GOT ATI X1800XT! now what??

[shunail]

Hi there,
I've heard very good reviews about X1800XT, without knowing anything else I bought it (big motivation was big sale and store coupon though ), not what??? I need BIG FAVOR that is your advice. Which motherboard would support this card. I've searched and found "ASUS P5WD2-E Premium" is Crossfire capable. Card's box says Crossfire compatible motherboard is required and this motherboard is ATI Crossfire capabale. Other I've found was "ASUS A8R-MVP" but thats AMD base board. I prefer Pentium base processors because I always had bad experiences with AMDs. I want to play Battlefield 2 without any jitters and its all for that. I would like to use my 2 x 1 GB DDR RAM if useable, PCI Creative Audigy 4, ATI All in Winder TV Tuner card, PCI IDE controller for my 4 Hard Drives and 2 DVD Burners.

In short, I'm looking for
- system board with processor (Intel Pentium D if its worth buying or AMD)
- with no builtin video,
- no sound (may be),
- 2 PCI Express,
- 3 PCI slots (minimum),
- DDR RAM slot (if possible).

by the way, do I need a master video card too??? 80

Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!!!

 

[CraigSlice]

Other than suggesting going AMD,

Any mobo with an PCI-e slot will work for it. If you want to use crossfire (but for a 500 buck videocard i'd assume not) go ahead, but if not anything will work, just dont get an SLI board cuz you cant use it with ATI cards

 

[shunail]

I should go with AMD or Intel?

 

[IlllI]

i'd say amd. they run cooler, quieter and are better for gaming. also, built in sound is pretty much a standard feature these days, but you can turn it off in the bios.

as for finding a mobo with 3 PCI slots? this one was listed on the first page of newegg.

 

[the Chase]

I think you will be limited to AMD if you want to use that DDR memory as anything new for Intel with PCI-e is going to have to use DDR2 memory I believe.

 

[CraigSlice]

Originally posted by: shunail
I should go with AMD or Intel?

Yeah, deffinately go with AMD, that board that guy showed had everything you needed, unless you wanted 2 16x PCI-express slots, in that case the mobo is gonna cost some more money.

If you do want 2 16xPCI-e w/o SLI (since you cant use with ATI cards) here is one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152 (but only 2 pci slots)
if you want Crossfire board (for running 2 ATI cards)
Cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131584
More Expensive and instock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136165

But make sure you research anything your thinking of buying tons and tons

 

[Bushman5]

AMD They run cooler quieter and perform immensly better in just about everything and OC ALOT more so better bang for buck. anything else is a waste of money unless your buying like 100pcs from dell for your business

 

[KeepItRed]

Originally posted by: shunail
I should go with AMD or Intel?

From my experience:

AMD = Gaming
Intel = Programs

Might have changed, but I still believe it.

 

[tuteja1986]

MY THREAD http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1762008&enterthread=y

Reviews , Price comprasion and mobo price
7800gtx vs X1800XT Crossfire :~

I recommend :
AMD Opteron 165 oc it to 2.8GHZ BEAST can defeat AMD X2 4800 easy when oc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588

well a sapphire x1800xt ome cost $489.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102629

well a crossfire at new eggs is selling at $569 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102655

ASUS A8R-MVP cost $139.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131584

Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820148009

THIS MACHINE WILL DO SOFTWARE + GAMING

 

[kruull]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed

Originally posted by: shunail
I should go with AMD or Intel?

From my experience:

AMD = Gaming
Intel = Programs

Might have changed, but I still believe it.

AMD = Gaming
Intel = Singlecore "based" programs
AMD = All other programms

AMD rocks nowadays!
At least IMHO!

 

[shunail]

What about Gigabyte board. Aren't there any? Or Asus is better choice?

 

[tuteja1986]

nope , gigabyte for crossfire none.

Just Asus , DFI and sapphire at the moment... gigabyte?s crossfire motherboard coming out next year

Anyways Asus A8R-MVP board is cheap and is very competitive and can easily keep up with an Asus 32 SLI board

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed

Originally posted by: shunail
I should go with AMD or Intel?

AMD = Gaming
Intel = Programs

AMD = better at everything, Intel = second best at everything. Well, the "programs" part could be from HyperThreading, but with dual core being available for both platforms, if you want good overall performance just get a dual core A64.