Decent MB for Q9550?

Take a look at this article. I would appreciate your opinion

at tomshardware (the article title is "ATI Radeon HD 4770 In CrossFire: Unbeatable At $220") This will explain why I intended to go with a Crossfire design.
 
name='Rapid' said:
(the article title is "ATI Radeon HD 4770 In CrossFire: Unbeatable At $220") This will explain why I intended to go with a Crossfire design.
Click to expand...

Im glad you liked the calculator.

As for the article it seems that the ATI Radeon HD 4770 in CrossFire does seem very strong with no AA or AF especially at 1280 x 1024 resolution in most games beating the 4870 1GB and matching the 4890 in some games but with AA added it seems to struggle. It also overclocks nicely. I think it looks like a good buy and for the price its hard to go wrong as the two cards cost around the same as a 4870 1GB.

If you decide to go for the 4770 in CrossFire let us know what the performance is like.
 
The HD 4770's in CF are certainly very strong performers but I think THG have blown it out of proportion. The HD 4770 outpaced equivalently priced solutions but certainly not by huge margins. These margins further diminish when you add Anti Aliasing and Anisotrophic Filterising and raise the screen resolution which you'll want to with a gaming rig.

I think I'll go back on what I said and say that this is a multi gpu solution worth considering, especially considering it's power consumption is similar to single cards of the same price. I think it is worth mentioning though that you'd stand to save some cash by getting a cheaper P45 board and a single HD 4870 1GB or GTX 260/275, offering similar performance.

I guess it's just coming back to my opinion that if you're not going to take the Core i7 route because of money, you shouldn't spend so much on a LGA775 setup that you're approaching the cost of an i7 rig anyway!
 
I agree with MUL you are better to buy a cheaper p45 motherboard such as the p5q-e or p5q pro and by a single more expensive graphics card from the money you save.
 
Aria had an open box EP45 for £70 the other day.

Guyz are right tho, there's not much point in spending big bucks on these mobos if it hampers the gfxs u get.
 
After several hours of reading and thinking over your opinions, I find that you are right. As said, I would opt for the X48 mainly because of the 16x16x PCIe CF feature, since its performance, even though better than that of the P45, would not be noticeable in real life (maybe a few more seconds to complete a task) and thus doesn't justify paying more money for a Rampage Formula. Since 2xGPU graphic cards have hit the market, even the 16x16x combo seems redundant (even though would be nice to be there).

So I decided to follow your advice on the PSU and I'll do the same on the mobo :). I find it reasonable to loose a few seconds (or a minute or two) in working with Winrar (I hope the differences won't be great when editing/converting HD video from HD Camcorder) and boost my graphics performance.

About the P5Q-E and Gigabyte solutions... I will overclock but not to the limit. I'm a complete stranger to overclocking but I'll get to it since it worths it. My main concern is stability. Do you ppl have any stability issues in mind concerning these 2 mobos? I read in a forum in thinkcomputers.com that some ppl had BIOS/memory issues with the P5Q-E. I swear this is my last question...before the next one! :D

In Gigabyte I like the easy-overclocking program while the 50,000 hours for the capacitors make me wonder why ASUS advertises the P5Q-E at 50,000 hours playing heavy games, 118,000 hours playing lighter games and many many more thousands when working with Office or other programs.

So, it will look like this:

P5Q-E or Gigabyte EP45-UD3P mobo

Intel Core2Quad 9550

Thermaltake heatsink with Noctua fan

4Gb OCZ Reaper DDR2-800

ASUS GTX-285 1024MB

Corsair 600W PSU

Blue-Ray Driver

DL DVDRW driver

1 Sata 320GB HD

...and an empty wallet lol.
 
They're both very popular motherboards with a large knowledge base due to the sheer number of forum posters globally that use them. Either will be fine with the memory mentioned, they're both well built and overclock very well. How much less is the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R? It's essentially the same board but without the second PCI-E 2.0 16x port for ATi Crossfire and is usually around £20 less.

What about case? :)
 
name='Mul.' said:
They're both very popular motherboards with a large knowledge base due to the sheer number of forum posters globally that use them. Either will be fine with the memory mentioned, they're both well built and overclock very well. How much less is the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R? It's essentially the same board but without the second PCI-E 2.0 16x port for ATi Crossfire and is usually around £20 less.

What about case? :)
Click to expand...

Hi Mul. :)

I find the Gigabyte about 5-10€ more expensive than the Asus (Asus:117€, Gigabyte 123€). I'll just stick to the ASUS solution then, and hope I won't face any problems with the memory (in the forum mentioned above, more than 5 ppl had the same problem: their mobo wouldn't boot when they installed the RAM in the yellow slots. Some of them had a hard time fixing this and had to do a BIOS flash. I don't really won't to go there, especially with a new product!)

About the case, I have (what a surprise) read tons of reviews and the one I liked most about its cooling and silence is HAF 932. My problem is that it has no dust filters (even though the fans are slow) and has huge openings for the airflow, what might be a problem with the GTX-285 if it is loud. I'm looking for a silent yet cooling-efficient case.

It's looks I don't like so much, but it has a good I/O panel, excellent cooling and is one of the quieter cases reviewed. Any suggestions are welcomed!!!
 
I am looking something up to 120€, preferably without a front-door. I also intend to install a Thermaltake heatsink (this thing is huge) and the case must have enough space for it and for air cooling.
 
The CM Storm Sniper, Stacker and most Lian-Li are expensive. :(

The Cosmos is great looking but runs hot and loud and lacks the space for the Thermaltake (even though I could go for a complete 2-fan Noctua solution).

The profile of my future case includes:

Great cooling is most important! Quiet running is very important. The no front-door is a must. Spacious also an important factor. A led out option would be great but not so important, If i get bored of them I'll just crash them :D

So I'm between HAF 932/922, Antec 1200/902, CM Gladiator and NZXT Tempest. At least these I remember right now.
 
Any chance the Silverstone FT01 Fortress can be squeezed into the 120EUR budget? It's looks are somewhat minimalistic but in person it really does look like a quality build. It's fans should be reasonably quiet and will perform well in terms of cooling and airflow. It's built a bit better than the above cases but it is more expensive.

The HAF 9x2's are great cases and so are the Antec Gaming Series. I don't rate the Tempest as highly as the Antec.
 
You have understood exactly what I ask from a case! This Silverstone is a great case. Beautiful and has everything I want, except of one problem. It's cooling. All reviewers write that the hdd cage restricts the airflow from the front fan, leading to the GPU struggling to get some air. I don't know if the GTX-285 would like that... but otherwise this is a dream-case! Unfortunately, the additional cost when added to this airflow problem makes me look away, even though I like this case very very much.

If a similar case comes across your mind I 'd love to take a look to it, because this suggestion of yours was excellent except of that airflow problem.

e.g. The reviews didn't mention if it is possible to free the fan leaving the upper cases but I suppose if that could be done it would have been mentioned.
 
I think I might give the extra cash and buy it, because I think with the top hdd cage out of the way the GTX won't suffer so much. Great case!!!:drool: Insulating foam, nice cable routing, black interior, quiet, very good looking... it's only drawback is the cheapy side panels (but I can live with that.):yumyum:

Its only competitor would be the HAF but then that case has its flaws too...

Thanks! :hands:
 
don't know yet. I intended to go to a Thermaltake one, but I forgot that plans have changed and I won't buy an i7. So I'll have to see what fits best. (the research I did on heatsinks was for i7)
 
Hexus.net declared the Thermaltake Big Typ VX the best among 25 coolers. And its cheaper than others too. The article is dated back on 2007 so I don't know if any new better ones are out. I'm googling right now...
 
The Big Typhoon VX is also a very good cooler and actually very few seem to buy them as of late as it's been around for a while now. I still remember the original Big Typhoon being on sale (The heatsink block itself is the same as the VX IIRC) when I was building my Athlon 64 Socket 939 setup in 2005. That's not to say of course that it's not a capable cooler as it is. Some research should reveal what the best option is for you :)
 
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