A bit early but...which X79 mobo for Tri-Fire..

[thisburningage]

...with the ability to go Quad-Fire down the line and take 32GB RAM. I'm in need of a Firewire port for my external RME Fireface 800 rack-mount soundcard so an in-built IEEE 1394b port would be great but I'm guessing an aftermarket Firewire card would do the job? Trying (currently failing!) to buy a 3960X so Mobo's and coolers are high on my priority list right now (any advice on the latter would also be greatly appreciated). Price-wise pretty much anything goes. I know it's a bit early on as the NDA has not long lifted but with the reviews now being released if anyone more knowledgeable than me has some advice (that would be pretty much everyone then! ) that would be great. Cheers

 

[lay-z-boy]

I assume you're doing 32gb over 8 sticks, in which case the asus rampage, sabretooth, p9x79 series and the gigabyte ud5 should do the job.

Firewire 800 has been mac only outside of expansion cards, you will need to get a pci-e 1x firewire 800 card.

 

[thisburningage]

Cheers. I think I've seen a couple of X79 Boards with an IEEE 1394b port (would have to double check that though) but after a long chat with the chap I called to order my 3960X today (really helpful guy who turned out to be the head of their Pro Audio section) it appears that going for onboard Firewire is not always ideal due to possible latency issues. They recommended one with a Texas Instruments chipset that they use in their Pro Audio build so it looks like my options have opened up a fair bit. And you assume correctly on the RAM