Well trying to get a rig together to play crysis. The more I read the more I get confused. I know I want to go with a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping cpu http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452. I will use a Arctic Square by ASUS for cooling. The more I read Im gonna go with a EVGA GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked Video Card - 512MB GDDR3. Now the ram im going with OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). Now the mobo is my biggest problem. I see so many recommendations, but when you read the reviews they have so many problems. First I cant get a mobo thats not gonna recognize the q6600 without a bios update. I dont have a spare intel to update bios first. Also was thinking about running a sli config but I hear so many probs. Plus seems like all mobo are getting rma'd after first week. Any advice would help. First hows the parts I chose plus whats a good mobo to go with them...
That's not a problem? Just copy the downloaded BIOS update to (i.e.) a pendrive, and then onto the HDD in your new system. Or copy it direct to a floppy disk, if you prefer to update the BIOS in DOS Like many others I'm sure... I'm running SLI in this rig, and I've never had any problems? If you were to get a 512MB 8800GT (good choice - especially the one you've chosen)... you wouldn't really need an SLI configuration. But if you can afford two of 'em, I honestly would concern yourself about SLI-ing them? I dunno where you're getting all this [mis-]information, but that's a[nother] load of codswallop as well Whilst mobo RMA's are not unknown (it's the nature of the game, that the occasional mobo (any hardware in fact) will be DOA, or require RMAing for some other reason - at some stage of its life), it's an exaggeration to say a lot of mobo's require RMAing after only a week? There are plenty of us who have been running C2D/C2Quad's on P35 chipset/680i chipset mobos... including many who overclock 'til they can overclock no more, with no sign of problems at all Having to RMA hardware could happen to any of us, but if we concerned ourselves about it like you appear to be... we'd hardly ever update the hardware in our systems So just choose a motherboard you like, which is in your price bracket, and stop worrying yourself unnecessarily As for recommendations... the Asus P5K range (P35 chipset) are highly regarded (I'm running a P5K Deluxe Wi-Fi AP myself actually)... and I know a few guys who are happily running EVGA/Asus/Gigabyte 680i chipset boards. So stop putting off due to (inaccurate) rumours you've heard! Add a motherboard to your list, get everything ordered, get the system built, and then post back in the forums telling us all how pleased you are with your choices/how amazed you are at the performance increase over your last setup
I totally agree with you I got my rig running from last sat with my 680i chipset(Asus p5n32-e SLI) board and let me tell you its been superb performance. I was like you lmeyer718 at first after reading a lot of people saying they get their P5N32-E SLI DOA and I was a bit scared, but after I put all the parts toguether it went all well . So I recommend you either this board Asus P5N32-E SLI or the famous Asus P5k.
SLI doesn't have any problems. As for the motherboard, most of them support quads out of the box anyway, so there won't be any need to download a new BIOS. Anyway, I would personally wait until the quads become more mainstream, you simply don't need an upgrade. Your processor at the moment should be fast enough. But, if you really want to, I would definately wait until next year when the new Intels come out, they will not only be faster, they will also overclock a lot better, much beter than the current generation of Duos, let alone the Quads.
Can you get into the bios if the bios does not recognize the cpu? My p5k Deluxe came with bios version 0202 and it needed 0404 to work with the G0 steppings. Lucky for me I got an older B3 (note the sarcasim) so it wasn't an issue for me.
