Neo, the red pill, or the blue...

[looper]

This is to be the new family gaming rig in the household...
* We will OC with air cooling
* Intel platform
* Potential for excellent OC's, with stability/reliability
* Will not run SLI nor Crossfire (one GTX280)
* One HD (WD / VeloRaptor)
* Will get 6-8 gig ram
* W/ Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS
* Have PCP&C 610W Silencer...good enough?

What one MB would you get w/ the above guidelines, in both 775 and X58 form-factors...

Appreciate your input... I cannot decide...

 

[n7]

Gigabyte EP45-UD3R + Q9550 or Q9650 after the upcoming price cuts should keep you going for quite a while.

The UD3R/P are definitely better for heavily OCing quads to high FSBs than the Asus P5Qs series, which would be my other choice.

I'm a little frustrated with my new UD3P with 4x2 GB though; it's being flakey to say the least.
Incredibly good with 2x2 GB, but a very different crappier beast when all slots are populated...

 

[AsusGuy]

The PC Power and Cooling Silencer 610 will be more than enough. That's a great PSU. I second the Gigabyte motherboard vote that would be a good choice. Although I would consider the q9300 or q9400. Price to performance is perfect with those processors. Stay away from the q8200 and its 7x multi because that will not give you good OCing capability. An E7xxx or E8xxx may also be a good choice for a gaming rig if you are not completely sold on quad.

 

[looper]

N7 and AsusGuy...

Thx...

What about the Giga GA-EP45-DQ6... many have raved about the OC'ing capability of that MB, especially w/ Quads...

Hmm... probs w/ UD3P with 8mb of ram? I would not like that....

Other 775 MB's on my list were the GA-EP45-UD3P, Asus P5Q-D...all of these w/ DDR2 mem. Is it worth getting 775 form factor MB that uses DDR3??

And how about other part of question.... which X58 MB would you get...that new EVGA "Classified" X58 MB due out Feb or March...but again, maybe a lot more features I'll never use...sort of like the Rampage II Extreme and the P6T-WS-Revolution....but boy, are those 3 MB's sexy or what....wow...

As you look at my existing components below in "sig", if I stay w/ "775" configuration, I can use my existing E8400 cpu, and get that to at least 3.6, and maybe up to 4.0-4.2 if I get crazy...which I won't, as I just "fried" my Asus P5B-D w/ bad OC...OUCH...

Whether I stick w/ 775, or get nuts and get X58, I will get a hot new vid card....maybe the GTX280?...

Thx for continued input...

 

[n7]

No need to waste the money they want for the DQ6.

I believe from all i've seen that the UD3P is actually better for quads, though for duals, it oddly enough doesn't seem to be the best out there.

There are some people having issues with 8 GB, but it's more when OCing AFAIK, & others have had amazing success even with 8 GB.

I am just frustrated personally because i've seen how awesome the board did for me with 2x2 GB...as soon as i put all my RAM in though, it became a bitch to work with.

With 8 GB I cannot POST past 465 FSB on D strap; i have to switch to 2.00B.
And i'm finding it impossible to find the right VTT/MCH + GTLs combination to make it past 471 stably with 8 GB.
I ran P95 blend for over 10 hours fine @ 471, but even one MHz higher, & it fails instantly (not a CPU limition or RAM) 🙁

http://ense7en.com/pics/UD3P/8...5%20blend%20stable.JPG

But if you plan for a quad w/ 8 GB, i'd still suggest the UD3P, as it's still better than everything out there, especially for the price.

 

[looper]

I would prob want to stick w/ the E8400cpu that I have...think the Q9550 is what, @ $283.? Is that $283. more performance than an E8400 I already own? I can get that cpu to @ at least 4.0 w/ the DQ6 and w/ 8 gig ram...

I'm not good enough at all this to be dealing w/ 8 ram and probs OC'ing w/ the UD3P...

Make sense, or ...UD3R?

Other site, besides here at Anand's, that I really respect is XBit Labs forums...some persuasive folks there really like the DQ6...

Geez....tough... flip a darn coin, Brian....

 

[TidusZ]

you said your only getting 1 nvidia video card, no reason to get the ud3p over the ud3r. Same board, one pci-e slot on the ud3r rather than 2, and its cheaper. I've had good overclocking luck with the ud3r, and 4 gigs of ram (I don't have 8 to give it a whirl). I did some reading before purchasing and found the UD3 boards are superior to the P5Q's, and after using one I'd wholeheartedly agree.

You'll probably be able to overclock a q9550 to similar levels as the e8400, and the difference with quad over dual isn't huge for gaming atm but it makes a difference in some games. I'm a gamer, and I went quad. Make sure to overclock the gtx 280 too, they overclock pretty well.

 

[looper]

Thx, guys....