDR2-Motherboard-GA-MA770-UD3/dp/B001PPY12W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1290678401&sr=8-1

AMD Phenom II X4 955
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

$234.98


 

kernal mantis

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No my mobo is much older than that. Its the LANPARTY UT 3200 cfx. Its running socket 939 and ddr 400.

The only thing that I can really take from it is my video card, water cool setup, and psu (700 w OCZ). Id like to just upgrade the mobo/ram/cpu combination and am impressed with the i5-760 for its OC potential and good reviews. I would go with AMD again, but it feels like Intel has the market right now. I like the Hydralogix/Fuzion thing and was Thinking of perhaps in the future mixing cards to get the bes of both worlds.... but that doesnt really seem to be the case as crashman pointed out.
 

kernal mantis

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I would like to to be able to get the best of both ATI (or AMD, whatever) and Nvidia, but the tech is still new and I dont want to buy something that going to die in the next little while (see PhYsx cards). Do you think the i5-760 is a good OC'er? Thats the big thing right now Im looking at for proc's in the AMD vs Intel thing. Im going to add a second loop for the processor and perhaps the chipset if i can find some blocks on a P55.
 
Both the 760 and the 955 are very good at overclock, the Intel is stronger in some applications, the AMD is much easier to overclock since it has the unlocked multiplier (black edition) and it's cheaper. Both are very good and fast enough.

Do you need SLI or crossfire? If you're buying a new video card (GTX 460 or AMD 6850 AMD 6870) you can get a cheaper non SLI/CF mobo like the one in this combo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.552987

For AMD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.543364

Since you plan to OC you can also get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.543354
 

kernal mantis

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I would like to SLI this time around, but i cant afford a new card right now. the 260 has been doing great for me thus far. The real big reason I was looking into the Fuzion/Hyrdalogics solution is so that I could still use my 260 and later add a newer card to have them both running. But im not sure how well thatd work
 

kernal mantis

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Ya thats true. Ill probably end up getting a second gtx 260. or just sell the one ive got (which is dfficult to do anymore). I got the board I have for Crossfire way back when, but never had the money to do it. Id like to finally give that whole thing a go