Chosing between an Asus Striker Extreme or an eVGA nForce 680i SLI

[pollaxe]

Just a query for the technically-minded/experienced out there. I'm probably going to do a self-build at some point in the near future (despite not really having the time) and as I'm approaching Christmas and my 35th birthday, I figured I'd treat myself a bit and get something 'nice' and relatively 'future-proof' (for about 1 or 2 weeks!).

I'll probably be going a bit flash and getting either a Core 2 Duo 6800 or a Quad QX6700 for the CPU and an 8800GTX for the graphics card.

Now, the crux - the motherboard. At the moment I'm tempted by the new Striker Extreme and the eVGA nForce 680 SLI boards.

I've read reviews/opinions on both boards (including the one on the latter here on Hexus) and am looking for some advice or thoughts on them from the knowledgeable types here. If you were going to buy one of them, which would it be and why? (Or neither...?)

Thanks in advance to anyone who does reply of course.

[Clunk]

Both of them look ok on paper, but I've seen lots of reported problems so far, probably because they are so new. Neither of them are worth half of what they are selling for though, in my opinion get a P5B deluxe wifi, unless you really want SLI.

[pollaxe]

Cheers Clunk! SLI would be nice.. but not essential..

I'm keeping an open mind on all the components at the moment, it's just the two I mentioned have looked promising so far but by no means are set in stone.

[BUFF]

The abit 680i board (IN9 32X-MAX) is up for pre-order in a couple of places ~£165 which is quite a price difference & it's due mid December.
In my abit fanboi role I'm waiting for 1 of those

[pollaxe]

Cheers Buff! Abit Fanboi... hmm.. wouldn't have noticed unless you'd said!

Mid December.. sounds further away than it really is! (I was about to say that I'm hoping to build in the next couple of weeks but in a couple of weeks it'll already be December!)

I'll have a shufty at it. Ta!

[Hans Voralberg]

The abit 680i board (IN9 32X-MAX) is up for pre-order in a couple of places ~£165 which is quite a price difference & it's due mid December.
In my abit fanboi role I'm waiting for 1 of those

Good god it's really is a beast innit, look @ the NB cooler

[Yellowbeard]

I can't relay any details yet but, I hear that the ASUS units will be worth the wait (if not also the price). Those paired with our fastest Dominator memory are absolutely SCREAMING in the lab.

[sawyen]

the striker looks nice.. so is the abit... the evga looks just like a reference nvidia... I would go for the striker just for the single fact that it has LED..

[EtheAv8r]

I have not found any reported problems apart from a non-working ethernet controller...(but I expect there will be some) and would like to know more...., but have seen lots of good stuff..... and have put the Asus Striker Extreme 680i (or the abit 680i) as my next definite motherboard - planning to buy/build in New Year....

As for SLI - with a single 8800 GTX I think it will be fast enough - and will avoid all the driver problems?

[BUFF]

I have not found any reported problems apart from a non-working ethernet controller...

reports of crackling with X-Fis & also some people have had problems with RAM.

[Clunk]

Ive seen usb and lan problems as well. hopefully itll be sorted out soon, but i cant think why anyone would want to pay £258 for a board that doesnt work properly yet!

[pollaxe]

Well thanks for the feedback fellas, looks like I've got some serious thinking to do... Whatever I get I'll definitely be going with the 8800 GTX which should last a while (I hope!) I don't think I'll be getting an X-Fi.. I was pondering it but I still have a perfectly good Audigy 2 which I should be able to use..

Yellowbeard's experiences sound encouraging - I don't suppose you'd confirm whether a Striker was running well with your memory or not, would you? It'll be Corsair I buy (I suspect) when I do build.

The reported LAN, USB and RAM problems don't sound encouraging though! Stupid as it sounds one of the things I like about the Striker is the onboard LEDs so Sawyen I know where you're coming from! It's not so much for display though but for fiddling around under the desk in the dark!

Hmm.. the agony of choice!

The next big challenge is to find a store which has everything in stock, looks like a 3-seller approach for my build. Hmm.

Thanks again for the comments/feedback, it's much appreciated.

[BUFF]

Stupid as it sounds one of the things I like about the Striker is the onboard LEDs so Sawyen I know where you're coming from! It's not so much for display though but for fiddling around under the desk in the dark!

the abit IN9 32X has LEDs too, in fact Asus are just playing catch up ...

[zawer612]

yoyotech.co.uk has the striker extreme for £231 with only 1 in stock though going away (to japan) next week so i'm going to wait till i get back to complete my build.

[Clunk]

231 is still extortionate, let us know how much they are in japan

[zawer612]

not sure about the prices in japan (can't read japanese) but in hk they have the 8800gtx for around £360-370ish, in other words £100 cheaper than here. Not too sure if i wanna take the chance in buying one from over there either