I7 Motherboards 2011

[colinNCSU]

So I am building my first rig. I am set on the i7 920 which I will overclock eventually. I am searching for motherboards but pretty much all the discussions on this site and others on the topic of X58D motherboards are a year or two old. Has the discussion of best i7 motherboads changed at all? I am not exactly in need of PCI 2 (which is coming out later this year i think?) and I don't really need 3 way sli UNLESS these would be good to look for futureproof-wise. All I know is I want this build to carry me into this upcoming decade with pride. Is the Rampage II extreme (& its peers) something that I only really need for gaming? Because I don't really see myself doing any gaming, I am going to be producing digital audio on it. Basically that means producing electronica and dubstep music using ableton live and FL Studio. Thus, my only goals are to be able to crank the settings of these programs to full throttle in terms of CPU usage and to be able to do so on future releases of these programs.
I know that most of you guys are gamers so you are primed to talk mobos in a gaming context but just know that, from what I understand, all I need for music production is processor speed and ram. And if you are a producer and I am wrong please correct me on that.
I am going to have a firewire to Midi/Audio interface which means I don't even need an internal sound card.
All I want graphically is to be able to play bluray video in high quality into an HDMI monitor, and eventually have the ability to play 3D movies (not necessarily games) but if that means I need a GeForce graphics card then I am ok with that. I haven't been able to determine how I can get an HDMI port to eventually be able to plug in an HDMI capable monitor. I see a lot of DVI ports but how can I get an HDMI out. Is that not the motherboard's "jurisdiction?", I thought it was.
Basically I have all summer to accumulate parts for this machine and I don't really care about cost seeing as how higher cost will simply mean longer time till completion. This machine doesn't have a time frame I need to meet I'll simply boot it up whenever I have all the parts. All I want to know is what choices I have. If I have a choice between something that costs more and something that will suffice I'll drop the cash. If I have a choice between something that will be utterly useless no matter what the future brings and something that will suffice I'd rather not drop the extra cash.
Am I speaking gibberish yet? Sorry I'm not quite a computer engineer yet but I'm learning...
If there are any other threads that address this issue but perhaps I missed feel free to simply direct me to them and I'll read up but if anyone can quickly explain the non gaming required i7 motherboard situation in broad terms that would be great. Just give me the big picture of what to go search up on because I am just trying to get on the right track with my research and I am a bit lost thats all.

BIG THANKS!

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

No, the boards for the i7 920 CPU are pretty much the same as before -- just choose a good quality 1366 socket board (ASRock, A S U S [damn *SUS Partner Space crap -- I don't want the brand name bold and underlined], Gigabyte, or MSI) and be done with it.

No, the mainboard for that CPU doesn't do the graphics. To get any kind of monitor connection, you need a separate graphics card. That will supply the HDMI, DVI, and other ports.

Specific models I'd recommend:
ASRock X58 Extreme6
ASUS P6X58D-E
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
MSI X58A-GD45/GD65

 

[jaquith]

Welcome to Tom's Forums!

I am big fan of X58 and forthcoming X68, but my motivations are for Gaming 2/3/4-WAY SLI. BTW - some of us do and have more than Gaming rig, some have Workstations & Servers or are Enthusiasts.

Since you clearly don't have that need which are the X58/LGA 1366 & X68/LGA 2011 then I would look at the P67 and i7-2600 series CPUs. The older i7-980X is a 6-Core/6-Hyper Threads, but the i7-920 is a 4-core/4-Hyper Threads same as the i7-2600 series and for $30 more the i7-2600K unlocked Sandy Bridge is the wiser choice. Also, if you need extra RAM then look at a 3X4GB if less 3X2GB

Further, the P67/X58/X68 all lack onboard GPUs so you'll need to purchase a discrete GPU, the forthcoming Z68 has an onboard VGA/graphics with is fine for Blu-Ray.

Most importantly, if you're dead set on the i7-920 then I would look at:
A.SUS P6X58D-E
Info http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=gFBKfNyhppW9tDbB&templete=2
$220 Buying http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641

A.SUS P6X58D Premium {Dual LAN + eSATA accessory}
Info http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wurRaDZ8lo4Ckukj
$270 Buying http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Model CMP12GX3M3A1600C9
Info http://www2.corsair.com/configurator/product_results.aspx?id=1522755
$180 Buying http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145321

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 Model TR3X6G1600C8D
Info http://www2.corsair.com/configurator/product_results.aspx?id=1522755
$110 Buying http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224

Building Chart:

 

[colinNCSU]

Ok well in that case I will probably go with the 2600K. Since I will have to get a graphics card what would you guys recommend based on what I want to do?

 

[jaquith]

I use the HD 5770* on my pseudo Workstations primarily because I can run up to 3 monitors if needed. It's a so-so Gaming and I don't game on production PCs. *Blu-Ray requires the HD 6000 series; example HD 6850.

However, you mentioned 3D and nVidia so first you'll need a 3D Monitor {120Hz} which are very expensive -- twice the cost. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007617&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&SrchInDesc=3D&Page=1&PageSize=20

Both nVidia and ATI/AMD have their own versions of 3D.
ATI is HD3D http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-hd3d/Pages/hd3d.aspx
nVidia is 3D Vision http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-main.html
Nice Article {3D Vision vs HD3D} http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-3.html

Bottom-line, it will be a heck of a lot cheaper to get an AMD HD 6000 series because it won't require a 120Hz monitor. However, having an nVidia 3D Vision setup I can only assume, haven't tried HD3D, that the ATI/AMD quality to be poorer.