Ok fellow geeks.. I need a mainboard

S

SirKenin

banned
I'm looking for a new motherboard and CPU. This one is going in my spare, as a client wants the board and chip out of the other one. The other one is a P5B and C2D E6420. Fine, I don't mind.

My choices seem to be these:

Asus® P5K Premium-WiFi-AP, 775, Intel® P35 Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) Audio 10/100 Lan

Asus® P5K WS, 775, Intel® P35 Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) Audio 10/100 Lan

Asus® P5K3 Deluxe-WiFi-AP, 775, Intel® P35 Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) Audio 10/100 Lan

Asus® P5NT WS, 775, NVIDIA® nForce™ Dual x16 Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) Audio 10/100 Lan

Asus® C2D Striker Extreme, 775, NVIDIA® nForce™ 680i SLI™ Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) Audio 10/100 Lan

Asus Motherboard P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP Intel X38 LGA775 FSB1600MHz 4DDR3 SATA RAID Audio IEEE1394 Gb LAN ATX

ASUS MOTHERBOARD MAXIMUS EXTREME INTEL X38 ICH9R DUAL-CHANNEL DDR3 1800

ASUS MB BLITZ EXTREME C2D LGA775 INTELP35 ICH9R DDR3 1333 1066 2XPCI-EX16 5



I don't really want DDR3 I don't think, as I just bought that G.Skill. Anyways, the plan is to upgrade the processor as well.

What do you recommend, and why?

Current specs are here:

C2D E6700
Zalman CNPS 8000 HSF (I think that's the model)
Antec Nine Hundred (could be changed, for sure. lol)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
4 GB G.Skill DDR2-800
Sparkle 8800 GTX 768MB
Asus PhysX
WD RaptorX 150
WD Raptor 75GB
Seagate 750GB
Pioneer SATA DVD
Pioneer IDE DVD
Rocketfish 700W
LG L226WTQ 22" LCD
LG L204WT 20" LCD
Logitech MX5000 Bluetooth keyboard/mouse
Logitech Z-580 speaker
Logitech Pro 5000 cam

I have a PCI SATA card as well, as I need to hook up three drives. I also have a Hauppage TV tuner card I wouldn't mind putting in it if I could. I'm going to stick with the VGA. It's possible that I might get a second one at some point down the road..

OS is Vista Ultimate.
 
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Thought about a Gigabyte board? I have never tried Asus, and what about vDroop and the volt mod that is almost mandatory for OC'ing? I don't even know about the volt mod, as I have never had to do it.

I can tell you right now, DDR3 still hasn't made any forward movements to totally conquer DDR2. So, with the DDR2 that you've already bought, you should be fine.

As for a processor, I would suggest the Q9450, if you can wait... It's 45nm, quad-core, I think it might be ~$390(don't know exactly). It has plenty of OC room...
 
I'm really big on the Asus.. but if you can point me to the right Gigabyte.. I might look at it. I don't overclock btw.
 
I think I'm going to get the Striker Extreme. It's just tickling my fancy. :)

As for the Q9450.. Possibly. I don't see any stock on it anywhere though. It's going to suck to have to wait without a second computer until it's released, although I could put a Celeron on it temporarily I guess.
 
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Well, I ordered the Striker Extreme. I guess I'll see how it is. I was kinda hoping for more feedback, but I guess I'll just wing it. :P
 
I figured you might get more feedback...

You paid a pretty penny for that :P

That's the 680i chipset, it seems to be a pretty good chipset. I have heard some negative comments about it with OC'ing but none about stability, and seeing as how you don't OC, you should have no trouble.
 
Yeah there was something about the 650/680 not supporting the 45 Quad just the Dual, but I dont know if Intel and Nvidia worked it out or not. Heard rumors about Nvidia not letting Intel chip to run SLI and Intel bucked on them. But they could have worked it out now.
 
Ok, my board came in. I have it sitting here beside me. This is one sick looking motherboard. Very, very cool looking. I'll have to take some pictures or something. What a beast. Very impressive. Now, how does it perform is the question.

There's no caps on this thing for the powersupply. I like that.
 
Ok, it took me a while to get it running, but this is one insane motherboard. Unfortunately my Zalman wouldn't fit on it so I have to use the stock cooler. Still... it's beyond crazy. I love it so far.

Edit: a picture:

strikerextreme001ug5.jpg


strikerextreme002jo1.jpg
 
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if i remember correctly the 680i doesn't support some of the new 45nm by standard. But Dfi and Asus will make it available through a bios update. Evga started some trade program for a 780i.

but that's one nice board. what kind of cpu cooler do you have? i maybe planning on upgrading soon and i really want to keep my cpu cooler (scythe infinity).
and is that a asus ageia physc card in the back? i was looking at it some time ago and i might be a nice upgrade for my pc. But what about the cooler is it stock dimensions? i really want to exchange it with something passive. Also if you mount it in the top pci slot will it interfere with your southbridge (if there's a additional thermalright hr-05 cooler on it).
 
Vipernitrox said:
if i remember correctly the 680i doesn't support some of the new 45nm by standard. but that's one nice board.
Click to expand...

The 680i only supports the dual-core. I guy at eVGA told me it will never support the quads. The 780i does, however.
 
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I'm not sure what kind of numbskull you were talking to at eVGA, but he's totally out of the loop.

680i, at least the Striker Extreme, supports quads and the 45nm process.
 
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