Need some advice from you professionals!

Thanks in advance for your help. I am in the planning stage of building only my 2nd home desktop PC that I use primarily for gaming/internet/email. I have two friends recommending two different motherboards that I have listed below. I am budget minded, but I want the best performance for the dollar. Since the price difference is the obvious difference between these two boards, I need help determining what else I am losing going with the cheaper mobo.

- Will the cheaper mobo still support all of the other components I have listed?
- Will the my PC perform at the same level with the mobo?
- Am I only losing bells and whistles going with the cheaper version and not performance?

Board #1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188024

Board #2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131229


Rest of the Components...

1. CD DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106263

2. WD Hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136204

3. Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130347

4. Powersupply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817702007

5. Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146785

7. CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

8. Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156063

Do you want the ability to go SLI down the road?

Forgive me...I don't know what SLI is. This is only my 2nd PC that I am building. My first is now 5yrs old so I know technology has changed drastically. What will SLI allow me to do?

..Sorry...

Sli will allow you to run 2 identical nVidia cards as a single gpu giving you some performance increases

Ok gotcha. I am going to say "no" I have no plans for SLI

in that case I would advise you to stay away from that 780i board your basically paying $$$ for the tri-Sli feature which would allow for 3 gpu's in unison.

maybe look at the asus p5q series which alot of people here have had positive experiences with I know thats what I am looking at

Why did you choose those particular motherboards? Do really want a quad cpu? Have you considereed a p45 chipset motherboard and and something like an e8400 dual core?

PolRoger90 said:

Why did you choose those particular motherboards? Do really want a quad cpu? Have you considereed a p45 chipset motherboard and and something like an e8400 dual core?

Click to expand...

+1

an E8400 would really clock on the P5Q series board and give you some increased minimum frame rates in some games which would make your game more smooth

Which p5q board would you recommend considering the other components I plan on buying?

The P5Q-Pro has 8 phase power regulation which would be helpful if you are overclocking a quad. The P5Q-Deluxe has 16 phase and costs a good bit more but probably isn't necessary especially if you are managing a tight budget.

just picked up the pro open box from the egg ill run it w/ my 8500 and q6600 and let you know what happens

Boomer0909 said:

+1

an E8400 would really clock on the P5Q series board and give you some increased minimum frame rates in some games which would make your game more smooth

Click to expand...

+2

Unless you plan on doing lots of video encoding and the likes, then you'd be better off going with a much higher-clocked dual.

The guys that recommended a dual core chip are bang on.
Quad cores are great, but they aren't all gravy. They run hotter, don't respond as well (generally) to overclocking, and cost more money per Mhz. Most applications, and games in particular, don't utilize all four cores, so you end up with two very sleepy cores and two working at a lower Mhz rating than a dual core chip would've reached at the same price point.

sorry, edit:
You're also shelling out way too much money for a power supply, if you aren't running SLI. Look for something in the $30-50 range, 500 Watts should be more than enough.

Core2 Duo E8400: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
PSUs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017