Need some advice on a new motherboard

berlin88

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I currently have an Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe and an AMD AM2 Athlon 64x2 4200+ and am looking at upgrading to a new CPU / Motherboard. My current board and CPU are from August 2006, and its time for an upgrade.

I will be upgrading to either the AMD AM3 Phenom II Quad Core 955, 965 or the new 6 core processor. For the video card, I will be sticking with my EVGA 9800GTX+, which I have had since early 2009.

Which AMD friendly boards / brands are currently the best options for Nvidia users? Are they still making SLI compatible boards? I have never done SLI before, but I have always gotten SLI compatible boards in case I ever got around to getting a 2nd Nvidia GPU. In the past I have used both Asus and MSI boards, but have yet to try any of the other manufacturers.

Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to help me.


EDIT: I should also point out that I have an old Augidy 2 ZS Gamer sound card that I still use (got it June 2004), so either the new board would need to support my audio card, or have decent on board Audio. My speaker setup is old set of Logitech Z-640 Speakers.
 

berlin88

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Thanks for the link. Both the MSI and Asus board would meet my current needs and are at a reasonable price.

With that said, should I be concerned by the fact Nvidia has stopped making new chip sets? Will the supply of Nvidia Graphics cards or Nvidia supported AMD motherboards be a problem down the road? In another year or two I will have to consider transitioning to a newer graphics card.

While I would prefer to stick with my EVGA 9800GTX+ as it still works just fine, I have been looking online and noticing that many of the AMD related motherboards are catering to ATI cards and Crosffire mode, with fewer options for Nvidia and SLI. My last ATI card was a Radeon 9600XT way back in 2004 and the only cards I have used since then were a PNY 7600GT and my current EVGA 9800GTX+.



 
Since AMD took over ATI they have catered for their cards and the best AMD boards are now with AMD chip sets and support CF. If people want to SLI today we usually recommend Intel based system since most of them support both. LGA1156 and 1366 are both good platforms that equal or do better than the top AMD platforms.
 

tecmo34

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In addition, Intel is releasing their new Sandy Bridge platform (LGA 1155) next month that looks to be very promising (it replaces the LGA 1156 platform).

It will become more and more difficult to get AMD / Nvidia boards. The only hope is the Lucid technology gets more defined and better. This gives you the ability to "mix" cards on the same motherboard. In theory, you could run a Nvidia SLI setup on an AMD board.
 

berlin88

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Given that Nvidia has exited the chipset business for now, perhaps I should transition to ATI?

I would love to continue using AMD boards / processors, since all my processors in the past have been AMD chips. However, like i Mentioned in my above post, my EVGA 9800GTX+ still works just fine and is not even 2 years old yet, so I am reluctant to replace it so soon. I also didn't plan on buying a new card, so didn't factor that into my budgeting.

However, if I buy a new Nvidia friendly board right now, I May end up replaing it in 2 years or so when it comes time to replace my Graphics card. Seems like it might be better to simply transition to an ATI Crossfire board now, rather than having to buy a brand new mother board in a couple years, along with a new graphics card. Coming up with the extra money for a brand new video card might be a little difficult in the short term, but would likely save me some money long term.

What ATI card would be comparable to my current EVGA 9800GTX+ in performance? The 5870?
 

berlin88

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I am still satisfied with the performance of my single 9800GTX+ and its unlikely I will be doing an SLI setup with my current card.

The reason I was discussing the possible transition to an ATI card, is the fact so many of the AMD support Motherboards now support ATI Graphics cards rather than Nvidia. The selection of good AMD boards that also support Nvidia graphics cards is getting a lot smaller, now that Nvidia has exited the chipset market.

I am concerned that down the road, the lack of Nvidia supported AMD boards will force me to either move to Intel boards, try that Hybrid Lucid technology or transition to an ATI setup. My current M2N-SLI Deluxe has lasted 4+ years, and I would anticipate using the new board for a smililar length of time, unless something forces me to upgrade sooner.

Long term, will it be viable to stick with a combination of Nvidia Graphics card / AMD CPU or will I eventually have to transition to ATI Graphics cards if I want to continue using AMD CPU's / boards? While it would be more expensive up front to switch to an ATI based system, it might save me some money long term if thats where things are headed.

Running SLI or Crossfire is not a requirement, just a nice bonus if I ever bother to buy two cards instead of one. I just need to know that down the road, there will still be AMD motherboards that support whatever brand of graphics card I own.


EDIT: One other question I just thought of. If I am just using a single Nvidia graphics card, can I use it with a board designed for ATI Crossfire?

If its possible, then that might be the route I should take. Purchase a Crossfire ready board now and then use the 9800GTX+ until I am ready and able to upgrade to a newer card in a year or two.
 

berlin88

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This thread can be closed.


Made my part selections as follows:


AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition $159.99
Asus M4A87TD / USB3 109.99 - $40 bundle discount - $10 mail in rebate = 59.99
OCZ 1600 4GB memory (2x 2GB) - 89.99 - $20 mail in rebate = $69.99

Finale price was 320 + tax - $30 in rebates, so about $313 when all is said a done.

I decided on the OCZ memory over Corsair since it was slightly cheaper and slightly faster. The corsair was 9-9-9-24 and the OCZ was 8-8-8-24. Decided against an SLI or Crossfire board, as its highly unlikely I will be doing a dual graphics card setup.

Ended up purchasing my items from Microcenter instead of Newegg, as Microcenter had both the board and processor I wanted in stock and gave me a $40 discount for buying a bundle. Along with that, I got a $10 mail in rebate on the board and $20 mail in rebate on the memory. With the rebates and discounts, the final price (counting sales tax) was a little lower than Neweggs for the board and processor, but slightly higher on the memory.


Thanks to tecmo34 and rolli59 for the help!
 
[EDIT: One other question I just thought of. If I am just using a single Nvidia graphics card, can I use it with a board designed for ATI Crossfire?

If its possible, then that might be the route I should take. Purchase a Crossfire ready board now and then use the 9800GTX+ until I am ready and able to upgrade to a newer card in a year or two.[/quotemsg]

A single Nvidia card on a CF board has no performance penalties and will run just as well as on any other board.
 

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