Building a new budget gaming rig, need mobo help

Aiune

Member
Jun 5, 2005
30
0
0
Most of the stuff i've got picked out as im going budget here with some intents for the future. Need some help selecting a cheap, solid, crossfire-ready mobo for this combo:

Processor: E8400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037
HDD: 320GB WD SATA 3 7200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136098
DVD: Blah blah, something solid, no need help here.
RAM: GSkill 2x2GB 1066 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231246
Got a good enough PSupply, OCZ 550watt.
Vid Card: HD 4870 1gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102801

Now, here's the plan. I'd like my bottleneck to be my vid card eventually so i can run crossfire and have that be the end of my upgrading path in 3-4 years, but i need to know if thats gonna be the case or will my processor really be the bottleneck down the road. Obviously im looking for help trying to find the best suited mobo for this processor and ram setup with potential crossfire (if its viable for my rig), HELP APPRECIATED!
 

Slugbait

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,633
3
81
Three to four years from now, it will be very difficult to find another HD 4870 card (unless you get it used). That proc is almost a year old already. But good luck.

Here's your board, $105 shipped AR, stable, good audio chip, and should be able to take your CPU to 3.9G.
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
2,873
0
0
A cpu bottleneck might occur in the next few years as quite a few developers are making their games quad-core optimized (which more or less means threads in this case), some games out today are already too much for top-end dual cores but they are rather rare/unnoticeable at times so it may not be an issue for you. As for choices in vid cards, Slugbait's description is probably going to hold true, that you'll need to buy a used 4870 with all the benefits/downfalls of that.

+1 to the board that Slugbait listed, and over in Hot Deals I believe there's a 4gb ram kit that can be had for $20 with shipping, might wanna head over there (it's after rebate quite obviously, cheapest on Newegg would be a $24 Patriot set).