Down to the bone.

[chesirecat1701]

Ok so cutting all the b.s. and putting cost aside.

Of the following, what would be the best combination from the following:

Striker II
Newegg.com - ASUS Striker II Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Rampage
Newegg.com - ASUS Rampage Extreme LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

ATI
Newegg.com - ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

nVidia
Newegg.com - XFX GX260NADBF GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I am a big Crysis man so I'm sure nVidia set up would give me a few extra FPS. I am also big about how my rig looks and the Rampage Extreme not only looks but sounds mean as ****. I do want to Sli/Xfire whichever card I go with. And although power hungry I appeal to the extra speed of running two cards although Xfire won't bare any fruit in Crysis :\ The Striker II extreme would be only if i went nvidia and really mainly if i wanted to go 3-way SLI in the time until i got a new rig (2 ~ 3 years) being that the rampage supports SLI and xFire ( or at least that's my understanding).

As for CPU and Ram my mind is set on a E8500 paired to a OCZ Reaper X DDR3 2*2GB PC10666 set and overclocking it's nuts off.

I have an affection for nVidia but the performance ATI is throwing into the game is hard to ignore.

I am not a loaded sucker just looking for advice on how to blow his money, I'm gonna work my a** off to fund this build so I want it to really look good and blaze the competition. Of course sugestions are open. I realize at these price i can get a nice i7 build going but I have had my eye set on the E8500 for a while and really want to squeeze every MHz I can from it.

EDIT:No one?

 

[dario03]

Don't know about the mobo but for you I would suggest the gtx260 core 216. I believe its slightly faster in most games and Crysis doesn't like multi card from ati.

 

[chesirecat1701]

yeh I do believe so, although the 4870 xFire may give me slightly high 3dMark06 score's I've heard that 3dMark Vantage really pulls for the GTX 260 216> 4870 1GB hmm...

Mmk maybe i was wrong about the i7 :freak:
I've seen some really sick 3dMark 06 and Vantage number achieved with the i7.
Here's my question:

Is the 920 the same architecture as the "Extreme" 965 and henceforth able to achieve almost identical overclocks as the "extreme"?

I've seen the 920 pushed hard to places such as 4.3 Ghz with the same QPI speeds as the extreme pushed to the same 4.3 GHz

Sorry I'm side tracking

It seems that the only thing "extreme" to the 965 is an "extreme" rip off

 

[veg1992]

Its the same chip except its got an unlocked Multiplier

 

[chesirecat1701]

So I see, ultimately doesn't that mean that the 920's highest OC will shy a little from the 965's highest OC?

 

[dario03]

Depends on the setup since as long as everything else is capable you can just run a lower multiplyer with a higher fsb or whatever intel calls it now.
Though don't they have a selection process to pick out better chips for the higher end models. I know they aren't always going to be better but don't the highest end chips on average overclock a tiny bit higher?

 

[veg1992]

So I see, ultimately doesn't that mean that the 920's highest OC will shy a little from the 965's highest OC?

Yes pretty much, but Multiplier OC'ing is a lot more boring, QPC Oc'ing ftw

 

[chesirecat1701]

Yes pretty much, but Multiplier OC'ing is a lot more boring, QPC Oc'ing ftw

Exactly the point I was aiming at vernong; 4.3 Ghz on a 4 cores... :drool:

 

[veg1992]

Btw the new AMD cards suck at 3dmark now...

The 3 and 2 series owned at 3dmark, but their real life performance was a bit weak...

The 4k was opposite of that

 

[chesirecat1701]

I've seen alot of numbers in alot of reviews/benches and I've noticed that the trend with the High end cards is that the 4xxx series nail the nVidia 2xx series in 3D Mark 06 but everytime in vantage the GTX 2XX always have a nice leg up on them