Looking for new motherboard+RAM

[Cerulean]

Greetings,

Today I found my workstation extremely unstable. It froze even while reconfiguring BIOS settings, and froze in Windows even when using default settings for CPU/RAM (no overclock, all defaults). I don't know if my CPU is going out, but I think my motherboard is dead/dying. I couldn't even boot into memtest from a CD after having unplugged power from all HDDs, taken out any unnecessary PCI cards, and replaced my ATI 6850 with an NVIDIA Quadro. I never replaced the RAM though; I still have the old sticks. I caught Windows 7 giving a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD a few times as well.

Old specs:
[Motherboard] GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R Intel P45 Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium/Pentium Extreme Socket 775 1600 MHz PC2-9600 (DDR2-1200) ATX w/ Latest Stable BIOS Flash
[RAM] G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2-1066 (PC2-8500) Dual Channel Kit x 2
[CPU] Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core
[CPU Cooler] Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B
[Chassis] Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP Cooler Master 690 No P/S
[PSU] Corsair Memory CMPSU-750TX 750W TX750W ATX12V
[GPU1] HIS ATI Radeon HD6850 1GB PCI-E H685F1GD with Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro Cooler DCACO-V3400-BLA01 and Arctic Cooling V002 chip heatsinks
[GPU2] NVIDIA Quadro FX1400 128MB PCI-E
[Thermal Compound] Arctic MX-4
[HDD1] Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
[HDD2] Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
[HDD3] Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
[HDD4] OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC SSD

I will try putting in my old DDR2-1000 2x2GB sticks -- actually only one of them, and see how that goes. But it probably won't go so well. And if that will be the case, I need to purchase a new motherboard, new CPU, and new RAM:

[Motherboard]
[RAM] G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL (4x4GB)
[CPU] Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 1 LGA 2011 BX80619I73930K

I am looking for suggestions on motherboards. Looking for something that would be more reliable than my EP45-DS3R. I do not plan to overclock this time (no time to spend in intimacy, plus better in long run). I would prefer a Gigabyte motherboard, but I am open to suggestions. If it has at least one PCI slot, that is a plus. USB3 is welcome. At least 1Gbit Ethernet is desired.

 

[Tsumi]

Do you need the 6 cores? If not, I would go get the i7 2600k, it should reliably overclock to at least 4.2 ghz without any tweaks. Motherboard platforms would be much cheaper as well.

As for a motherboard from the 2011 series, pretty much the only Gigabyte board I can recommend to you is the UD5, which is the only board in their lineup that has 8 RAM slots.

For RAM, any 1600 mhz CAS 9 RAM from a reputable manufacturer would work. RAM speed hardly matters in most situations, and 1600 mhz historically has had the best pricing. I would get 4gb RAM sticks, since those are the best bang/buck at the moment.

 

[Cerulean]

Do you need the 6 cores? If not, I would go get the i7 2600k, it should reliably overclock to at least 4.2 ghz without any tweaks. Motherboard platforms would be much cheaper as well.

As for a motherboard from the 2011 series, pretty much the only Gigabyte board I can recommend to you is the UD5, which is the only board in their lineup that has 8 RAM slots.

For RAM, any 1600 mhz CAS 9 RAM from a reputable manufacturer would work. RAM speed hardly matters in most situations, and 1600 mhz historically has had the best pricing. I would get 4gb RAM sticks, since those are the best bang/buck at the moment.

Greetings,

I do a lot of work in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Corel Draw X3, and video encoding/editing using AViSynth scripting, MeGUI, VirtualDub, etcetera. In the future I plan on getting Adobe After Effects and possibly Pro Premiere. Occasionally I run several virtual machines using VMware. I need the horsepower.

8GB was enough RAM in my workstation, but since DDR3 is tremendously cheaper than DDR2, I thought I might as well go with 16GB. The G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL (4x4GB) I selected contains 4GB modules.

EDIT: I also do basic audio recording/editing stuff.

 

[Tsumi]

In that case.

MSI X79 GD45 or GD65 (make sure to get the 8D variant).
Asus P9X79 (regular, not the pro or deluxe).

I think these are the best boards for their pricing. Most other X79 boards are above the $300 range, or have only 4 RAM slots.

Edit: Out of these boards, only the Gigabyte UD5 and the Asus P9X79 have PCI slots. USB3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet has become pretty much standard on all boards released in the past year or so.

 

[Cerulean]

Any other input? I would really like to hear from other people as well. I really don't want to pull the trigger on purchasing this, but I fear that I will end up doing so. So then, I would like to prolong this for some time, at least a week or two, via discussion and user reviews and opinions and advice.

Tsumi: of the boards you have recommended, I have narrowed it down to the MSI X78A-GD65-8D (Amazon), and the ASUS P9X79 (Amazon). The reason I left out the Gigabyte UD5 (Amazon) is because I read a HardOCP review that didn't quite recommend it, mentioned a few or several "issues" with the board, and when I compare the specs and photos of this board to that of the MSI and ASUS motherboards -- it seems inferior. I might need to forget about PCI slots. I know I won't be using Crossfire/SLI though. Do they make stuff for PCI-E slots other than GPUs?

(EDIT: I may also have to get a fan controller for my Delta fans -- any recommendations on that? They don't come with the standard 3/4-pin plug, but one of those smaller, tinier 4-pin plugs, and with a 4-pin molex power adapter. I would like to make use of two of these fans I have in my chassis, but they're too loud to use at full power, and I don't have any 5.25" room in the front of my PC.)

 

[Cerulean]

Does anyone think my choice of the i7-3630K is unnecessary? Does it overclock nicely? How do you see the future of this CPU? Back when the Q9450 came out, it was $400+ retail, and I managed to snag it for $300 from Microcenter; back then it was considered overkill beyond necessity, yet my Q9450 was competent its whole life span (just not the easiest overclocker). I would like to at least get an i7 ...

I still really would like some more input on the possible motherboard choices for a 3630K, and a controller for the fans. :X

 

[seamusmc]

Does anyone think my choice of the i7-3630K is unnecessary? Does it overclock nicely? How do you see the future of this CPU? Back when the Q9450 came out, it was $400+ retail, and I managed to snag it for $300 from Microcenter; back then it was considered overkill beyond necessity, yet my Q9450 was competent its whole life span (just not the easiest overclocker). I would like to at least get an i7 ...

I still really would like some more input on the possible motherboard choices for a 3630K, and a controller for the fans. :X

3630 seems appropriate to me. You will actually take advantage of all 6 cores. (The 3960 is silly at $1k). Definitely get 16gb of ram, it's so cheap and you'll probably take advantage of it.

From what I've seen in the benchies you should experience a very nice boost in performance with the tools you use and the upgrade should last you several years.

You may also want to make sure your PSU is in good order.

 

[Tsumi]

Yes, PCI-E slots are used for other things besides GPUs.

They're used for wireless network cards, RAID controllers (this especially, since it can utilize the high bandwidth of PCI-E over PCI), and just about everything else you can think of has a PCI-E version.

It overclocks well. You're more likely to be temperature limited than you are limited otherwise, since the 6-core SB-E run significantly hotter than SB. Just increase the multiplier, you should be able to overclock to at least 4.5 ghz with a good air cooler.

 

[Cerulean]

you should be able to overclock to at least 4.5 ghz with a good air cooler.

I have a Prolimatech Megahalem. With Arctic MX-4 paste and a 150cfm+ Delta fan, my Q9450's minimum temperature was room temperature. Of course, idle temps don't matter. I got around 60C when stressing the CPU at 3.2-3.4GHz. Darn good cooler. Perhaps I should invest in a slightly better cooler (according to FrostyTech).

Additionally, I have two 252cfm Delta fans in strategic locations, and I have sealed the chassis as much as I could to get as close as possible to a "leak-free" windtunnel from start to finish (with the Megahalems somewhere in the way); can get 500cfm+ airflow through the entire chassis. At full power, noise hits at 70 dB, which is why I am looking for a controller so that I can set the fans to a suitable noise level. I have found that with these two turned on at full blast, the cooling is effective enough that it is almost comparable to that of water cooling.

Speaking of Prolimatech Megahalems, I will need to get myself a 2011 mounting kit at http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=155&subid=1460#showtab

You may also want to make sure your PSU is in good order.

Will a 750W Corsair do? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-750TX-750-Watt-Certified-compatible/dp/B000X2677A

 

[Tsumi]

The 750 watt will indeed be enough for any Crossfire/SLI setup with SB-E. You're fine.

The Megahalems is still a powerful CPU cooler, and you probably don't need to upgrade. Make sure to get regular RAM, not the one with the fancy heatsinks, since with RAM slots on both sides of the CPU socket, you won't have any room. Replacing defective memory would be a pain as well, which is why many people opted for watercooling or those AIO units from Corsair and Antec, just so that they have free access to the RAM slots.

You would need a good rheostat controller to control those. I would suggest something from Lamptron, their fan controllers are top-notch. However, those fans do not like being turned down, and will make whining noises when you do.

 

[extide]

Does anyone think my choice of the i7-3630K is unnecessary? Does it overclock nicely? How do you see the future of this CPU?

3930K is awesome. Mine run 4.8Ghz on a corsair H80 no problem. Sweet CPU and an awesome platform underneath it.

 

[Jorona]

See if you can get some of that samsung lowprofile ddr3 so you wont have any issues with your cpu cooler.

Also, did you bother reading your dump files to see whats causing your BSOD? It could be as simple as a bad driver.

 

[Cerulean]

See if you can get some of that samsung lowprofile ddr3 so you wont have any issues with your cpu cooler.

Also, did you bother reading your dump files to see whats causing your BSOD? It could be as simple as a bad driver.

It isn't even that. We can go much deeper/lower/higher than this: it only takes a few moments of being in BIOS settings for it to freeze. Additionally, I am unable to boot to Memtest86+; it begins loading it, but then freezes. This has nothing to do with Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, or any other OS in existence.

 

[kirbster]

Why not look at the UD3. If you are only running 16gb ram, it would seem a wiser choice.
My review is here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1677492

 

[Jorona]

It isn't even that. We can go much deeper/lower/higher than this: it only takes a few moments of being in BIOS settings for it to freeze. Additionally, I am unable to boot to Memtest86+; it begins loading it, but then freezes. This has nothing to do with Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, or any other OS in existence.

Have you reseated ram, and tried testing one stick at a time? Sounds like memory issues to me.

 

[Cerulean]

Have you reseated ram, and tried testing one stick at a time? Sounds like memory issues to me.

I grabbed my known working DDR2-1000 RAM, and only put one 2GB stick in. Tried multiple slots, no dice. Still can't boot to Memtest; all HDDs and 1 of 2 ODDs are unpowered.

In other news: *glug glug glug* just spent $1400. $400 more to spend on software (going from pirated software --> legit, woo!)