Which motherboard and ram for Q6600?

[Aden]

I've almost finalised by build and now i'm having second thoughts about the chosen motherboard. I want expandability and will probably be looking at keeping this new system for another 18 to 24months (atleast the core of it anyway), so am worried whether i'm overlooking something. I'm also taking into account SLI or Crossfire, as it doesn't play a big part yet.. but maybe it will eventually?

Anyway, here are the two motherboards i'm currently considering and the Ram that i had planned to use with it:
The Foxconn P34A with 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator 1066mhz

and my second idea:
ASUS P5N-D nForce 750i with 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator 800mhz

The reason I am between the two?

Well, because the Foxconn has 1066mhz Ram support which is surely good right? But am i just looking at the spec? Then the Asus 750i has SLi and my body is telling me that SLI is better than the Foxconn's offering of Crossfire.

Is crossfire or sli important? I havn't even decided which GPU to get yet as it may or may not depend on whether or not I plan on SLI/Crossfiring in the future.

Hoping someone else will have some ideas, perhaps can point at the better buy, or even direct me in a whole new direction, aslong as it'll take the Q6600 and is around the same price as the above (between £100 and £120 preferably - RAM & Mobo included).

I appreciate your help.. oh and yes, i do plan on overclocking the Q6600.. and gaming on a 1920 x 1200 monitor.. if that helps :S

[staffsMike]

No need for PC8500, have a read of clunks overclocking guide for the reasons but PC6400 is enough to take a Q6600 to 3.6GHz.

So that should be £40 or less for 4GB corsair xms2.

Then there is this mobo for £3 more than the foxcon but it's P45 not P43.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...TA+RAID%2c+ATX

I wouldn't worry about crossfire/sli, single graphics performance is awesome right now.

[Aden]

No need for PC8500, have a read of clunks overclocking guide for the reasons but PC6400 is enough to take a Q6600 to 3.6GHz.

So that should be £40 or less for 4GB corsair xms2.

Then there is this mobo for £3 more than the foxcon but it's P45 not P43.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...TA+RAID%2c+ATX

I wouldn't worry about crossfire/sli, single graphics performance is awesome right now.

So take the Biostar TP45 and 4gb XMS2, sounds good. My last question now, is whats the best graphics card to take, if i'm running 1920 x 1200, probably on vista, to play the latest games with a respectable frame rate, hopefully in the area of £120 - £180.. and no choice of Ati or Nvidia.. but i hint towards nvidia

[staffsMike]

For that money I would try and pick up a 1GB HD4870 from ATi but a 512MB will still be very good.

Nvidia's alternatives are expensive by comparison (very expensive in the case of the 1GB) but they do run a little cooler and a bit quieter.

Very good deal on a 512MB here
http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...erclocked.html

Not bad for a 1GB
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=609657

[Webby]

Must resist suggesting crossfire...

No failed

If you can stretch to £190 then crossfired 4830's (see this Hexus review http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=16300) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151452 or http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151393 will give you the best bang for buck in that price bracket but I will chuck in the caveat scaling performance varies with each game so it is not always the best choice.

You will also need to spend ~£10 more on a motherboard which supports crossfire.

[staffsMike]

keeping forgetting about these damn xfire setups, it's been so long since it's been worthwhile lol

Wouldn't it be better on an X*8 board though?

[Webby]

Yeah but by the time you have spend another £50 getting one (the cheap X38s have vanished ) you may as well add that extra to the cards and get CF 4850's with a decent P45 you would get better performance than CF 4830's on a X48.

[Aden]

Must resist suggesting crossfire...

No failed

If you can stretch to £190 then crossfired 4830's (see this Hexus review http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=16300) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151452 or http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151393 will give you the best bang for buck in that price bracket but I will chuck in the caveat scaling performance varies with each game so it is not always the best choice.

You will also need to spend ~£10 more on a motherboard which supports crossfire.

Reading the motherboard tests they did in Custom PC a few months back (magazine) and am tempted to push the boat out a little bit and go for the Biostar TPower I45.

It seems like the perfect board, everything from expandability to the fact that the SATA ports are parallel to the motherboard (i am reallly taking this build seriously, compaired to my last.. cable tidying and everything).

Its a good overclocker too and in crossfire both cards perform at 8x (not brilliant, but atleast this offers crossfire).

I'm not too sure on the current price though. Back then it was written as being £94.89 but the cheapest I can find now is ebay (ugh.)for £113 + postage.. any help?

[Webby]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=906799

Currently out of stock but they were expecting more today so it may come in shortly you could always give them a ring or drop them a message in the care forum here at Hexus to get a better idea of when to expect it, if they know.