another "New System" thread

[Unklmo]

let's try this again. after a rather long winded post on a previous thread i realized i wasn't logged in
i'll cut to the short version. i have,
-ANTEC 900 chassis
-ENERMAX GALAXY 1000 watt psu
-Coolit FREEZONE cpu cooler
-2x WD RAPTOR 150 gb
now, i was sold on the Striker mobo, but so many horror stories. price(don't care if it'll be worth it), not posting, bios updating, ram issues...
now, i'm seeing more and more ppl touting the EVGA 680i mobo's.
i'm not looking for any excessive hair pulling. this is my first attempt at a build and i'm as green as they come
looking for some guidance without too many choices to choose from. that's where it get's overwhelming and i'll just get lost.
i don't know anything about oc'ing, but i wouldn't mind being able to do some modest tweaking to get that little "extra". (hint hint)
will prolly go with an 8800 gtx for now, but want the expandability for future sli.
looking to go quad core, just because it's there and i don't want to be looking at another proc in 2 yrs time.
as for ram, ugh, soo much sifting.i get that lower #'s is better, but what is better for me?
like i said, for gaming, not working, and the occassional looking at of things i shouldn't be looking at on-line

any and all comments /suggestions. thnx in advance guys

[CMetaphor]

For the video card id reccommend an eVGA - just in case some new amazing vid card comes out in the next 3 months you can trade in your old one in and get credit for it (Full Credit if in good condition!!!) towards your newer card. Hope it helps!

[Unklmo]

not to mention the probable lack of incompatibility if i go with the evga 680i mobo. just trying to find comparisons now between that and the Striker mobo.
thnx

[Babrbarossa]

Welcome to the forum!

EVGAs service and lifetime warranty is far better than ASUS- they're RMA anything and they do it quickly and without complaint- you can replace all of the stock heatsinks on the board and still RMA if there's a problem. They've laso been really good about updating their bios. I've never had a problem with mine and my e6400 runs stable at 3.84GHz (480MHz FSB), so they'll overclock as much as you need.

If you are in fact going to overclock a quad core, you will need phase change TEC, or water cooling to keep it from toasting so you're on the right track there.

[Unklmo]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

Welcome to the forum!

EVGAs service and lifetime warranty is far better than ASUS- they're RMA anything and they do it quickly and without complaint- you can replace all of the stock heatsinks on the board and still RMA if there's a problem. They've laso been really good about updating their bios. I've never had a problem with mine and my e6400 runs stable at 3.84GHz (480MHz FSB), so they'll overclock as much as you need.

If you are in fact going to overclock a quad core, you will need phase change TEC, or water cooling to keep it from toasting so you're on the right track there.

eVGA does seem to have great rep for customer service. and that could be a deciding factor. as for cooling, this is already ordered Coolit Freezone CPU Cooler 56W MTEC Based MAINTENANCE-FREE Liquid Cooling System AM2/S939/LGA775 - DirectCanada. i want a fast system at stock, and i'm looking for some simple tweaking later on.(read, baby steps)
dunno, i'm prolly being too ambitious for my first build.

[Babrbarossa]

I say go for it dude- It's a really fun hobby- just watch out for your pocket book once the bug bites (although from the look of your parts list, pocket book shouldn't be a prob ;-)} I'll bet you'll end up putting together a custom built watercooling setup within three months of buying it.

You won't be able to help overclocking the snot out of your CPU with that setup- Really there's no point at all on spending all that money unless you're planning on it.

[Unklmo]

btw, thnx for the welcome. i've been perusing the boards for a little while now.
as far as the pocket book goes, it's gonna be a part by affordable part build. i want the qx6700(i know i don't really need it and i'm not an oc purist so it would be wasted on me), and i can't justify the $1200+ for it. in the end i'll prolly go with the Q6600.(do i really need quad for what i'm doing?)
then of course i could just go the modest route (prolly should too!) and grab the e6700 proc.
from what i've been able to see, that cooler should be able handle the quad.
but aside from the public opinions, does any one have any first hand experience between these 2 mobo's.
Asus Extreme Striker
EVGA | Mainboards
specifically, what are the differences performance wise

[Babrbarossa]

No experience with the Striker, but I would recommend waiting for June 22nd before buying your CPU- prices are dropping again.

[Jmac]

I'll also vouch for the eVGA 680i board. I used one of the early revisions back in November, but it was still solid and had no issues (other than the stupid location of the FDD connection).

[Unklmo]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

You won't be able to help overclocking the snot out of your CPU with that setup- Really there's no point at all on spending all that money unless you're planning on it.

i don't plan on picking up a cpu any time before then either (Visa dictates so!). i'm also hoping for another price drop on the Q6600 like back in April. as far as over-clocking, yeah, i know i want to ,just gonna have to do a whole lot more research on the "how to's" to go along with my "what the he**'s".

you guys know of the eVGA boards running excessivly hot, or is that just a product of ppl's lack of cooling?
while we're at it, any rec's on particular ram? not sure if i need to buy latency/cas (?) specific ok ok, i don't even know what i really should be looking at in memory. other than matched pairs .

sorry guys, i know you've seen and replied to many threads exactly like this one. i'm just trying to pick your brains
thnx again