Looking for good Motherboard/Processor

[Chrisman888]

Hey, new here got told by a friend some people here might be able to help me out. So hopefully yah can!

Alright, so I am looking for a good Motherboard/Processor for gaming ((I game alot!)). My max price range will be around $650 for both. What I plan to put in the motherboard will be -TWO- Nivida Geforce 9800 GT's, so the motherboard would have to be SLI compatible I believe.

Anywho, if anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Hey, new here got told by a friend some people here might be able to help me out. So hopefully yah can!

Alright, so I am looking for a good Motherboard/Processor for gaming ((I game alot!)). My max price range will be around $650 for both. What I plan to put in the motherboard will be -TWO- Nivida Geforce 9800 GT's, so the motherboard would have to be SLI compatible I believe.

Anywho, if anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Dont bother with SLI. save the money and buy a single ATI 4870, currently its the most powerful card out there and its at least if not more powerful than a pair of 9800GT's.

While RAK mentioned the Q6600 I am afraid that as of this month, intel are no longer producing them. Instead look at the Q8's or Q9's, and get a Gigabyte motherboard to match. OK so its not an overclocking brand, but their boards are stable and reliable.

I really do recommend just getting a single high end card over two mid ends. The benefits are felt much more.

 

[clarinetJWD]

The 4870 may be powerful, but it doesn't have PhysX hardware processing, so games like Mirror's Edge can't be used to their fullest. It's a tradeoff of raw power vs. physics acceleration, so that's up to you. As for the board and processor, at that budget, you could definitely get a Core i7, board, and the DDR3 ram needed for it, and that's what I'd recommend right now. The q6600 is a very good processor, but it's been out for years now, so the i7 is the way to go for future proofness, and it tramples all of Intel's older processors.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

No longer producing, but there's going to still be some in stock in Newegg or the equivalent, if the OP hurries. The Q8s and Q9s are expensive for what you get, and I'd be inclined to skip over them to get to Core i7.

Not much longer, as when Intel scrap the Q6 completely, they are bringing in a price drop across the board, making Q8's and Q9's viable.

EDIT: Clarinet that is all well and good the 4870 not having PhysX, but until it becomes as standard rather than a gimmic, it is something he can miss out.

 

[clarinetJWD]

I'll agree that it is a gimmick now, as it was with the Ageia cards, but now tha tit's supported by cards with a gigantic install base, I think it'll start popping up more and more. I'll agree that it's just not that important now.

 

[Chrisman888]

Hey guys, thanks alot for the replys! So I have already bought the Video cards a while back so I don't want to throw them out. This is what I have come up with;

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375
Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148244

Now, on the motherboard I believe it is crossfire and not SLI which could be a problem. So I don't know if it will work out. So Id be changing that up so Id be looking for a SLI Motherboard with DDR3 ram, and supports intel for the processor.

PS: I am canadian so those prices my jack up when I go on newegg.ca, and they might not even have that hardware at the newegg.ca store.

 

[Chrisman888]

The gigabyte one is SLI? I can see the MSI says it is SLI, and even on the motherboard it shows the SLI symbol. But the gigabyte one didn't show the SLI anywhere, unless Im missing it.

Sorry just wanna make sure it's SLI, before even thinking of buying it =P.

EDIT: Oh nevermind! I zoomed and can see it is indeed 3-way SLI or 3-way crossfire. It has both, interesting!