Ugh... need a new motherboard

D

DerekMecca

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
178
Here is my current setup.

MB: Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3r
GC: EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640
RAM: Patriot 1GBx2 DDR2 800
PSU Corsair 620hx
CPU: Core 2 QUAD Q6600
CASE: Thermaltake Armor Full Black tower
SOUND: M-Audio Delta 66 (music)
SOUND: x-fi Titanium (gaming)

So I want 5.1 sound with gaming with my home theater and so I bought an x-fi Titanium PCI-E. I went to install it today only to realize that my graphics card takes up my only PCI-E port. Either I get a sound card that uses normal PCI, or I buy a new motherboard. I'd rather not go through the process of sending the sound card back and playing the wait game to get one that works.

So here is what I want. I want something that is equally as good as my current motherboard, if not better. It obviously needs to be able to use all of my other current hardware, and I would like it to be upgradable (I'd like to upgrade the CPU, RAM, and Graphics at some point). And most importantly, It needs to have multiple PCI-E ports... preferably at least 3... and at least 2 normal PCI ports as my Delta and my TV Tuner card both use normal PCI. My graphics card is huge and will probably cover a 2nd PCI-E port and so I probably need at least 3 in order to use my new sound card.

Oh and finally, if at all possible... I'd like to spend under $100. If that's not possible, I'm willing to pay more... but I would have to wait to save up some more money.

Thanks in advance.

Oh and one more thing.... if there really is such a thing as a 5.1 sound card that is comparable to the x-fi titanium that can use normal PCI, I could look into it. At least with going that route, I wouldn't have to spend the extra money on the motherboard.
 
i dont know much about sound cards, i also am looking to replace my xfi platinum which doesnt work too tough with win7. but here are some motherboards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157164

this one if you never need multi vid cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128372

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136072


i would go with this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136053


this is a good pci soundcard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

several gamers i know swear by this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132007
 
yea i just took a look at that board, you should have 2x pcie x1 slots available, 1 over the vid card, and another 2 slots down.
 
Maybe I'm just being stupid. I tried plugging it into one of the white slots which I thought were PCI slots and it wasn't fitting and then I realized that it's PCI-E and automatically assumed that it wouldn't work so I put my computer back together.

This is the one I got. If it will work with my board, awesome! When I looked at the picture of my board, I only saw one PCI-E followed by a bunch of white PCI ports... or is there something I'm overlooking?

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266434393&sr=8-1
 
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You've got 3 PCI-E 1x slots (the black short ones), one PCI-E 16x slot (blue, for video card), and 3 white old school PCI slots. That card should fit in any one of those black PCI-E 1x slots with no problems. It should fit in the top or 3rd slot.
 
Got it plugged into the one under the graphics card. Thanks everyone.

Now I get to battle with getting the card to work with W7x64.
 
I used those drivers and I'm having some issues. I posted about it in the audio forum here.
 
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