I am looking to purchase a new motherboard for my rig because the motherboard that I originally bought with the computer doesnt quite have all the features that I'm looking for, such as overclocking, and SATA RAID, and a few other minor things.


What I've got to hook to the board.

Pentium D Socket 775 3.0Ghz
1GB (2x512) DDR2 Ram (Also looking to upgrade to 2GB (2x1GB) if you have any sugguestions)
2x Maxtor Diamondmax 21 SATA2 500GB
Nvidia 8600GT (looking to get the 2nd card to do SLI when I get a compatible motherboard)

So basically I'm looking for suggestions on what motherboards I should look at the support the most features for the best price, and the same for ram.

Thanks guys!

This will do you nicely:

Newegg.com - ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Or, if you're looking for something cheaper:

Newegg.com - ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

And this is decent RAM:

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

And while you're at it, why not grab a budget Core 2 Duo?

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

It'll be much faster than your Pentium D, and you can overclock the nuts off it as well

Cheap...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050
Expensive...
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
DDR2/DDR3!
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

The memory Reflux recommended would be fine.

I just picked up an Asus Striker Extreme, even though the UPS guy beat the piss out of it and it has to go back; Its a dead sexy board. I really looking forward to getting my new one. You might find it to be overkill.

i will second everything reflux said though.
I have that exact ram in my current work computer I haven't had a single problem with it and we run rendering applications all day.
The motherbords he mention are also great the top one is my Striker Extremes little brother esentualy.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Cheap... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050 Expensive... Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail DDR2/DDR3! Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail The memory Reflux recommended would be fine.

Yup, but he said he wanted to run a second 8600GT, and none of those boards do SLi.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Yup, but he said he wanted to run a second 8600GT, and none of those boards do SLi.

Woops... didn't really read it thoroughly enough.

ASUS FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have the P5N32 Sli premium and she's an A$$ KICKER fer sure , and she's got 3 SLI slots for quad Sli ( 2X dual GPU cards and a physics card )

Not trying to Thread steal or anything. But I think this information would help anywho who reads it.


Do yall think the 680i is really worth the extra cash?

It has its advantages. Mainly just features. From what I've researched there is barely any performance gain when using the 680i over the 650i. Not that I've seen any of this in action, but I seriously doubt that you would be able see any in game/real world difference. Sure, the numbers might show it but I just don't think that you'd be able to tell.


Is it worth spending $250-300 on a 680i when you can get a really good 650i for $130-150?

Quote: Originally Posted by WDoG Not trying to Thread steal or anything. But I think this information would help anywho who reads it. Do yall think the 680i is really worth the extra cash? It has its advantages. Mainly just features. From what I've researched there is barely any performance gain when using the 680i over the 650i. Not that I've seen any of this in action, but I seriously doubt that you would be able see any in game/real world difference. Sure, the numbers might show it but I just don't think that you'd be able to tell. Is it worth spending $250-300 on a 680i when you can get a really good 650i for $130-150?

Get a really good 650I inless your doing some hardcore overclocking. the Asus P5NeSLI is a great board.

Quote: Originally Posted by killert Get a really good 650I inless your doing some hardcore overclocking. the Asus P5NeSLI is a great board.

Ive been surfing all night and decided that the p5neSLI was what I wanted. Funny, because I came back to this thread and saw that you suggested just what I had picked out. Thanks!

650i boards such as the P5N-E are all well and good (and I should know, I just replaced the one in my rig) but when you buy cheap, you get cheap. The board has very poor cooling - I had to replace the northbridge heatsink and the southbridge didn't even come with one. The VRMs and power circuitry are all left to fend for themselves. The board would also suffer a random instability, completely locking up and crashing the whole system if my memory was overclocked and I was trying to watch a film.

The two components you really shouldn't skimp on when building a rig are the motherboard and PSU. 650i boards are very good for the price, but if I was building another rig now, I'd get a more premium motherboard, because stability is of absolutely key importance to me. It isn't just extra features you pay for on the 680 boards.

Still, you have to weigh up the pros and cons and what your budget is, and if you can't stretch to even a 680 LT (the one with less bells and whistles on it), the 650i isn't a bad choice.