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Help with X58 Motherboard selection. See next post, I have to have 1 post to include links.. |
Hey guys... I'm going to upgrade my CPU and Mobo and RAM, and need some help deciding on a motherboard. I'm going to get the Core I7 920 cpu Newegg.ca - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops This ram.. well probably, there's so many choices... whichever I choose.. Newegg.ca - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory And now for the motherboard... It's between: Evga X58 Newegg.ca - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards which I don't feel is as good as these others.. Asus P6T with that screen thing ( I feel like getting this one...) Newegg.ca - ASUS P6T Deluxe/OC Palm LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards Gigabyte EX 58 Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards Gigabyte EX 58 extreme (seems to have bad rating on newegg) Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards MSI x58 eclipse (hmm?) Newegg.ca - MSI X58 Eclipse SLI LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards I originally wanted to get the Asus rampage 2 extreme but I don't think it will fit properly in my case with the 1 inch overhang, it will block my rear cable routing holes on the 1200.. Unless someone can show me a picture of one fitting perfect that one is ruled out. I will only be using 1 video card (9800gtx) on this motherboard. I will also be using a PCI sound card (X-Fi xtreme gamer). My power supply is a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w. My heatsink is a Zalman 9500... I think it will fit fine on either motherboard, any known issues with the fit? It will be going in an Antec 1200 case, so cooling should be sufficient for a decent overclock. I want to get at least 3.5 ghz out of it if I can stay stable and cool. I also would like to push my ram quite a bit too. Also, I have an IDE harddrive (yes, I know...) so IDE cable usability matters. I'm stuck on what to choose... price doesn't matter to me. You guys know more about the reliability of these products and all that jazz, so help me pick the best option, thanks. I'm open to different RAM suggestions also, should I go with higher than 1366mhz? (problem with rampage seen here, it will block this hole and just make a cable routing mess in my case) http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...T/Img_0678.jpg |
Things that I see that could be a potential problem: -Zalman 9500 will require a new bracket to be compatible, likely you will want to upgrade if you overclock I see temps being a problem. -You really need to toss that HDD, while there might not be anything wrong with the old a new SATA drive is cheap and will be far faster. Sorry I can't suggest anything regarding memory, motherboard or cpu I know far to little. EE |
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There are some clamps and crap in the box my heatsink came in, apparently it was 775 compatible, will it still be with the new socket? And will temps really be a problem at 3.5GHz? My case provides a lot of air flow, the heatsink isn't record breaking or anything but it isn't terrible. Thanks for the help so far. |
::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions ::: A case does affect the temperature of the cpu, however the size and thermal limitations of the 9500 is where I see it having a problem. The only way to know is to try it out, obviously Zalman is confident enough that it will perform or they wouldn't have created a bracket for it. For the price of Velociraptor I'd just buy 3 drives run a raid 5 setup with nearly 3-5x the storage space. EE |
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My knowledge is limited in the hard drive department... I know nothing about raid 5, so I would need guidance in that area... I would buy 3 500gig harddrives instead and do something else that I don't know about? lol Info on "raid 5" would be appreciated :biggrin: I suppose my current 500GB IDE drive will just serve to backup all my files for my re-format... |
The new i7's are LGA1366 socket, while the Core 2's were LGA775. The chip is physically bigger. You'll need an adapter, or new HSF. If you're planning on OC'ing, these things throw a lot of heat apparently, a better HSF is probably a good idea. |
Here's some information regarding raid and basic function, I hope its not to technical. I consider it to be a viable solution and one that peope should be aware of, extreme performance HDDs have that wow factor, but lack storage space and are very expensive. RAID - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The core i7 introduced a new socket design, while many heatsinks are capable of cooling the new socket design it required manufacturers to provide compatible brackets to secure it, some went the entire route and just introduced a new cooler. As for the old drive if you could find a extrenal IDE housing it would eliminate the need for any ribbon cables and you could use a simple usb connection for file transfers. EE |
Alright, I guess I could try it with my current HS... but from at least your guys' opinions I'm going to need a better one. Should I just go water cooling? The 1200 has 2 holes in the back, assuming that's useful... |
I've come up with a different hard drive configuration.... Talked to a computer knowledgeable friend (at least I think he is..) and came up with this which seems alright to me, I want to ditch IDE completely, I hate the huge cable, plus it's slower than SATA obviously. 2 WD 74 gig raptors in raid 0 1 WD 640 gig for other random storage... I'm not getting any motherboard suggestions yet, but from what I've read so far it seems the Asus is the better choice.. I combo'd it with some 1600mhz ram also, as you can see here.. I'm going to assume it's decent RAM, I'm using it right now in pc6400 version... it is 1.65v too which what I read is what the I7 wants. I'm going to look into getting that bracket for the heatsink and try it out.. I have faith in my 8 case fans in the antec 1200, so I'll see how that goes, worst comes to worse I will have to get a new heatsink anyways.. EDIT: I found it on the newegg.com site.. here: Newegg.com - ZALMAN ZM-CS4A Socket 1366 Clip Support Kit for CNPS9500/9700 - CPU Fans & Heatsinks I emailed them about anything they can do for me to get it from .ca... I hope it goes well, I mean.. I am about to buy 1500 dollars worth of crap from them! :clap: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...e_HT/Cart3.png |
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