Looking for good motherboard/CPU.

[Chrisman888]

Hey, new here got told by a friend some people here might be able to help me out. So hopefully yah can!

Alright, so I am looking for a good Motherboard/Processor for gaming ((I game alot!)). My max price range will be around $650 for both. What I plan to put in the motherboard will be -TWO- Nivida Geforce 9800 GT's, so the motherboard would have to be SLI compatible I believe.

Anywho, if anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Welcome to the forums

i7 920
Crucial 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58

 

[Chrisman888]

Thanks for the Reply. The i7 920 looks good but I saw the Ghz is only at 2.6. Does that really matter much for gaming? I thought I heard the more Ghz the better. Also the motherboard I believe is Crossfire, I need SLI or is that the same thing? Thought I heard SLI and Crossfire are different and Crossfire won't support SLI video cards, vica versa.

 

[Shmee]

Are you sure the UD3R is sli? Newegg doesng advertise it. Also, would recomend trying to get a 6 GB kit.

Oops, looks like you found out for yourself...crossfire is not the same as SLI. Also, cpu frequency only matters with comparable cpus: with different cpu's, it performance is not based on it. For instance, the 920 may have the same performance at 2.66 as a core 2 quad @ 3.2 Ghz. Believe me, it will be plenty, better than most core 2 quads. Will be even better if you OC it, though I recomend doing lots of research b4 you get into that.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The X58 offers dual vid cards from either ATI or Nvidia. So you can run SLI or Crossfire. The i7 920 will overclock up to 3.8Ghz within the manufactured volt range but only on a good cooler like a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with a well ventilated case. Generally speaking, the faster the CPU is always a plus/positive. But games like GTA4 require a strong cpu as well, like: CPU>GPU but most other games are GPU>CPU

 

[Chrisman888]

Great help, thanks a bunch guys. So why would 6GB be good? Also could I just get two of these Crucial 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066? For around $150.

Also I heard 32 bit systems only support 3GB or something like that.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

That mobo only supports 4 memory slots. You can go 2x dual channel or one single tripple channel. Yes, 32 bit only recognizes 3gb and some change the rest is reserved...

 

[Chrisman888]

How would I go about getting a 64 bit? What is that relating to the operating system like Vista? Or the CPU? Motherboard? :S

 

[Shmee]

to utilize more than 4 GB of memory, you would need a 64 bit OS. 64 bit vista would work. so would 64 bit linux. as for getting 6 GB, you would get 3 sticks, 2 GB each. getting one kit would work with the mobo, 2 kits wouldnt. Also, it is generally considered better only to use 3 dimms, as opposed to all six on x58 motherboards, especially when overclocking.

also, checked the gigabyte site and they do not say it supports SLI. you would have to get a more expensive board for that, such as the UD4P or the UD5, I believe.

I believe a specific bios is required for the x58 boards to support SLI, supported by nvidia. I do not think the UD3R has an SLI compatible BIOS.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

64 bit OS; Vista 64

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Apparently reports of the X58 chipset which is suppose to offer SLI and Crossfire are not 100% accurate. Reading from an article about a min ago, some mobo manufacturers are not offering both Sli & Crossfire - it appears the board I linked you doesn't. Sorry for this mistake.

It seems the mobo manufacturer has the option to pay for the licensing to add SLI support.

 

[Chrisman888]

No problem. So I would have to order something extra to add SLI to that motherboard?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Err not quite what BTRY meant, it means that the motherboard manufacturer has to pay nVidia a special licensing fee if they want SLI to work on that model of board as well. This leads to the major price difference, $200 i7 boards most likely will not give you SLI capabilites, whilst the $300+ boards most likely will. This is just the general trend so you should research more carefully before you buy.

Quite honestly, I think you should go with a socket 775 board, like the EVGA 750i FTW, get an E8400 and save yourself roughly $300 which you could put towards upgrading those 9800 GTs to GTX 260s or 280s if you get a hold of the deals going on. Also the ram will be much cheaper seeing as how most 775 system use DDR2.

Edit: I can give you suggestions and such when I return in an hour, Philosophy class time.