Reccomendations and or suggestions

Hello All,

First thank you for taking the time to red my thread.

I need your assistance/guidance in selecting a MB for my gaming system. What I want is a system that will Be relatively fast, stable, and perform well for the MMO of my choice..

My brand preferences as you will see are Antec, Intel, Seagate, Kingstion, and Nvidia..

I have selected the following so far:

Antec Twelve Hundred
Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
Kingston 1GB DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (x4)
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I will not be overclocking
I will not be using more than 1 HDD
**EDIT: After input from other users I may possibly want the flexibility to upgrade to use raid later
I will not be using dual video cards
** EDIT: At first, after input from other forum members I may possibly want the flexibility to upgrade to 2 Nvidia GPU's later
I will not be using firewire devices

I will be using the onboard audio
I will be using the onbaord NIC


Given all of this information I cannot decide on a mainboard, brand, northbridge etc..

I was thinking about perhaps the:
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

But thats really just a guess...

Your assistance, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated thank you.

have you looked at the asus p5q variants or gigabyte's p45 ds3l/ds3r/ds4.
a p45 ds3l would suit your needs and i think would be the cheapest option.
i know you mentioned you prefer nvidia but you should really just look at an ati 4850 also.

With no overclocking, a dual core, and single 8800GT, you definitely don't need a 1kw PSU. I think a Corsair HX520 would do fine. And if you're not overclocking and you're not using dual cards, any plain old Intel board should do. I would go with one of the P35s.

Actually, a P965 would work well too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186116

Only 60 after rebate.

Thanks Guys,

So far thats 1 vote for p965, p35, p45
*and a note to buy a lower wattage PS

No votes for any of the Nvidia Nforce chipsets

Keep it coming I am appreciating each bit of information

Thank you

I wouldn't expect any votes for the nvidia chipsets since you're not going to go SLI. That's pretty much the only reason to get a nvidia board over a intel one.

Huserx said:

Hello All,

First thank you for taking the time to red my thread.

I need your assistance/guidance in selecting a MB for my gaming system.
What I want is a system that will
Be relatively fast, stable, and perform well for the MMO of my choice..

My brand preferences as you will see are Antec, Intel, Seagate, Kingstion, and Nvidia..

I have selected the following so far:

Antec Twelve Hundred
Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
Kingston 1GB DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (x4)
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I will not be overclocking
I will not be using more than 1 HDD
I will not be using dual video cards
I will not be using firewire devices

I will be using the onboard audio
I will be using the onbaord NIC


Given all of this information I cannot decide on a mainboard, brand, northbridge etc..

I was thinking about perhaps the:
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

But thats really just a guess...

Your assistance, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Click to expand...

Well honestly if you're NOT going to be using dual video cards, why pay the premium for an SLI board? Doesn't really make much sense.

From the sounds of your build, a very very very very basic motherboard would do just fine for you. What is your price limit and I can make a suggestion for you, but if you're on a budget there's an asus p5q open box item right now for 91.50 on the egg.

You can also DEFINITELY drop down the power supply. 1Kw power supply is ridiculous for your build. A quality 6-650 power supply would do JUST fine. I reccomend corsair or zalman personally.

now, you said its a gaming board, your budget might not be set for a dual card setup but a year from now, it would be great if you can get the option to. so a good power supply will last you a while and a mobo that allows you to have top of the line specs for your card and any add on cards in the future is better, than buying a new system when the time comes.

That is just what i think.

i would go
E8400 or E8500(depends on how much you want to spend)
Asus P5Q
2x2gig kit DDR2-800 cas4 ram
ATI 4850
250gig seagate (410AS model) get 2 if you can, run a raid-0 setup.

Ashura - Ok
ThatCollegeKid - I see your point also on the MB and the PS

However Fireball_dbz - You raise some good points, it is not in my budget (now) to go SLI or raid

So in general go with a basic intel board and a lower power supply..


////

However, now I am going to go back on my original post considering what Fireball_dbz said

I will change my statement to what would be the best board for to go with for gaming with one GPU and one HDD for now..But allow the flexibility to possibly use 2 Nvidia GPUS's or Raid later..

Also while I appreciate that many of you are ATI enthusiasts I really do prefer to stay with NVIDIA, my experiences with ATI have not been great, my experiences with NVIDIA have always been great.

Once again thank you for taking the time to read this thread, and for providing your suggestions and or opinions..

A note about power supplies, both Ashura and ThatCollegeKid reccomended a lower wattage PS, and both reccomended the Corsair brand.

So perhaps one of these two would be better suited for my needs:

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

well if you consider SLI in the future get the 650-TX. it has a higher current rating on the 12v rail vs the HX line. even the 550VX unit has more then enough current to handle a CF or SLI setup, assuming the cards have single 6pin pcie connectors. i ran a oced dual core on a NV680i with a SLI of 7900GT KO's on the OCZ powerstream 520 with no issues. my 520 is not the SLI certified one....

Hello again guys,

So when people reccomend getting the Asus P5Q.. which one?
These are the top 4 for rating, and most reviews on the egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295
ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131297
ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131296
ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

===================================================

What do I want in a MB? Performance, simple, stable, relaible, and affordable.

Not Overclocking..
Possibly setup 2 HDD in RAID (whichever raid is a backup/mirror)

My current plan after reading these forums, your input and my choice is:
OS---- XP Pro SP3 32 bit

Case---- Antec 300
Case Fans---- Nexus 120mm Real Silent (x3)
PSU---- Corsair 650TX

MB---- ??
CPU---- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400\E8500 (Depending on what I have to spend)
HS---- XIGMATEK HDT-S1283
HSF---- Nexus 120mm Real Silent
MEM---- Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) (*at 800)
* Yes I am aware XP will only recognize 3.5g apx
GPU---- EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

HDD---- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb (x2 maybe)
DVD----ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-2014S1T - Retail

Your thoughts are appreciated as usual..



Huserx