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Recomendations - What MB for gaming using Q9450 and...?

Z

zettler

Senior member
I have chatted with several on here over the past month about my predicament and have another obstacle/slant.

My son is a gamer and I am upgrading his PC. He uses two LCD (but could use another knowing him) monitors and here are the parts I have for him right now:

* ATI Radeon HD 4850
* 2-2GB Kingston DDR3 Ram (from recent NewEgg deal)
* 500W ANTEC PS (and another NewEgg deal from yesterday for a 750W PS)
* The aforementioned INTEL Q9450 I bought a year ago from Fry's (dead ECS MB, naturally)
* A well ventilated case.
* New DVD-CDRW from NewEgg
* WD 400GB hard drive (will add a terabyte as soon as I can afford to find a deal on an internal one)

But I am stimied on what MB to buy!!!

I found I actually had some good OCZ DDR2 RAM 2-2GB but since I now am the owner of the lower quality Kingston DDR3, I feel I better use it now.

As for the HD 4850, it is a solid card but as soon as I can find a deal at Best Buy (have credit there) I will get him whatever we can afford (around $250 or so) for his birthday which will be in May but I feel the HD 4850 will suffice until then - unless someone knows of a better deal at BB or should I go to a crossfire for another 4850?????

So, I am looking for a MB that will:

* Take DDR3 (at least four slots to allow an additional 4GB) ram
* Take advantage of the HD 4850
* Be able to O/C the Q9450 on air cooling
* Maybe allow for two video cards, say two HD 4850's (do they have to be the same make??)
* And anything else you all can advise!!!

I am open to all input but hope to find something for around $90 to $130 or so. Please feel free to ask questions or comment BUT I am looking to the future and hope to maximize the limited resources I have in order to save money but get as big a BANG for the buck as I can for him!

I have been building PC's (three of so a year) for at least five years or so. I have been lucky so far, with the exception of the ECS MB's that went kaput from Fry's....

Thank you in advance!
 
I do have some DDR2 OCZ Ram that is high quality...should I sell the DDR3 and go with a MB that takes DDR2 instead???

I see the one comment about mixing DDR3 with this CPU and it makes me wonder what is the better alternative....

Thank you all again!
 
PCTC2 said:
Gigabyte EP45T-UD3P rev 1.1

I have the DDR2 version of this board and it's great.
Click to expand...

I have to say I really like the specs on this MB but can't seem to find one at NewEgg or the like. And, it is similar to what was already suggested to me by Zap and others.

With regard to the DDR3 issue and this type of CPU, what is the issue?

I hate to send the RAM back or try and sell it as I really got it cheap from NewEgg (comparitively speaking nowadays...) this past weekend (around $75 delivered) and thought the DDR3 would be usefull for a future build but what do I know!

Again, any and all suggestions AND LEADS TO WHERE THE MB can be found cheaply are appreciated!!!

As always, thank you all in advance!
 
i disagree with these guys about DDR3. there is nothing wrong with using DDR3 on a 775 system, it is just an uncommon occurrence because DDR3 was prohibitively expensive and slow when this capability was first introduced to 775 systems.


two years later, the midrange performance DDR2/DDR3 DIMMs are at price parity, and DDR3 is going to have a stronger industry presence going forward. DDR3 memory could migrate with your son to any future platform he wishes while DDR2 is basically just disposable at this point. stay with DDR3. it wont be any slower or more expensive but will have a longer useful life.

do not spend extra money on a motherboard simply because it can do crossfire (the DFI X48 for $130 is an incredible board though). when his birthday comes around, get him a radeon 5850 or 5830 and sell his 4850 to recoup 30-40% of that upgrade. all you really need for a modest OC to 3.4-3.6 GHz and single GPU is a gigabyte P43 UD3L for ~$80. you've already got the RAM and chip. no need to complicate things or lose money by stepping down to DDR2 (when it won't make a bit of difference to performance).
 
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alyarb said:
i disagree with these guys about DDR3. there is nothing wrong with using DDR3 on a 775 system, it is just an uncommon occurrence because DDR3 was prohibitively expensive and slow when this capability was first introduced to 775 systems.


two years later, the midrange performance DDR2/DDR3 DIMMs are at price parity, and DDR3 is going to have a stronger industry presence going forward. DDR3 memory could migrate with your son to any future platform he wishes while DDR2 is basically just disposable at this point. stay with DDR3. it wont be any slower or more expensive but will have a longer useful life.

do not spend extra money on a motherboard simply because it can do crossfire (the DFI X48 for $130 is an incredible board though). when his birthday comes around, get him a radeon 5850 or 5830 and sell his 4850 to recoup 30-40% of that upgrade. all you really need for a modest OC to 3.4-3.6 GHz and single GPU is a gigabyte P43 UD3L for ~$80. you've already got the RAM and chip. no need to complicate things or lose money by stepping down to DDR2 (when it won't make a bit of difference to performance).
Click to expand...

I assume you meant EP43T-UD3L?

I can see it for a 5830 but I'm not sure how you'd come close to recouping 30-40% of a 5850's cost by selling a used 4850...
 
if you can get $90 for a used 4850, that is 30% of $300 which is what a 5850 costs. so presumably that same $90 would be 40% or more of the cost of a 5830. i'm just pulling these numbers out of my ass though, they aren't important.

i'm just saying the guy already has DDR3 and the CPU and there is nothing remotely complicated about a 3.6 GHz OC. A G41 motherboard could do it, and there's no point blowing money on a motherboard to that end. The kid plays games so if you're going to just piss away $50, do it on the GPU.

and yeah, EP43T-UD3L is the board i would get.
 
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Sorry I hadn't responded but my passion is the outdoors (hunting) and crammed a lot in this weekend. Okay, say I go with the cheaper MB and DDR3, it has been way more than a year, so where could I go and find a primer on overclocking? It has probably been way too long since I pimped a PC to run faster and while Google is your friend, I bet you guys know a better way!

And who knows what the street price on a good video card will be in May.....but I like where you have taken me and thank you.

Now about that O/C'ing guide.....
 
I am going to go against the DFI board recommendation. Check out the percent of 1 eggers they get on newegg. Also my friend bought one originally for his 775 build and had a lot of issues.

Personally I would recommend a 790i if you already have ddr3. Also if you have fast ram like ddr3 there is a good chance you may use it in a later build as well.

It is an nforce chipset and I know there is a stigma but I believe there is a review on anandtech where he mentions that he hated the 780i and 750i but loves the 790i.

The only issue I have ever had with mine is one that is common on other boards too, tried to install xfi with xram, with sli and 4gb on vista and had a lot of sound artifacts. However a google found that everyone and their grandmother had sound crackling with the new xfi and creative blamed literally every other system component and OS instead of their engineering team.
 
790i motherboards cost three times as much as the boards others have recommended and the only thing they offer is SLI capability. waste of money and a poor overclocker.
 
Are you kidding me, the nForce 790i is a piece of junk!!! I have the EVGA nForce 790i Ultra and one of the ram slots died on me after 5 months. Overclocking on the 790i is average, but get ready for a terrible vdroop if you overclock!! 😡

Guess what I bought as a replacement! :sneaky: That's right DFI LANPARTY LT X48-T3RS, no vdroop like the 790i and so far super stable.

grab the DFI X48 for that price it's almost free! :biggrin:
 
Okay, now that I have several options (and decisions) for a motherboard using either my new DDR3 or older DDR2, what are your feelings about what OS to install - Windows 7 or Windows XP (Pro or Home).

We purchased the Windows 7 deal ($30) in the 64Bit configuration and now does that make a difference, or, should he stick with XP????

Thank you all again!!!
 
digitaldurandal said:
I am going to go against the DFI board recommendation. Check out the percent of 1 eggers they get on newegg. Also my friend bought one originally for his 775 build and had a lot of issues.
Click to expand...
Like what? Everyone knows Newegg user reviews are about as useful as DDR to an X58.

digitaldurandal said:
Personally I would recommend a 790i if you already have ddr3. Also if you have fast ram like ddr3 there is a good chance you may use it in a later build as well.

It is an nforce chipset and I know there is a stigma but I believe there is a review on anandtech where he mentions that he hated the 780i and 750i but loves the 790i.
Click to expand...
Personally you like recommending an NV chipset that indisputably has more issues and a higher failure rate than a comparable manufacturers P45/X48 equivalent.

The stigma is completely valid and well founded.

Quite possibly one of the most incorrect posts I've seen on Anand. I would really like an explanation as to why you would come in here and give a recommendation to someone based on egg reviews, a chipset you knew to have a lot of very well documented and founded problems, and DDR3+775 which everyone knows has always been met with issues since DDR3 wasn't meant to be used in such setups.

The only possible conclusions I could come to that its either personal and you want him to waste his money (unlikely) or you just have no idea what you're talking about (much more likely.).

I'm a custom systems builder and consultant, people trust me with their money every day, and if someone like you were in my position, I don't dare to think what would happen to my customers and the machines that would result from your recommendations.

To the OP:
Sir please, by all that is holy in gaming, and for your son, get ANY reputable P45/X48 that uses DDR2, be it Gigabyte, ASUS, or DFI, and ignore these so ignorant they're nearly malicious comments about using DDR3 or an NV chipset.

The DFI I recommended or the DD2 Gigabyte board are both amazing and you will not be disappointed with either one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136053
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358
 
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I don't know how anyone knowledgable could argue against getting the UD3P, it's such an awesome board for overclocking 45nm quad-core 775 CPUs.
 
Thank you. Ordered the Gigabyte UD3P after NewEgg sent me a "special" coupon for 10% off last week. Now to see if I can figure out how to maximize the Q9450....

Thank God hunting season ends (for the most part) today so I can get this done.

Again, thanks for the counsel!
 
zettler said:
Thank you. Ordered the Gigabyte UD3P after NewEgg sent me a "special" coupon for 10% off last week. Now to see if I can figure out how to maximize the Q9450....

Thank God hunting season ends (for the most part) today so I can get this done.

Again, thanks for the counsel!
Click to expand...
your welcome, have any other questions there are lots around here who will help you out
 
hclarkjr said:
your welcome, have any other questions there are lots around here who will help you out
Click to expand...

I hear you! Been here awhile and started building PC's for my kids years ago but times and (many) things change, so good counsel is ALWAYS deeply appreciated!
 
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