Budget: No Limit, but I want to spend sensibly. Main uses of intended build: Gaming. Parts required: Motherboard, GPU Monitor resolution: 1080p Will you be overclocking: No. Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): May SLI if sensible. Four fan headers required. Extra information about desired system: The parts I have so far: Corsair Obsidian 800D 1500 W Power Supply i7 980X 6 GB RAM 3 TB HD, 256 GB SSD.
As far as mobo goes, I believe the Asus Sabertooth is favoured for Socket 1366. Stable and generally problem free, while not breaking the bank. (Just going on what I have read from others and Bit Tech) With a PSU like that, are you looking at a SLI/Crossfire setup?
I'm still wondering at buying a 980X and not OCing. A stock Intel business board would suit at that point, and be so much cheaper, but there's no point in having an unlocked processor and doing nothing with that extra $500 or so price premium for the 980X.
Mobo: Rampage III or Sabertooth. What's your CPU cooler? and what PSU do you use that's 1500W? With something like a Corsair H50, even just increasing the multiplier to 4GHz will be a nice, easy OC on either board.
Okay, overclocking is an option then. I have a Corsair H70 for the CPU. The PSU is a Silverstone sst-st1500. There are many different Rampage III's it seems. Is there a serious difference between them?
The III Extreme is last summers ROG board - the first to use DIGI+ VRM, while the III Black Edition is this years with a couple of small upgrades and a colour change. You can buy it with or without the ThunderBolt Xonar/KillerNIC combo card. As far as general features and OCing goes, no, no huge difference.
With that setup, yes, grab an easy 4GHz. I'll second Bindi's recommendation. My pick has gotten so rare that you may as well go with a newer and easier to get board.
