ASUS vs EVGA mobos and a couple other q's

[Craig Keating]

Hi guys,

I have a choice of some different components from my builder and wondered what you guys thought:

I'm not going to list video because I assume a nVidia 8800 series card is the way to go? On video, why would you need 640 meg as opposed to say 320? I run in 1024x768 currently.

mobos:
Abit AW9D-MAX i975X Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB [- $29]
Asus P5N-E SLI nForce® 650i SLI Chipset w/6-channel CODEC, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB [- $138]
Asus P5N32-E SLI nForce® 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB
[New !!!] Asus Striker Extreme nForce® 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB [+ $89]
eVGA NForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E MB [- $17]
Intel D975XBX Motherboard 975Xpress Chipset w/7.1 HD Audio, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, 3x PCI-E MB [- $31]
MSI P6N SLI-F nForce 650i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, PCI-E MB [- $144]
MSI P6N Diamond nForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, PCI-E MB [+ $40]
MSI P965 Neo-F i965P Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA, USB 2.0 PCI-E MB [- $159]
MSI 975X Platinum i975X Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB [- $75]

cases:
Thermaltake Armor Jr. Gaming Case w/420W Power Supply Black [+ $46]
NZXT TANK Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Silver More Options
Silver
Black [+ $86]

Standard ATX Mid-Tower Case w/350W Power Supply [no side window] Black/Silver 2-Tone More Options [- $25]
Black/Silver 2-Tone [- $25]
Black [- $25]

NZXT Trinity ATX Mid-Tower Case w/400W Power Supply Black More Options [- $1]
Black [- $1]
Silver [- $1]

Coolermaster Ammo-533 Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply [+ $5]
Nzxt Lexa Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Original Black More Options [+ $74]
Original Black [+ $74]
Hero w/ General on Horse [+ $173]
Hero w/ Axe Man [+ $173]

Camouflage Color Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply [+ $204]
Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black More Options [- $3]
Black [- $3]
Black - Hero w/ Axe Man [+ $96]
Blue [- $3]
Silver [- $3]
Silver - Hero w/ General on Horse [+ $96]
Orange [- $3]

Tuniq Symmetry Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black More Options [+ $12]
Black [+ $12]
Silver [+ $12]

NZXT DUET ATX Mid-Tower Case w/400W Power Supply Black More Options [+ $7]
Black [+ $7]
Silver [+ $7]

Raidmax O2 Gaming Tower Case w/400W Power Supply Blue More Options [- $15]
Blue [- $15]
Pink [- $15]

[New !!!] Eagletech Viper II Aluminium Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Red/Black 2-Tone More Options [+ $37]
Red/Black 2-Tone [+ $37]
Red/Silver 2-Tone [+ $37]

[New !!!] Eagletech Sidewinder Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Silver/Black 2-Tone [- $7]
[New !!!] Eagletech Dragon Aluminium Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Silver More Options [+ $46]

[noell]

Going with an 8800 series makes sense as not only will you be ready for DirectX 10 but you will also get great performance under DirectX 9. If you plan on staying below screen resolutions of about 1600 X 1200, the 320MB version will be close to the performance of the 640MB version.

I recently re-built my system and after a lot of review reading and head scratching I selected the ASUS P5N32-E with the 680i SLI chipset. I based the decison mainly on the reviews I'd read. So far I'm very, very pleased with it.

Can't comment on any of those cases except to say that some of them look pretty weak from a power supply perspective so I'd shorten my list to include only those with at least 420 watts.


....Noell

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3GHz
CoolerMaster 'Aquagate 120' Liquid Cooling
ASUS P5N32-E SLI
2GB Mushkin XP2 PC2-6400 DDR2-800@4-4-3-10
EVGA 8800 GTS KO ACS3 w/ 640MB @580MHz&1.7GHz (Driver: NVIDIA 158.19)
Samsung 215TW Monitor
1 X 36GB WD Raptor
2 X 74GB WD Raptor RAID 0
1 X 250GB WD Caviar (2500KS)
ASUS Supreme FX Audio
OCZ GameXStream 700W
Antec P180B case

[dcmiller58]

Noell,

Just wanted to say congrats on the new system. Hope it is satisfactory. Prices on E6600s are on the way down so I have been looking hard at that.

I ended up with an 8600 GTS for video just because I was completely exasperated with my ATI and that was all I could find on a store shelf at the time. I will definitely hold onto this one for now, though.

I am thinking a quad-core system might be in my future by the end of the year so I haven't jumped on that E6600 just yet. If I spend another $100 on this little Gateway I will be in the range of having built a whole new system so I am talking myself out of it for now. Maybe.

Let us know how the new rig is performing.

My apologies to the OP for highjacking his thread...back to regularly scheduled programming.