• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Possible Build - Please critique

J

james_austintx

n00b
Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
27
Here are the things I am looking at, what do you think? :)

Asus Rampage Formula iX48 LGA775 ATX motherboard - Want to leave the option open for crossfire down the road. I just ordered this.

Q9450 C2 QUAD 2.66G 12MB 1333MHZ (or the Xenon version)

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

THERMALTAKE W0172RU Toughpower 850W SLI Power Supply Retail (has 2 6pin and 2 8pin)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Case: No idea, looking at the new Cosmos S
Video: 9800GX2


Current system: (its been awhile) :eek:
AMD 64 +2800 (socket 754)
3 GB DDR
74 GB Raptor
ATI x1950 Pro 512MB AGP
Samsung 22" 226BW
MSI Neo Plat (socket 754)


Thanks!!!!
 
Go with 800mhz of RAM if your overclocking.

If you staying with that 22" monitor then get a 8800gts G92 512mb or the 9800gtx when it comes out instead. You should only consider the 9800gx2, SLI, Crossfire if the resolution is 1920x1200 or higher.

Why bother get a crossfire board if your getting NVIDIA videocard? you shoulda bought the p35 motherboard instead unless you want to SLI, in which you should get the MSI P7N 780i motherboard. If your not returning that motherboard then get ATI cards instead. It's pointless to use a Nvidia Card with a crossfire board.

Get the Corsair 750tx instead. That should handle everything besides SLI 9800gx2.
 
What P35 board do you recommend? I can still cancel that order.
.
I'm worried about support for 45nm quads, thats why I thought it would be good to so with an x48.

I plan to get a 32" at some point down the road.
 
Motherboard options (Choose the one the fits your needs):
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $112
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $122
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $151
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $180

i would probably avoid the abit though because they have had problems with the new dual cores, not sure how theyll do with the new quads...

32".. nice. :D 9800gx2 will be a nice fit then.
 
james_austintx, do you know there is a difference between SLI and Crossfire? I'm not being a jerk, just want to make sure as it seems that you may be confused about it since you want to keep the option to crossfire open, but then decided on a high end Nvidia card.
If you actually want to eventually run 2 9800GX2s in SLI you need a mobo with an Nvidia chipset, not Intel.
If SLI is what you want, then a 780i board will pretty much be your first choice. EVGA, XFX and BFG are good companies to buy those from. I'd stay clear of MSI. Their warranty sucks. The other choice would be a 790i mobo which has DDR3 RAM support, but that is really not necessary at this point.
If Crossfire actually is what you want, then my first choice of brands would be Gigabyte and then DFI. Again I'd stay clear of MSI and I'm not a big fan of ASUS either, because their customer support is atrocious as of late.
 
From the OP, Personally, I would only agree on the HDD that was selected. Based on his 22" LCD, I would just get 1 x 8800GTS 512MB Video card, A Q6600 cpu, P35 (Intel P35 chipset) motherboard, 2 x 2gig DDR2 800 RAM and a 500- 600 watt PS. Good already. This is already an enormous jump and upgrade from your outdated AMD socket 754 system with only a AGP slot. My other system is similar to yours but it's a Athlon 64 3000+ with 2 gig RAM and a X1650Pro AGP card.
 
If you are planning to get the 30" monitor soon -- like, within six months -- the only board worth considering is the MSI P7N Diamond. (NVIDIA owns the high-end for now and the immediate future.) But SLI (and/or CrossFire) is only worth it if you buy everything now. If you are unwilling/unable to, then stick with a P35-based motherboard and get a high-end video card.
 
Your RAM choice depends on your OC'ing goals. To OC a Q9450 to 4Ghz, you'll need highly OC'able DDR2-800 RAM or some DDR2-1000/1066 (assuming you're using a DDR2 board). However, the current problem with reaching such high speeds on a quadcore is that the current motherboards have trouble dishing out such high FSB speeds when OC'ing quads. So, hopefully that Eaglelake chipset board you chose resolves that issue. Though, thats a high price to pay for a slight performance improvement, IMO.
 
tiraides said:
If you are planning to get the 30" monitor soon -- like, within six months -- the only board worth considering is the MSI P7N Diamond. (NVIDIA owns the high-end for now and the immediate future.) But SLI (and/or CrossFire) is only worth it if you buy everything now. If you are unwilling/unable to, then stick with a P35-based motherboard and get a high-end video card.
Click to expand...

Huh?
First of all, MSI (and ASUS for that matter) is never the "only one worth considering". They make good products for sure, but their warranties are not on par with others that make products of equal or even better quality. However, if you were simply using that MSI as an example for a 780i board then disregard what I just said, heh. ;)
I also wouldn't say that SLI is only worth it if you buy everything at once. If you can get that sweet system now with one higher end card and then like 2-3 months down the road want to add another one, there is nothing wrong with that.
Considering the OP wants a 9800GX2, it even makes sense to only get one right now and get another one for SLI later, as the 4way drivers are not even out yet.
 
Several people have mentioned that, due to their personal experiences (as well as others'), the P7N Diamond is the best SLI-capable motherboard to get, if not the only one worth buying.

But I agree with you that the 9800GX2 is the better option in video cards.
 
The P7N Diamond is a non-reference design, and seems to overcome the problems being seen in the reference design boards -- mainly with OC'ing quadcores. So, while it isn't your only choice, its your best choice at the moment for OC'ing quadcores with DDR2.

Sure, 2-3 months later is fine. 6 months later is pushing it, since NVIDIA is supposedly on a 6 month refresh cycle.
 
enginurd said:
Sure, 2-3 months later is fine. 6 months later is pushing it, since NVIDIA is supposedly on a 6 month refresh cycle.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but we have seen how that 6 month cycle has worked for Nvidia lately, heh. It turns into 7, 8 , 9... Let's hope they get back on track again so I don't have to wait too long after skipping the 9xxx series (if my willpower is strong enough).

I can't personally comment on the OCability of quads on a reference Nvidia board, and I have heard of those issues as well. However, I know people that have those boards and absolutely no issues pushing their quads and staying stable.
Do you think that in at least some cases it might have something to do with people not really knowing what they are doing and then blame it on the board? We all know that the guys and gals with something negative to say are always louder than the ones with good things and I'm sure that there are alot more EVGA or XFX 680i/780i boards sold than MSI, so there will naturally be more people with "bad" experiences.

Now again, I am not in any way saying that the MSI board isn't good. It may even be better, but they do have a far inferior warranty compared to EVGA, BFG or XFX.

The MSI seems to have a really stupid arrangement of expansion slots though. If you want to go SLI, you're hosed if you want to add a good soundcard. I said good, so the one that comes with it doesn't count. The only real option you have would be the ASUS Xonar PCIe, which is pretty much the only PCIe soundcard that's worth anything at all. 2 PCIe x16 in the regular location and the 2 PCIe 2.0 further down? Who came up with that?
 
A lot of people who have used the "reference boards" that were mentioned before do a lot of overclocking and a lot of tweaking; they're essentially speaking from personal experience. I've read/heard of few complaints with the MSI P7N Diamond in regards to overclocking, so I just follow their lead there.

As for the placement of the expansion slots, I have no clue. The priority is (of course) given to the PCIe x16 slots to provide adequate room for dual-slot cards to run properly. It seems to me that they roll a dice to determine where the rest of the slots go... each and every time they design a new board.
 
dr13zehn said:
Do you think that in at least some cases it might have something to do with people not really knowing what they are doing and then blame it on the board? We all know that the guys and gals with something negative to say are always louder than the ones with good things and I'm sure that there are alot more EVGA or XFX 680i/780i boards sold than MSI, so there will naturally be more people with "bad" experiences.
Click to expand...

Some cases yes but not a good majority of them. In general, the 680/780i is a pretty poorly designed chipset/mobo. The motherboard editor here at HardOCP has had 10 to 11 different 680i mobos die on him. Some mobos were overclocked, some weren't.

For 780i mobos, the only real choice is MSI P7N Diamond. And my reasoning comes from Dan_D, the mobo editor here:
Dan_D said:
Right now if you want a 780i SLI board you are limited to:

EVGA 780i SLI (132-CK-NF78-A1)
XFX 780i SLI
ASUS P5N-T
ASUS Striker II Formula
MSI P7N Diamond

The first two are ok, but have quirks and frankly they already have apparent quality issues and since they are so close to the 680i SLI reference design I advise staying clear of them. There is already some evidence that shows them to be ticking time-bombs like the 680i SLI reference boards were. I don't blame EVGA or XFX for that, but rather I blame NVIDIA.

That leaves the non-reference boards. The P5N-T I've never heard anything good about. Even Kyle didn't care for it too much as he had some issues with it. The Striker II Formula isn't much better and it has several of the same issues the Striker Extreme 680i SLI board had. That's not acceptable at all.

That leaves the P7N Diamond which I know next to nothing about. I know that I don't like some things about the layout, but otherwise it looks like a solid offering. I won't know until I actually have one in my hands for testing, if I ever get to test one.
Click to expand...

In addition, a long warranty doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good choice. There are plenty of crappy hardware out there that have long warranties i.e Ultra Lifetime PSUs with their lifetime warranty. Still pretty crappy PSUs IMO.

But fine, warranty is short on the MSI mobo, 3 years. So what? More than likely in three years, a person will end up upgrading their rig anyway.
 
OK, I concede. :)

Someone here best make me feel better again about my EVGA 780i right now. :( :p J/K J/K


Seriously though, maybe I've just been lucky with my boards. Hopefully my luck keeps on going that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top