what motherboard should i buy?

[nate]

Ok so i am going to be coming into some money soon so I'm needing some help getting into modding.
the first thing I'm going to do is get my specs all picked out.

so my plan is to have two
EVGA 01G-P3-1284-AR GeForce GTX 280 SSC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Cards.

and now with my desktop memory I'm wanting to know if going to 16gigs would be good?
i was planning to get 4
G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBPQ

but my main problem is picking out a motherboard that will support all of this and also i don't know much about processors either so any help would be well appreciated.

[xRyokenx]

I would go with a good brand such as Asus, MSI, and a few others that are out there. I am certain that the other members know more.

You need a mobo that supports SLI, and as to the RAM, I think that 8GB should be fine for now. I have 4GB and I don't even use all of that with Crysis running, and I have Crysis set almost all Very High.

EDIT: As to CPUs, a friend of mine has one of AMD's tricore CPUs and it is beastly. I would look into those.

[nevermind1534]

I just finished helping my friend with his new q6600 that we assembled yesterday. That runs great. We got it overclocked to 2.98GHz without even overvoltaging the north or south bridges. We set the CPU core voltage to 1.4, and it runs at ~32°C. He has an ASUS P5Q Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299&Tpk=N82E16813131299).

[Raz1r]

16GB is way overkill. 8GB is overkill most of the time as well, but it helps out a lot if you are using Vista which I am assuming you will be. Start with a nice 4GB kit with some low CAS then upgrade to 8GB later. BTW there are no SLI motherboards out right now that support 16GB of RAM, AFAIK.

Also, if you're going to be dropping a grand on Video cards, I hope you're using a 30" screen. Otherwise it's a waste of money. I'd go for the HD4870X2 if you're gonna be spending some serious money, you won't have to worry about multi-card solutions and micro-stutter and all of that.

For processors, a Quad-core is better for more "future-proof", but a nice fast Dual-core will be better for single-threaded apps such as gaming than a slower quad. If you do a lot of multi-tasking or video encoding than you will be wanting a Quad. Intel is pretty much dominating the Processor market right now, I highly recommend the E8400/Q6600 for price to performance.

Tell us what resolution you want to play games at, all that money for 2 280s could be better spent on other things like a water-cooling setup or a nice set of speakers and a sound card.

[nate]

16GB is way overkill. 8GB is overkill most of the time as well, but it helps out a lot if you are using Vista which I am assuming you will be. Start with a nice 4GB kit with some low CAS then upgrade to 8GB later. BTW there are no SLI motherboards out right now that support 16GB of RAM, AFAIK.

Also, if you're going to be dropping a grand on Video cards, I hope you're using a 30" screen. Otherwise it's a waste of money. I'd go for the HD4870X2 if you're gonna be spending some serious money, you won't have to worry about multi-card solutions and micro-stutter and all of that.

For processors, a Quad-core is better for more "future-proof", but a nice fast Dual-core will be better for single-threaded apps such as gaming than a slower quad. If you do a lot of multi-tasking or video encoding than you will be wanting a Quad. Intel is pretty much dominating the Processor market right now, I highly recommend the E8400/Q6600 for price to performance.

Tell us what resolution you want to play games at, all that money for 2 280s could be better spent on other things like a water-cooling setup or a nice set of speakers and a sound card.


ok to the video card thought. i was planning to do a duel monitor setup. i was planning on getting two http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005114 would these be ok monitors? the video cards i selected had hdmi outputs im pretty sure. so what are your thoughts on this? and my memory idea has went down to 8 gb just cause i want it.

[nevermind1534]

You will still have to connect the vid card, at least to the monitors, with DVI cables, because those only have DVI input. The HDMI output just takes the sound from your soundcard, and re-directs it through the HDMI port on the video card.

[Spawn-Inc]

go with Evga since you are using there cards, since your going top of the line in video cards, might as well with the motherboard. go with this one


nForce 790i SLI FTW DIGITAL PWM (http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=132-YW-E180-A1&family=Motherboard%20Family)


its DDR3 memory, which i would get over DDR2...


cpu i would go with the E8600, you will get 4GHz stable for sure.

and if you want sli, that means no dual monitors. i would go with 1 30" LCD over 2x 25"

[nevermind1534]

No, there's two DVI outputs on all of Nvidia's new cards. You can only use the outputs on the first card, though, if you do SLI.

[nate]

is this a good motherboard?
Intel BOXDX38BT LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX DDR3 Intel Motherboard

[Spawn-Inc]

if you want SLI, no you can only get Nvidia Chipset boards for SLI.

[Cymae]

I'm not intending to hijack the thread, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions here too seeing as this is allready a topic :)

Requirements:
This will run Windows 2008 Enterprise Server with HiperV
Duo/Quad support
8GB RAM DDR2 support
3XPCI slot
6 or more SATA with hardware RAID
Hardware Virtualisation Assist
Onboard video preferred.
High RAM speed not required; many USB ports not required FireWire not required

[mtekk]

is this a good motherboard?
Intel BOXDX38BT LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX DDR3 Intel Motherboard

As Spawn said, if you want to do SLI this probably won't work (you'll have to use hacked drivers to get SLI working on a non Nvidia chipset). It will do crossfire, however (So you could use two 4870X2s). I'm not sure if this board is like older Intel boards in which they offer little to no overclocking option. That said, Intel motherboads are rock solid, I have never had one give me problems. Also note that it only supports, standard 1.5v DDR3 memory (none of that 1.7v overclocked/superclocked 1333 stuff).

[nate]

ok so what mother board and video cards should i get if i want to do a duel screen setup for my artwork. and be able to play crysis.

[xRyokenx]

For a motherboard, I would go with one that supports C2D and C2Q CPUs and has one, maybe two PCIe x16 slots. Take a look at my system's specs, it is on the upper right hand side by the reputation bars. I can run it almost all very high with some AA at a decent resolution with what I have.