First build, need recomendations...

Karl Hansson · 27 Feb 2008 at 09:08

Hello

I'm planning to build my first computer within the comming month or so. I've been looking around at reviews on different motherboards but I haven't really found anyone that stood out to me.

I'm looking for a good high performance (especially graphic performance) and stable board at stock speeds, I'm not too fuzzed about overclocking (but don't mind if the feature is there).

I would prefer an sli card, especially now since nvidia have bought ageia physics and I imagine that an upcomming physics card might use sli.

I also want to use a new 45nm intel processor.

I've been looking at the asus striker 2 which looks interesting. But after reading peoples posts, it seems it has overheating problems, which is not so good. I don't want to have to worry about overheating.

My budget for this board would be upto and around £200.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

BUFF · 27 Feb 2008 at 15:09

Do you ever really see yourself using SLI (2 gfx cards working in tandem)?
If not (& most people don't need it, better to simply buy the single best card that you can afford) then you don't need an nVidia chipset & most people would say that Intel chipsets are superior.
An nVidia gfx card will run just as well in an Intel chipset mobo.

What other features do you need e.g. RAID, firewire etc.?

Karl Hansson · 27 Feb 2008 at 21:08

Hi thanks for the reply.

No I probably wont use sli, unless nvidia ships a physics card which requires sli. So I guess it would make sence to go for an intel card.

I was thinking of putting two 160gb discs in a raid for the system and have one 500gb disc for storage. Firewire is not important but a e-sata port would be nice.

Im going to use the computer for work stuff and games so stability and out-of-the-box performance is the most important. I working a lot with 3D programs like maya, zbrush and motionbuilder, and I would also be doing a lot of graphics programming (opengl mostly) in c++.

Greatful for any reply.

BUFF · 27 Feb 2008 at 21:29

a P35 chipset based mobo should do you fine then & you don't need to spend anything like £200 for 1 of them.
Whilst some of them offer RAID using the JMicron ports imo you are better off with Intel Matrix RAID using the ICH9R controller.
This seems to be the best value atm with the features that you need http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-089-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913 but also Gigabyte's P35-DS3R or P35-DS3P (these use a breakout plate off the internal ports for eSATA), abit's IP35 Pro & Asus' P5K-E would fit the bill.

Karl Hansson · 28 Feb 2008 at 20:17

Thanks Buff. Those bords seems ok, but they are quite cheap.. Is the quality any good?

I also looked at the Asus P5K64WS which looks interesting. Does anyone have any experience with this board?

Also I'm thinking about a X38 board, because they come with pci 2.0 and are maybe a bit more futureproof.

K

BUFF · 28 Feb 2008 at 21:17

Karl Hansson said:
Thanks Buff. Those bords seems ok, but they are quite cheap.. Is the quality any good?

I don't know about the MSI but the abit, Asus & Gigabyte (I prefer the DS3P as the DS3R uses a narrow width PCB) are fine.

if your primary concern is stability & you aren't too fussed about overclocking etc. then you won't go wrong with an Intel branded mobo if it has the features that you need.

Also I'm thinking about a X38 board, because they come with pci 2.0 and are maybe a bit more futureproof.

there is nothing yet that needs PCI-E 2.0 as they haven't even saturated PCI-E 1.0 yet.
& Intel is moving to a new socket towards the end of the year so how futureproof any Intel mobo is going to be is kind of moot.

Tainted · 28 Feb 2008 at 23:40

This changing of sockets is almost criminal. They want to sell you a chipset and cpu whenever you buy the dam CPU!!!!

Trunks9486 · 29 Feb 2008 at 00:11

Get an X38, or wait for P45 to be released. PCIe2 aint important NOW, what about later? Not everyone liked to upgrade often people!

V3g3tto · 29 Feb 2008 at 00:27

Majority of X38's are DDR3, the ones that aren't offer a few more BIOS options and...look nicer i suppose, chips a bit better. No reason not to go for the P35 still at the moment, would be hard pushed to flatten my motherboard with most of the stuff out now.
An Asus P5KC with DDR2/DDR3 compatibility is great at £75, or if you want a nice wifi option, an extra £20 for the P5K-E.

MSI Neo-FR...amazing overclocker, an absolute bargain at around £70, rude not to get it, great heatpipe solutions too. I've only had MSI and mainly ASUS boards before so won't mention others, but thsoe two have the best bling

GingerNinja1989 · 29 Feb 2008 at 11:06

Personally, I've had no problems with my DS3-R, lovely little board. No SLI, but are you really going to use it? And Physx cards aren't rly all they're cracked up to be. Nice little clocker too.