Motherboard Options....

J

jimmyjames

New Member
Ok here goes im in the middle of setting up a high end gaming pc and more or less got the main options sorted but i'm not entirely sure of what kind of motherboard to use. I assume that all the boards can support the following set up

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 CPU @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2
2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel
2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB 16X PCI

I just want to know whats the real benefit of having a more expensive motherboard if they can all support the above. I've put numbers in brackets to show the relevant increase in cost from the base motherboard at Zero.

Asus P5N-SLI nForce 570 SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1066 DDR2/800 Mainboard (£0)

Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe nForce4 SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1066 DDR2/800 Mainboard (+£54)

(Quad-Core Supports) EVGA nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard (+£66)

(Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard (+£3)

(Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard (+£73)

(Quad-Core Supports) Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard (+£141)

Any suggestions of value for money, best performance, ones to avoid etc would be really useful cheers in advance.
 
Since Asus models out number EVGA you know the answer already on the make of board to go with. SLI setups in all practicallity are best for dual or more monitors due to the needed for video support there. Games and apps don't tend to see any real noticable performance gains having been written for the average not super type of build. Besides all boards being 775 models and running DDR2 800 memory you have to look over the other features to see what those are on each model when deciding what you need.
 
If you are not planning to get into multiple monitor setups and elaborate ocing and other things selecting a good model card with high end support is generally the more economically sound option to see a good performance value. If you are not planning to get right into Vista and DX10 games then you simply look over the best performers in your price range.

Besides the 8800GTX you can also look at the upcoming Radeon X2000 series if you are not set on NVidia alone. The new R600 series cards coming out of course just like the 8800s will be "high priced" initially! Yet you may find an older model performs the way you would want it to.
 
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