Which MoBo <$300

Hi. My birthday is coming up so I want to ask my family to get me a new M/B. My current build is in my sig. I have a gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L and i want a M/B that OCs better as well as more room for upgrades.

What I'm looking for:

1. Intel Core 2 Duo (I will probably go to E8600 or such in the future)
2. 2+ PCI-E x16 (will upgrade GPU before going dual so SLI or XFire)
3. RAID 0
4. DDR2 1066MHz+ RAM
5. 8GB RAM minimum, preferably 16GB (unless you disagree)
6. Good overclocker

What's caught my I so far:

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131284
Pro: Intel X48; Con: no RAID

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131319
Pro: 16GN RAM; Con: 1 PCI-E x16, 1 x8

3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358
Pro: price, 16GB RAM; Con: 1 PCI-E x16, 1 x8

EDIT: I just looked some more and came up with these as well

4. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128332

5. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136054

Questions:

Why is the Gigabyte so much cheaper? Can I access the PCI/PCI-E between the GFX cards? Are the Sound cards on the Asus boards good, or would I need to get a good one seperately? Do you think there's even a point to 16GB of RAM? Will PCI-E x8 make a big difference over x16?

If you like ATi in crossfire over nVidia in SLi or vice versa, please let that color your opinion.

Any opinions on these boards, as well as other sugggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

X48 is your best bet for X-fire and a dual-core, and it does indeed support RAID0 w/ up to 6 drives. Also supports, RAID1, 5, 10.

Which X48?

And what about SLi?

Unless you do the mother of all ram-intensive work, then I think going after 16gb of ram is quite far overboard.

If you're after SLI, then none of those boards will do you any good. You'd need an nVidia board for that. With the Intel boards, you can do Crossfire easily. P45 will give you dual x8, while X48 will give you dual x16. Here's a thread that compares crossfire results between the P45 and X48 boards. With bigger cards, like the 4870x2 in Crossfire, you'll see a larger drop in performance with a P45 mobo.

Amtrak said:

If you're after SLI, then none of those boards will do you any good. You'd need an nVidia board for that.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. I know that you need an nVidia board for SLi. The question was, do you know of a good board for SLi? Should I just stick with Intel (XFire)?

Amtrak said:

With the Intel boards, you can do Crossfire easily. P45 will give you dual x8, while X48 will give you dual x16. Here's a thread that compares crossfire results between the P45 and X48 boards. With bigger cards, like the 4870x2 in Crossfire, you'll see a larger drop in performance with a P45 mobo.

Click to expand...

I was just beginning to realize this. So, I think it's down to one of the X48 boards. Should I go for the Asus, Gigabyte or DFI? Since most of the specs seem similar, I guess the question is, which is the best overclocker?

Will the Asus do RAID 0 even though it doesn't mention it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188028

this would be my choice for a SLI nvidia board for under 300.00

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188027 for DDR2

All depends if you want to do Crossfire or SLI, if not get a cheaper board as there is not much point paying extra if you dont need it. but anyways hope it all goes well for you!

BigBadBaz said:

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. I know that you need an nVidia board for SLi. The question was, do you know of a good board for SLi? Should I just stick with Intel (XFire)?



I was just beginning to realize this. So, I think it's down to one of the X48 boards. Should I go for the Asus, Gigabyte or DFI? Since most of the specs seem similar, I guess the question is, which is the best overclocker?

Will the Asus do RAID 0 even though it doesn't mention it?

Click to expand...

I prefer Asus. And yes, that board does support RAID0. Go download the manual for it.

It has the Intel ICH9R (R for RAID) South Bridge which provides 6 ports w/ support for RAID0,1,5,10. I can pretty much guarantee that any X48 board will have this SB, and support RAID. If you see ICH9 (or any ICHx) w/o the 'R' on the end then you know that board doesn't support RAID on the Intel ports. However, some boards do support some form of RAID on other ports (usually 2 Jmicron or Silicon Image ports), but I don't recommend using these ports if you can help it.

Cuiiey said:

All depends if you want to do Crossfire or SLI, if not get a cheaper board as there is not much point paying extra if you dont need it. but anyways hope it all goes well for you!

Click to expand...

I do plan to go dual GFX cards (eventually), I'm just not sure if i should go XFire or SLi.

jason4207 said:

I prefer Asus. And yes, that board does support RAID0. Go download the manual for it.

It has the Intel ICH9R (R for RAID) South Bridge which provides 6 ports w/ support for RAID0,1,5,10. I can pretty much guarantee that any X48 board will have this SB, and support RAID. If you see ICH9 (or any ICHx) w/o the 'R' on the end then you know that board doesn't support RAID on the Intel ports. However, some boards do support some form of RAID on other ports (usually 2 Jmicron or Silicon Image ports), but I don't recommend using these ports if you can help it.

Click to expand...

I didn't know that, thanks for the info.

It looks like I'm down to an X48 chipset. From what I've seen it's better than the nVidia chipsets.

My question now is, should I go for the Asus Rampage Formula, the DFI LanParty DK X48-T2RSB Plus or the Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5? Or do you have any better suggestions?

Right now I'm leaning towards the Asus because it has some cool features, seems to be the best for overclocking, would look the neicest in my setup ( ) and so far has the only vote (thanks Jason).

Please let me know your opinions, which M/B should I go for?

Thanks for all the replies.

EDIT: I keep forgetting, I also need to be able to fit my OCZ Vendetta 2 HS/F on the board (and i like it blowing out the back).

correct me if Im wrong, but if you go with the x48 chipset, doesn't that get rid of the option of you going SLi?

Aztroth said:

correct me if Im wrong, but if you go with the x48 chipset, doesn't that get rid of the option of you going SLi?

Click to expand...

Yes it does. As for me, I don't really have a preference, so I am willing to go either way. It looks likes it's going to be crossfire for me.

ok, becuase you started your post saying you were undecided, and then continued to say that you had decided on the x48, so it kinda threw me off a bit, lol.

I personally like the Formula...former owner of one...

Board is a great board...made for noobs up to expert OCers...

One of the best BIOS setups out...and you will definetly love the LCD Poster that comes with the Formula...no more guessing at all whats causing a bad OC...plus you can also monitor voltage and temps with it...

The only other board out right now that really top the Formula is the Extreme ...

glock19owner said:

The only other board out right now that really top the Formula is the Extreme ...

Click to expand...

I wish I could get my family to put down that kind of money for me. It would also be nice if I could afford DDR3 RAM. And once I'm dreaming...

Anyway, it's really looking like the Asus Rampage Formula. Does anyone else have an opinion? Go for the Asus? Go for one of the others? Go for something totally different? All comments are appreciated.

The Extreme is definetly worth the money...but also not as BIOS friendly as the Formula...

The extreme gives you true total OCing control...but for people that are not used to all of those BIOS settings it can be pretty overwhelming...especially OCing quads...

If you can...wait another week or so for the I7 systems to starting shipping out...you should see a price drop on pretty much all DDR2 boards...

BTW - you can get DDR3 for around 100.00 or less now...G. Skill just released a triple channel DDR3 set for either 89.99 or 99.99...even DDR3 is starting to have a nice drop in price

Pleas stop Glock, you're going to make me spend more money than I have. I plan on doing a whole new build with i7, DDR3 (or whatever's out then)... in a year or so. This is supposed to be an UPGRADE, not a whole new build.

I currently have 8GB of DDR2 10000, I can't afford to move that to DDR3, especially not when you take the new CPU, video cards, etc. into account.

Waiting for a week might be a good idea though. Maybe the Extreme will become "affordable," but that would still mean DDR3... Probably the Formula for cheap(er).

BigBadBaz said:

Pleas stop Glock, you're going to make me spend more money than I have.

Click to expand...

I am your OC addiction dealer...I got you hooked and its too damn late to do anything...going on an extreme rampage is your only cure for the addicition.




If you dont plan on going I7 for another year or so...then you should seriously think about just going DDR3 now anyways...if you are going to wait another week or so...then whats another 2 weeks or so to get a DDR3 setup...

DDR2 is going to be dying off here shortly and you will be stuck right back where you are now in less then 3 months...

Would be a waste to spend all that good money on a bad upgrade (DDR2 wise)...

Also...I have never just upgraded one hardware in my system...one always turns into pretty much a complete system overhaul...new parts show old weaknessess ...

**** you Glock. (You can choose what to put in place of the stars.)

All right, my birthday is not for another couple of weeks anyway, I'll wait and SEE what happens. I was hoping to upgrade slowly.

BigBadBaz said:

**** you Glock. (You can choose what to put in place of the stars.(

Click to expand...

I tend to get that alot

But I also get a lot of thanks after they have upgraded to some of my suggested hardware also

GL on whichever way you to choose to go

Thank you all for all the help.

And an especial thanks to Glock for making me go bankrupt.