Which motherboard should i go with....Quick

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well the ordering the parts for my nrw pc tomorow and Im stuck on which of these two motherboards to go with.

Asus P5W DH Deluxe Intel 975X
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...d=c2dmb&page=5

Or

Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe Nvidia nForce4 SLI X16 Intel Edition
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...d=c2dmb&page=3

I need an answer real fast. Only 12 hours to make my final choice.

[BlackAxe3001]

It's hard to pick which motherboard you should get when you didn't post the rest of your parts you are getting to go with it or your intentions - ie: gaming/video editing/surfing or whatever it may be. Both are good motherboards, ASUS makes some of the better stuff. Also, are you really ever going to do SLI because you could get this excellent board and save some money. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012

Post some more info and we can help you out easier.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

It's hard to pick which motherboard you should get when you didn't post the rest of your parts you are getting to go with it or your intentions - ie: gaming/video editing/surfing or whatever it may be

I want it for MTW2 mp, what else would one want such a pc for?

Im goin with a E6600 , 8800GTS320 vid card, 2 gig of ram, 250 hard drive. I plan on goin to sli later. I dnt want to have to upgrade later to do it however. Just buy another 8800 when the price comes down.


I like Oblivion as well. I surf a bit but I use it mainly for MTW

Also its the ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium not deluxe im looking at

http://www.digital-daily.com/motherb...2_sli_premium/

[Lemur]

Going SLI will be much easier with the P5N32, which is an nForce board. The other board is based on the 975 chipset from Intel, and while it's very, very fast, it does not officially support SLI. I've heard that people have tweaked the board into doing all sorts of things, including SLI, but your life will be simpler with the P5N32.

Does that answer your question?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well I have a shop build my PCs and the P5w is supposed to work with SLI. In fact Aive read theres really no difference between the two when used in that configuartion.

From this site
Core 2 Duo Platforms From Asus - A Top To Bottom Comparison

As a single graphics card user, I found that the feature set and price tag of the Asus P5B Deluxe was the most impressive of the bunch. It’s a bit less expensive compared to Intel 975X motherboards, but it does feature Intel’s new ICH8R Southbridge and consumes less power compared to the 975X as well. Performance wise, it will give 95-100% of the performance of the 975X. In my eyes, it’s got the best mix of price / performance / features / overclockability. It’s not the best board in any one of these categories, but it’s above average in all of them, which makes it a very solid platform overall. This is our pick.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...d=c2dmb&page=2

From another site

The board we would choose for our own Conroe system is the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe. Performance is rock solid and the feature set is superb. It is the best overclocker of the eight boards here and it is based on the 975X chipset, which allows the X6800 to be set to both higher and lower multipliers. You cannot set higher multipliers on the P965 and 965 overclocking is poorer on every board we tested than 975X overclocking. We could recommend the 965 if it were cheaper, but the ASUS P5W-DH costs $269 on-line

Is sli really that important a feature. Will the P5b support dual cards? Which would improv e game performance more , overclocking or dual cards? Im still stuck on a choice.

[Lemur]

Hmm, I wasn't aware that the 975's were doing SLI out of the box. News to me, and I'm running one right now.

I'm not a huge fan of SLI; I'd rather save up and get one really great videocard that hitch together two that are either (a) outdated, or (b) underpowered, or (c) insanely expensive. Those are your three options when the SLI boat pulls into port.

The 975 chipset is pretty great, and the driver support is rock-solid. Asus makes a fine board. If someone on the board has owned the latest nForce board, it would be helpful if they'd pipe up with their opinions ...

[Gawain of Orkeny]

I'm not a huge fan of SLI; I'd rather save up and get one really great videocard that hitch together two that are either (a) outdated, or (b) underpowered, or (c) insanely expensive.

Same here. Wouldnt a 8800GTX or even 8800GTS640 out perform two 8800GTS320s ?

The More I look at it the better the P5B deluxe looks. It seems most of the sites agree and in fact the P5N32-SLI Premium scores lower on most tests. Also I need to have wireless connection and Im not sure if the P5N32-SLI Premium comes with it. The P5B deluxe does.

[BlackAxe3001]

If your only choices are those two boards get the P5B. Also, might as well get the GTX and add another one later. One GTX is better than two GTS320's. Less power consumption too. If I was going to spend that much money on a graphics card I would definately get the GTX.

Another couple questions for you: Do you absolutely have to upgrade now? What is your current rig? It would definately be worth the wait for the E6x50 chips and the R600. Supposedly its only 2 months at the most... but who says they wont delay again... There is always something new coming around the corner but IMO this is the worst time to upgrade/build a new computer. Also, why not just build your own instead of paying someone else to do it? It's pretty easy and quite enjoyable. My

[Gawain of Orkeny]

If your only choices are those two boards get the P5B. Also, might as well get the GTX and add another one later. One GTX is better than two GTS320's. Less power consumption too. If I was going to spend that much money on a graphics card I would definately get the GTX.

I can go with any board in the 250 dollar range.


Psst a 8800GTS320 is only $269 a GTX is around $500. You could get two GTS320s for the same price as 1 GTX. Since I dont thave the money for the GTX the 320 is my best bet. Its almost as good and a lot cheaper. They say its about 95% as good.

Another couple questions for you: Do you absolutely have to upgrade now? What is your current rig? It would definately be worth the wait for the E6x50 chips and the R600

Upgrade? Im having another, yes another brand new pc built from scratch. Someone just stole my 2 month old E6400 with a 7950GT512., 2 gig of ram etc. So yeah I gotta "upgrade" NOW.

[BlackAxe3001]

Upgrade? Im having another, yes another brand new pc built from scratch. Someone just stole my 2 month old E6400 with a 7950GT512., 2 gig of ram etc. So yeah I gotta "upgrade" NOW.

Oh man! That's a bad deal right there. Well, buy the best that you can afford. Obviously if we all had printing presses in our basements... um... well yeah... IF we did then we could all have the quad core processors with dual 8800GTX with phase change cooling and the works. But alas, since such is not the case we must get the best that we can afford.

All joking aside, the GTS320 is probably the best route for you for your price range. Then, when you get some more cash on hand you can either get another one or maybe an R600(if its better). Lot's of options, but get the best that you can afford.

[Xiahou]

Even off of a AMD64/2 4400+ my 8800GTS 320 can handle everything I can throw at it. I maxxed everything in Oblivion and even added mods to improve face textures, weather effects, water, ect and it has still run a solid 40+fps outdoors. I can't think of any reason to go for the more expensive 8800s when the performance gap is so small.

On topic, I can't really help with the boards since I went with AMD- but I too went with ASUS My last few boards have all been ASUS and I've had good experiences with them until this last one... the first was DOA, apparently with a faulty SATA controller, but the replacement works fine. I've also hear alot of good buzz about Gigabyte- I may be tempted to go with them whenever the next time rolls around.

[Husar]

The 975 chipset is pretty great, and the driver support is rock-solid. Asus makes a fine board. If someone on the board has owned the latest nForce board, it would be helpful if they'd pipe up with their opinions ...

I'd be willing to test this or that if anyone wants to sponsor it.

I want to upgrade my AsRock board to the first one I linked to but don't have the money yet and since I have an E6600 as well, maybe one of them would be nice for Gawain to get? The second one should be better for SLI though.

[BlackAxe3001]

The GTX comes in handy when you start gaming at higher resolutions. There is no doubt that the GTS320 will meet your needs though.

[DukeofSerbia]

Going SLI will be much easier with the P5N32, which is an nForce board. The other board is based on the 975 chipset from Intel, and while it's very, very fast, it does not officially support SLI. I've heard that people have tweaked the board into doing all sorts of things, including SLI, but your life will be simpler with the P5N32.

Does that answer your question?

975 chipset ONLY support ATI CrossFire. ;)

[Lemur]

975 chipset ONLY support ATI CrossFire. ;)

Yes, well, I'm sure you've read some of the same reports I've read, where people have been able to get SLI running on 975 chipsets (in an unsupported way, of course). Not sure where big G found his article about 975s doing SLI out of the box, though.

Then again, given that I never intend to use SLI, it's not really a big deal to me.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

). Not sure where big G found his article about 975s doing SLI out of the box, though.

My bad. I saw it supported dual vidcards and took it for granted that is would support sli. Im definetly going with the P5B dh deluxe wifi. It seems to have much better performance in most areas, cost less and sli really isnt that important to me at this juncture. By the time Im ready to go to that(I figure 2 or 3 years before they really start making games that need it) There will be much better motherboards and chipsets availabe.