I am just about to buy a new motherboard, CPU & Memory, but im really struggling. I recently bought a Geforce 7950 GX2 card on impulse when in Singapore knowing when i got back i would be buying a whole new setup. I was all set on getting the M2N32 WS Professional with AMD 64 x2 5000+, but then now the new Intel Core 2's are out and as I have a £800 budget, I thought i should go for that. I've now been looking at the Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.67GHz (1066FSB) CPU but don't know what motherboard to buy that will be compatible with that and with the NVIDIA GFX card. I am much more a 'creative' type than a pc pro, using photoshop, premiere, after fx, and 3D studio user. I am finding it difficlut to understand chipset compatibility etc. For example, can i use my NVIDIA Gfx card on the ASUS Intel Workstation motherboard P5WDG2 WS Professional? Can anyone recommend a system that will work well with the Geforce 7950 card and that will suit my creative needs. My CPU preference is now the Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.67GHz (1066FSB). I also originally wanted to go with one of the AUS Workstation motherboards. Any advice would be really appreciated as i have to decide by monday what components to buy. Thanks
7950 isn't going to help you Photoshop/Premier any faster, so I'm going to guess you're going to stay with only one card, and not get SLI. Not a single released Conroe board I know supports SLI. All of the multi-PCIe motherboards run Crossfire only. In that case, any Conroe motherboard will do. Currently, all P965 chipsets support Conroe out of the box, while most 975X chipsets support it, and older ones may need a BIOS update. If you don't plan to overclock it, MSI makes a cheap P965. It may have some overclocking features, but MSI has never stood out in my mind as an enthusiast company. Lots of people are getting or have gotten the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. It's a damn good overclocker, and not too expensive. Sadly, it's very RAM picky, and you may need some compadible RAM to set the RAM settings to work with other RAM. It also has some BIOS issues that prevent some people from pushing the FSB very far, or at all. There's the Asus P5B, and I'm not sure how well that works, but it's priced closely to the DS3. Then there's Gigabyte DS4, DQ6, Asus' 975X selection... check them out yourself.
Well the 7950 is primarily (and I mean solely) made for gaming. However, most of the applications mentioned are more CPU intensive than anything, so your choice to go with the Core 2 is a good one. Though I am a long time DFI fan, the ASUS P5B Deluxe looks to be a good, solid board. It also offers the option for quad SLI should you ever want another card. As for RAM, you don't need anything too overclockable (as I assume you won't be overclocking). My recommendation would be the 2x1GB kit of OCZ Gold DDR2 667 (PC2 5400). Why? Because I like OCZ and it is stable memory. And yes, you can use your card on any motherboard with a x16 PCI Express slot.
Right lets get one thing straight, if teh motherboard has a PCI- Express slot your card is supported, in doesn't matter what chipset or whatever aslong as there's a PCI-express slot. But when it comes to the new Core 2 Duos (Conroe) processors only certain chipset's work them, mainly intels' 965 and 975X chipsets support Core 2 Duo. I'd reccomend a nice Asus board if your going to be overclocking, like the Asus P5B Deluxe or the Asus P5W DH Deluxe, they aren't the cheapest boards but they are worh the money. But if want to kepp your options open for SLi then maybe you should wait for the nForce 590 boards or whatever they are...
Thanks guys, WOW, what a quick response! So if my Geforce 7950 GX2 is soley for games, and its the CPU power that i need for the software i'm running then i guess i should sell it and go for the Core DUO Extreme. I haven't even plugged the GFX card in yet as i don't even have a mothergboard LOL. Never mind, better that it goes to a good home. Is there a FOR SALE forum on here? I'll check it out.
Well it won't hurt to have an uber powerful GFX but if that would allow you to go with a Duo Extreme then go for it. Any good PCI 16x supporting mother board with good reviews will work.
I was under the impression that ALL Intel Conroe chipsets (975X/P965) as of right now, are incompadible with SLI, and only does Crossfire.
Yeah, but he only has one card...no SLI. If he ever wanted to upgrade to SLI though, he wouldn't be able to.
The Gefore 7950 GX2 has SLI built in, its a dual gfx card. If i had two then on a SLI compatible motherboard i could run QUAD SLI. Thats right isn't it? So if i decide to keep my card, and go for the Intel Core Duo on an ASUS Intel motherboard like the P5WDG2 WS Professional or the P5W DH Deluxe which are ATI based, will i not get SLI? If i dont get SLI, will the dual 1GB card still benefit my system?
Its actually not really sli its a bridge (at 48x?) between the 2 processors. and 1 dual core gfx card lik ethe 7950 gx2 will be great for you. It is a sli capable dual core running off 1 pci-e 16x.
Well, the GX2 is sort of like SLI. But let's not get too technical about it. For simplicity sake, let's pretend that GX2 is a single card, and SLI would be 2 GX2s, so in essence, quad graphic processors. First off, 1 GB of video memory does NOT benefit your system at ALL if you plan on doing nothing but Photoshop etc. on any consumer monitor to date. Gigabytes of video memory is usually for huge resolutions, CAD/3D animation work, and for video card companies to rip off noobs. Consumer video cards, like your GX2 are for games ONLY, pretty much. Unless you plan on playing games, you're better off selling it, and spend that money on more memory or harddrive space or something, because it'll be one big waste. Any motherboard with a PCIe port will take that card, and will work. However, you cannot SLI (2 graphics cards, eg. 2 GX2s), on ANY Conroe board to date, even if they have 2 or 3 PCIe ports. The chipset only supports Crossfire. This may change in the future, but seeing as you already have a GX2, and you don't seem to be the hardcore gamer type, multigpu solutions isn't something you should be worrying about.
Currently, the Intel chipsets (975 and 965) only support Crossfire, but there are at least a couple of nforce4 based motherboards that support Conroe and SLI, such as the Asus P5N32
Yes i spotted that. Both the P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe and P5NSLI will take Core DUO and CORE DUO Exteme chips and have SLI capabilities. As for selling the Geforce 7950 GX2, im still not sure as I realise i'm not a hardcore gamer, but 'SCQ' did mention that the 1GB gfx memory WILL benefit anyone using 3D animation. As i mentioned in my first plea, I don't only use photoshop, i use premiere, after effects and 3D studio. So is it worth me going through the hassle of selling the gfx card only to buy a lesser one? Are there any gfx cards more dedicated to the type of software i use then?
THE 7950GX2 IS NOT I REPEAT IT NOT AN SLI CARD. It is a single card solution. Period. End of story. Don't make stuff up. NVIDIA markets it as a single card, because it is, regardless of the two PCBs.
I have the box in front of me and it says SLI READY - how else would it take 2 Geforce 7950 cards to make QUAD SLI - it already has two cards running SLI inside. Also, chill out a little mate.
Yeah, and my 7900GT box says "SLI Ready" as well. Quoted from NVIDIAs website: If it was an SLI card, then it would require an SLI motherboard to operate. It does not. They get quad SLI by the amount of GPUs, not the amount of cards.
That the box says "SLI ready doesn't mean that your card is already running SLI. My 6600 gt (I know i need another one) i also SLI ready. It only means that you can run it with another card. cheers
Ooooo. Fiesty. Mea culpa, I guess you win this one - or lose (depending on your perspective). But why are we discussing SLI still? Back to the question, any board with a P965 and 975X chipset should support Conroe. There might be some nVidia boards, and a few other S775 boards that will support it, but you'd have to check them individually.
