What motherboard brand and chipset (intel) is good (value for money considering performance)?

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chip...ets_body+dt_all

some questions ...

- Dual Graphics: for the X48 and X38 series, the dual PCI only supports dual x16 with ATI? for NVIDIA do i need nForce chipsets?

- RAM: X48 don't support DDR2 RAM at all? if DDR3 worth it?

- Motherboard: what shld i take note of? the features listed in sites seems too much and confusing to read... and various brands have their own versions of same features... hard to tell which is best...

- DDR3: i think the main diff between X48 and P45 is support for 1600/XMP DDR3-1600 and dual graphics?

Edited August 22, 200818 yr by iceangel89

Intel chipset = Crossfire

Nvidia chipset = SLI

if your gonna run Crossfire, you really wanna have 2 pci-e x16 2.0 slots, so get an X38 or X48 chipset (there isnt really any difference between them, so get X38 cos its probbly cheaper)

X48 does support DDR2, DDR2 is probbly the best to get since its cheaper then DDR3 and not that much slower.

The difference between X48 and P45 is that X48 can run 2 Ati-cards at pci-e x16 speed, where the P45 chipset will change back to 2x pci-e x8 when you run 2 Ati cards, when you use only 1 card they will both run it at x16.

Intel chipset = Crossfire

Nvidia chipset = SLI

That's changing as nVidia has licensed SLI to Intel now. It's already available on the Skulltrail motherboard but that's just a crazy setup. Nehalem motherboards (coming soon) will support SLI just as they've done with Crossfire.

If you want one of the best values for your money on the market today, take a look at the ASUS P5Q Deluxe. It's one of ASUS most stable motherboards to date, it has incredible overclocking overhead, supports all of the modern technologies, and even if you don't plan to use it, everything's that on-board is of high quality. And at $200, it's a really good deal.

Gigabyte offers very nice boards at good prices. Got an Ex38-DS5 here, works great.

The ASUS Rampage Formula (X48) board supports DDR2 but not DDR3. The MSI X48c Platinum supports both DDR2 and DDR3 but, IMHO, it's an insanely buggy board. I had one and returned it.

I love my ASUS Rampage Formula board, Intel C2Q Q6600, 8 GB of Corsair DDR2 1066 PC2-8500 memory, and Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4870.

there isnt really any difference between them, so get X38 cos its probably cheaper

i think the diff is in the FSB? 10.6GB/s vs 12.8GB/s

and RAMs 6.4GB/s & 10.6GB/s vs 12.8GB/s with Intel XMP - this means? its still 6.4GB/s & 10.6GB/s without Intel XMP?

The difference between X48 and P45 is that X48 can run 2 Ati-cards at pci-e x16 speed, where the P45 chipset will change back to 2x pci-e x8 when you run 2 Ati cards, when you use only 1 card they will both run it at x16.

so dual x8 Graphics will still be better than 1 x16? by how much... and i guess it wont be worth it right?

Intel chipset = Crossfire

Nvidia chipset = SLI

That's changing as nVidia has licensed SLI to Intel now. It's already available on the Skulltrail motherboard but that's just a crazy setup. Nehalem motherboards (coming soon) will support SLI just as they've done with Crossfire.

thats good! i am more familiar with Intel chipsets... btw, are nForce good too?

I voted for Gigabyte for motherboard, been using them for years now and they usually produce high quality boards with good value.

And I voted for P45. Because it has more features over a x48 board, and supports more RAM. But if you want to do Crossfire, then your better off with a x38/x48 board, like somebody mentioned, a x38/x48 board offers 16x PCI-Express speed, while the P45 only offers 8x when you link both ATI cards together. I heard somebody said if your running just a single card, your better off with a P45 board, is this true?

If you want to do SLI, you will need a NForce board. I use to have a 780i board and I thought it was horrible, too many stability issues, which is annoying. Hopefully the x58 boards will be good, at least NVIDIA was granted a license to do SLI on the Core i7 aka Nehalem boards.

Rrrrrrr.

I can't choose between and ASUS and Gigabyte.

And P45 Chipset is latest one, right?

^^ Yes, P45 is the latest Intel chipset, though the x58 Core i7 is around the corner.