Motherboards Old motherboard died, looking at one of these as a replacement

Hi all,

I had just bought a 4850x2 when my motherboard decided to die on me. After looking at some new boards I've settled on one of these two -

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=787773&source=froogle << The LANPARTY LT X48-T2R


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150910 << The DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RSB PLUS


So far I'm leaning more towards the DK X48-T2RSB PLUS as it would seem the better of the two. I've got a few questions I'd like to ask, if anyone could help me out with them then I'd be more than grateful.



If I were to use this 4GB kit (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141930) with the DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RSB PLUS would all the RAM be recognised? I'm currently running XP as my OS.


Has anyone had some first hand experience with either of these boards especially the DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RSB PLUS, if so how was it?

And last but not least...do my eyes deceive me or does the LT X48-T2R really not have a north or south bridge heat sink?


Cheers

 

Would not buy a x48 now, if you want high end get i7, if not save some money, save up, and get it soon.

 

I was thinking of going for an i7 set-up...then I got made redundant. It would seem no one wants to buy cars in these tough economic times.

 

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

But really, get a P45 motherboard. X48 is only useful when you want to extract as much performance as possible from a dual-card Crossfire setup - and given that you're working with a single 4850 X2, do yourself a favor and save the extra cash.


- Diosjenin -

 

Cheers for the input Dios. Originally I was thinking of getting a P45 board...it's just that DFI are so tempting. On subject I did find a few decent P45 boards, my favourite being the Asus P5Q Pro. My only concern would be my card fitting into the PCI-E slots; those heat sinks look huge.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus...E-20-(x16)-DDR2-1200MHz-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX

I'm also open to new motherboard suggestions

 

Given the price of the Gigabyte P45 boards (really outrageous, Newegg certainly doesn't have that problem), I'd say stick with the P5Q Pro. Clearance shouldn't be a problem - at least, so long as you stick with one card. Pop another GPU in there and it looks like you'll have a funnnnn time with those SATA ports.


- Diosjenin -

 

Cheers Dio. Don't suppose you could answer my question about the RAM?

I'm just wondering if I were to use a 4GB kit would all 4GB show in XP?

 

If it's 64-bit XP, then yes. Otherwise no.

- Diosjenin -

 

That's what I thought, it's a shame seeing as most of the RAM I've been looking at is in 4GB kits.

Now I know I'll be sticking with a 2GB kit I've been keeping my eyes out, I found a nice little kit rated at PC2-8500. It's non-ECC and it's unbuffered. I checked on the Asus Qualified Vendors List and what do you know that RAM isn't on it.

Are Asus motherboards really that fussy over RAM or should I be okay? The kit meets the motherboards requirements apart from being on the QVL.

Here's the RAM if you need more info.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142405