Thread: Motherboard/Memory Choices

In the next couple of months,I will be building a new rig. I have never built one before,so I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible(no RAID,single vid card). I want to build a beastly,yet,stable machine that is upgradeable. I have picked out a few parts,but have no idea how to choose the correct motherboard/memory combo. Are there any good tutorials to help? I'm having trouble finding a guide that helps you choose motherboard/memory combos.

This is what I've decided on so far:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115130

Vid Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127376
(not because its the OC edition,but because my current X1900 is from MSI,ia 3 years old and never had any probs.)

I want to go 4 gigs of memory,and will be using Vista 64. I dont want to OC anything as of yet,but want to keep my options as open as possible.I may want to go Crossfire,or OC at a later date,but for now simplicity is the goal.Any help or links would be greatly appreciated,and any selections I make will definately posted here before purchase to make sure I'm doing it right.

Wow, those are some serious parts, Dex!

A pro style video card and CPU deserve a pro-style mobo. I love ASUS mobos personally. Since you are forking out premium dough for a CPU and GPU, I figured I would start with $200+ dollar mobos.

ASUS P5E, Lots of solid reviews, customer choice award winner, $224.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131219

ASUS Maximus II, P45 Intel chipset, Very solid reviews on this one, $264.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131319

ASUS Maximus Extreme, DDR3 support. X38 Intel chipset, Pretty mixed reviews though...$349.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131235

ASUS Rampage, also DDR3 support, better revies, lots of OC and tweaking features, uber expensive: $389.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131334

Memory will depend on your mobo purchase, most mobos have a list of teted memory that is guaranteed to work. The first three mobos are DDR2, the last two are DDR3. That will also affect memory choices.

Good luck, this system should stomp extremely hard.

Thanks Soy! :9

Is it worth it right now(bang for buck wise)to go from DDR2 to DDR3? It seems the motherboards for DDR3 add about 1-200 bucks and the memory adds another 1-200 bucks.Is it worth it? For the same $,a guy could go DDR2 1066 and get 8 gigs....is that a better idea?

On the mobos you posted that support DDR2,they all say their native memory is DDR2 1200....can I use DDR2 1066 without any problems? I looked on the EGG,and the selections for DDR2 1200 are pretty slim...especially in the 4 gig area(2x2).

I want performance,but stability and easy to install/maintain.I am not really looking to overclock,I just want high quality components that work well together out of the box (pipedream?)

How does this combo look? I can get 4 gigs to start with,and add another two when I feel like it.

mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131284

memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146789

will these work well together?

bumped because I have no patience.

I don't know much about Mushkin, they are s'posed to be good. I have had great luck with OCZ and Corsair.

Here is some Corsair Dominator XMS 1066 2x2Gb for 149 with a 40 MIR for a total of $109, also listed as a tested vendor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145197

Hey Dex
Like soy I have never had any experience with Mushkin ram, right now my current system has OCZ and has performed very well with this ram.
The next thing is, once you have decided on a motherboard would be to go to their website and check compatible memory maybe even call their tech support and ask them some questions about which ram to use.

Just my opinion on the following, I would also go to the manufacturers website for the motherboard you decide on and check the forums for the specific mobo you are looking at and see what kind of problems other people are having with that board. I wish that I had prior to buying my last one, I probably would not have gone with Asus if I had done a little more research on the board that I bought. No one ever told me that little bit of information I pretty much had to figure that one out on myself. Just my 2 Cents.

Here is what I have right now.

Case: Coolermaster Stacker 830 (black)
Mobo: Asus P5N-T Deluxe 780i
Cpu: Intel Q9450 @ 2.6 ghz - overclocked to 3.2 ghz
Cpu cooler: Zalman 9500 nt
Ram: OCZ 4 gigs of pc2 8500 (ddr2-1066)
Video card: Evga 9800GTX
Sound card: Creative x-fi fatality extreme gamer
Hard drives: 1. WD Raptor 74gb, 2. Duel Maxtor 160 gb's in raid 0
PSU: Coolermaster 750w
Mouse: Logitech G9
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Joystick: Saitek evo force
Monitor: Soyo 24inch pearl
OS: Vista Ultimate 64 bit

I hope this helps in some way Dex, if you have any more questions feel free to PM me
Steve

Thanks for the heads up Steve! And a HUGE thanks to Soy for his help!

Here is what I ended up with:

Q9650
Asus Rampage formula
4 gigs (2x2)Corsair Dominater DDR2 1066 (thanks Soy for picking this out!)
Msi 4870x2 OC edition
WD velociraptor
Bgears B-Inspirer sound card (I wanted to stay away from Ceative till they get their stuff together)
Corsair 1000w psu
Cooler Master HAF 932
Vista Ultimate

1 more question.....I am using the HDD from my current XP system. When I put it in the new rig and fire it up for the first time,do I need to do anything like "scrub" the HDD? Or do I just put in the OS disc and it will take care of everything?

Yes Dex you're gonna want to do a format on the hard drive. When you install Vista it will give you the option of keeping all your XP stuff in an old folder. In the advanced options you can do a fresh install. This is highly recommended.

Btw that's gonna be a badass rig. Congrats.