[JSlayer]

I finaly decided to buy the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core QX6700 processor and now I have to decide which motherboard I want to stuff it into. The two boards I'm looking at are the eVGA LGA 775 nVidia nForce 680i SLI ATX, OR the Asus Extreme Striker motherboard. They both claim to be superior "gaming" motherboards, but I know where to go when I need the straight poop! So anyone out there with facts or opinions on which one is better, or even if you've got another suggestion that I over looked, please feel free to post them here. Thanks in advance for your time and any help offered,

Jslayer

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I would go with the eVGA personally im not an ASUS fan. Although i would just get a 6600 C2D as they are better price/performance wise and thats an early quad chip i would wait till the next gen AMD are releasing a new quad core chip with a whole extra level of cache mid year and intel will most likely respond with a second gen of quad core that are more than two C2Ds on one die.

[warriorscot]

I would go with the eVGA personally im not an ASUS fan. Although i would just get a 6600 C2D as they are better price/performance wise and thats an early quad chip i would wait till the next gen AMD are releasing a new quad core chip with a whole extra level of cache mid year and intel will most likely respond with a second gen of quad core that are more than two C2Ds on one die.

[JSlayer]

I would go with the eVGA personally im not an ASUS fan. Although i would just get a 6600 C2D as they are better price/performance wise and thats an early quad chip i would wait till the next gen AMD are releasing a new quad core chip with a whole extra level of cache mid year and intel will most likely respond with a second gen of quad core that are more than two C2Ds on one die.

Thanks for the advice, I'll definately go check out the C2D 6600, but I'm a little curious why eVGA and not Asus. Is it personal choice, or price vs performance, or something else? The Asus was almost $100 more than the eVGA and I know more expensive doesn't always mean better, so what gives? Thanks again for your help,

Jslayer

[warriorscot]

Well Asus has had alot of quality control problems in the past they would make a good board but they shipped a large quantity of DOAs they have gotten better over the last year but problems like that stick with you and they arent any better than any other brand.

[matthew staton]

Go with the evga board that board is awsome. I have heard nothing but awsome things about it. I also have had great luck with evga stuff JMO. Go with the e6600 core duo to. pretty tough to beat that combo I would say. 2gb memory a 8800 gtx evga. My 2 fav cases are the Antec 900 and the coolmaster 830 tower but I like a lot of cooling and room thats just me.

[JSlayer]

Well Asus has had alot of quality control problems in the past they would make a good board but they shipped a large quantity of DOAs they have gotten better over the last year but problems like that stick with you and they arent any better than any other brand.

Understood! It looks like I'll definately go with the eVGA motherboard and the c2d 6600. I agree with the 8800 gtx vid card, but eventualy I'm going dual 8800's so I think I'm going to need a 1 kw powersupply to go along with this. I have 3 x 1gig sticks of Ram in my computer now but they are pc 3200, 184 pin DDR, so I'm not sure if they are compatable or if I should just upgrade the Ram too. Should I start another topic to see if I can cannibalize my ram from my old computer for the new motherboard?

Now that I know what motherboard and processor I'm using I'm starting to get excited. Thanks for the comments and opinions everyone, they are much appreciated.

JSlayer

[JSlayer]

Go with the evga board that board is awsome. I have heard nothing but awsome things about it. I also have had great luck with evga stuff JMO. Go with the e6600 core duo to. pretty tough to beat that combo I would say. 2gb memory a 8800 gtx evga. My 2 fav cases are the Antec 900 and the coolmaster 830 tower but I like a lot of cooling and room thats just me.

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking for a roomy case as well. This is my first build and I'll need all the room I can get. I'll also need decent cooling when I bump up to dual 8800 gtx's. I'll go check out the cases you suggested and post my results. Thanks again,

JSlayer

[jrm20]

Well Asus has had alot of quality control problems in the past they would make a good board but they shipped a large quantity of DOAs they have gotten better over the last year but problems like that stick with you and they arent any better than any other brand.

Understood! It looks like I'll definately go with the eVGA motherboard and the c2d 6600. I agree with the 8800 gtx vid card, but eventualy I'm going dual 8800's so I think I'm going to need a 1 kw powersupply to go along with this. I have 3 x 1gig sticks of Ram in my computer now but they are pc 3200, 184 pin DDR, so I'm not sure if they are compatable or if I should just upgrade the Ram too. Should I start another topic to see if I can cannibalize my ram from my old computer for the new motherboard?

Now that I know what motherboard and processor I'm using I'm starting to get excited. Thanks for the comments and opinions everyone, they are much appreciated.

JSlayer

The nvidia 8800 series is great but just thought I would tell you that ATI has a R600 video card coming out in about 2 months that is faster than the 8800gtx and when this card is released (the R600) it will drive the prices down for the nvidia 8800's.. The ati R600 is abit faster so just wanted to say that before you buy it.


Another thing Me and Warriorscot try to tell people that SLI isnt as great as you may think. SLI Does NOT give you double the performance that is Total BULL. Sli only helps when you have really high resolution monitors and you want the extra few fps..

It depends on the game and all because each game is different and based on different 3D engines but SLI may only give you UP TO 15% - 20% more performance MAX than that of a Single Card. In some games you dont even see a 1% difference..


Evga makes great stuff and there motherboards are good from what I have herd. There Video cards are awesome aswell. Iv had my Evga video card going strong without any problems and I have overclocked it many times to high Clocks and I have even flashed it to a higher cards speed.. Dont get any ideas though just telling you how good they are.


Your current memory is Pc3200 you said. That is regular DDR memory and NOT DDR2. It will not fit in any Lga 775 / socket T or CONROE Motherboard. Those are all the same board so you dont get confused, I was just being technical as they can be called all 3 names.

All Conroe motherboards require DDR2.

Edited by jrm20, 17 February 2007 - 10:48 PM.

[JSlayer]

The nvidia 8800 series is great but just thought I would tell you that ATI has a R600 video card coming out in about 2 months that is faster than the 8800gtx and when this card is released (the R600) it will drive the prices down for the nvidia 8800's.. The ati R600 is abit faster so just wanted to say that before you buy it.

Well if all goes well, maybe by the time I get the motherboard, processor, the case, powersupply, and the Ram the price will have dropped on the 8800 gtx?

Another thing Me and Warriorscot try to tell people that SLI isnt as great as you may think. SLI Does NOT give you double the performance that is Total BULL. Sli only helps when you have really high resolution monitors and you want the extra few fps. It depends on the game and all because each game is different and based on different 3D engines but SLI may only give you UP TO 15% - 20% more performance MAX than that of a Single Card. In some games you dont even see a 1% difference..

If that's the case it doesn't make much sense to go with the dual 8800's at this point. The monitor I'm looking at is the Gateway FPD2485W 24" widescreen high-def LCD, but I'm not sure if that qualifies as really high resolution.


Evga makes great stuff and there motherboards are good from what I have herd. There Video cards are awesome aswell. Iv had my Evga video card going strong without any problems and I have overclocked it many times to high Clocks and I have even flashed it to a higher cards speed.. Dont get any ideas though just telling you how good they are.


Your current memory is Pc3200 you said. That is regular DDR memory and NOT DDR2. It will not fit in any Lga 775 / socket T or CONROE Motherboard. Those are all the same board so you dont get confused, I was just being technical as they can be called all 3 names.

All Conroe motherboards require DDR2.

Now that is a great bit of info there. That makes the decision to upgrade my Ram a no-brainer, and it looks like I'll get to keep my old comp around after all

Great stuff thanks very much. I'm learning alot from you guys!

JSlayer

[JSlayer]

OK I did it! I took the plunge! I bought the eVGA 680i mobo and the c2d 6600 today. I was going to go with Newegg for $572.31 after S&H, but I found this other place called Zipzoomfly and I got them both for $547.89 with free S&H plus a $15 mail in rebate, bringing the whole thing down to $532.89! That seemed like a decent price to me, or did I get hosed?

JSlayer

[jrm20]

OK I did it! I took the plunge! I bought the eVGA 680i mobo and the c2d 6600 today. I was going to go with Newegg for $572.31 after S&H, but I found this other place called Zipzoomfly and I got them both for $547.89 with free S&H plus a $15 mail in rebate, bringing the whole thing down to $532.89! That seemed like a decent price to me, or did I get hosed?

JSlayer

No you got a good deal. That mobo is expensive and high quality. That e6600 cpu is around $315 also so good deal.