Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Jul 2010
- Posts
- 6,444
- Location
- Kent
Well I hope your not overly disappointed with the build. As I keep saying when on a budget it's always a compromise. I originally suggest that S2 mobo as it was cheap and had an IGP. It got you up and running and let you dedicated the rest of the budget to "spec'ing up" other parts and then you could drop in the GPU of your choice later.
Basically in regards to mobos, the socket dictates which CPUs "fit" and the chipset is what gives the mobo it's features. Because you were "dead set" on the nvidia card it actually makes sense that you spent less on the mobo. Even if you could have afforded let's say an 890 chipset mobo, yes it would have overclocked and yes the audio might be better and it would support xfire........but you need SLI!
That's why I've said keep an eye on these new chipset mobos. It seems that most 890 mobos will get a bios update to accept BD CPUs, you can rule these out as you dont have a radeon GPU. It's the 990 and the SLI option inparticular you are interested in. It will be months before you need to think about upgrading anyway. See what they cost come xmas, if you see one at a reasonable price and the extra features appeal and it can support a good range of CPUs you might be tempted to upgrade.
Back to the audio. What was the cable for the front panel that you connected to the mobo? HDAudio or AC97? It might be worth checking in the bios too that the right option is selected. Just a thought, seems odd it's the front ports giving you the hassle.
Basically in regards to mobos, the socket dictates which CPUs "fit" and the chipset is what gives the mobo it's features. Because you were "dead set" on the nvidia card it actually makes sense that you spent less on the mobo. Even if you could have afforded let's say an 890 chipset mobo, yes it would have overclocked and yes the audio might be better and it would support xfire........but you need SLI!
That's why I've said keep an eye on these new chipset mobos. It seems that most 890 mobos will get a bios update to accept BD CPUs, you can rule these out as you dont have a radeon GPU. It's the 990 and the SLI option inparticular you are interested in. It will be months before you need to think about upgrading anyway. See what they cost come xmas, if you see one at a reasonable price and the extra features appeal and it can support a good range of CPUs you might be tempted to upgrade.
Back to the audio. What was the cable for the front panel that you connected to the mobo? HDAudio or AC97? It might be worth checking in the bios too that the right option is selected. Just a thought, seems odd it's the front ports giving you the hassle.