Asus P6T or EVGA x58 Motherboard?

[infowarrior45]

Thanks for your advice guys. The EVGA x58 should be here in the morning, along with an EVGA 285 SC. I'm pretty excited!

Here is my build list so far. I'd appreciate your input.

COOLER MASTER HAF 932

Intel Core i7 920

EVGA X58 SLI

GeForce GTX 285 SC Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1285-AR GeForce GTX 285 SC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Corsair Dominator 3x 2GB Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

WD Caviar Black 750GB x2 Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Samsung SH-S223Q Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W

Vista Home Premium 64-bit OS

Dell SP2309W 23" Widescreen Monitor with WebCam Dell 23" SP2309W LCD Flat Panel up to 2048x115... (SP2309W) at OWC

What do you think of the EVGA 285 SC? I would have gotten the EVGA 285 SSC or a similarly OCed BFG 285, but the EVGA SC edition was a combo deal with the mobo...$40 off. Just for future purchases, is something like that a pretty good deal, or am I better off to go $80 more and grab a SSC or similarly OCed version?


Thanks a lot!
infowarrior45

P.S. The total comes out to about $1,900, just to let you know. Still looking for a good internet security system, if you could suggest something.

 

[zmatt]

You can overclock the card yourself. The "super clocked" cards are charging extra for something that you can do for free pretty easy.

 

[Evolv]

DId you already order that Dominator ram? Because it is overpriced. You can get this ram which will perform just well with better timings:
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

For antivirus check out AVG, it's for free and heard good things about it.
http://www.techist.com/forums/f51/tech-forums-top-rated-antivirus-167005/

 

[infowarrior45]

I did already order the RAM, but I could cancel pretty easily. I saw the reviews, and I figured that it must be pretty good. There are so many RAM choices, it's kind of hard to pick. Would the heatsink fins on the Dominator stuff be better when I overclock it?

I know you can OC the graphics card yourself, but don't they use their better chips in the OCed versions?

Thanks, infowarrior

 

[zmatt]

Nope, the OC'ed video cards are capable of the same clocks as the regular ones. They just put them in a special box.

DId you already order that Dominator ram? Because it is overpriced. You can get this ram which will perform just well with better timings:
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

For antivirus check out AVG, it's for free and heard good things about it.
Tech-Forums Top Rated Antivirus

Good point! Those OCZs are actually faster than the ones he had chosen.

 

[infowarrior45]

Yeah, that OCZ RAM looks good. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss the rebate...it ends tomorrow. The specs look great on paper, but I wonder how it holds up as far as stability? I saw nothing but 4 and 5 stars on the Corsair Dominator stuff...personal preference maybe? I got the Corsair stuff for $187.

One last question. The Corsair Dominator says it is XMP ready. The Platinum OCZ stuff isn't. Would that actually help me with OCing it? Will XMP work with an i7 920, or is it just the i7 965?

Thanks a lot! I appreciate your help.

infowarrior45

 

[Evolv]

XMP works with 965 too. Maybe thats why the Dominator is more expensive, never realized that. XMP sets the ram timings, and ram voltage, and QPI/VTT voltage when overclocking. That way you only have to focus on the CPU. This is good for beginer overclockers, but if you're more experienced at overclocking, you'll want to do it manually.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Yeah, that OCZ RAM looks good. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss the rebate...it ends tomorrow. The specs look great on paper, but I wonder how it holds up as far as stability? I saw nothing but 4 and 5 stars on the Corsair Dominator stuff...personal preference maybe? I got the Corsair stuff for $187.

Don't go by newegg reviews a lot of the people who write them have no clue what they are talking about. The OCZ ram has better timings and a lower price which makes it the all around better choice in my opinion.

 

[zmatt]

XMP works with 965 too. Maybe thats why the Dominator is more expensive, never realized that. XMP sets the ram timings, and ram voltage, and QPI/VTT voltage when overclocking. That way you only have to focus on the CPU. This is good for beginer overclockers, but if you're more experienced at overclocking, you'll want to do it manually.

Auto overclocking is good for n00bs but is a worthless feature for those of us who know what they are doing. If you want to learn to OC the right way then disregard anything that makes overclocking easier.

 

[infowarrior45]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your help. I'll probably go with the OCZ stuff...I'm still researching a little.

Regardless of the XMP standpoint, I found some reviews on both of those exact sets of RAM. What I can't figure out is that even though the OCZ seems so much better all around, the Corsair stuff got a better rating! Could you explain this to me? I'd really appreciate it! Also could you tell me which one is better for me. I hopefully will be overclocking my system as I gain the knowledge. I'm not going to be doing any intense gaming. This goal is more of a multimedia editing/watching system...at least right now.

Corsair Dominator
Corsair Dominator 6GB DD3 Memory Kit TR3X6G1600C8D | DDR3,TR3X6G1600C8D,Corsair Dominator,Corsair Dominator 6GB DD3 Memory Kit TR3X6G1600C8D,Corsair Dominator 6GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Kit TR3X6G1600C8D Performance Benchmark Test RAM Review | Be

OCZ Platinum
OCZ 6GB 1600MHz CL7 DDR3 OCZ3P1600LV6GK | OCZ3P1600LV6GK,OCZ 6GB DDR3,1600MHz,CL7-7-7-24,Memory Kit,OCZ 6GB 1600MHz CL7-7-7-24 DDR3 Memory Kit OCZ3P1600LV6GK Benchmark Performance Test | Benchmark Reviews Performance Tests

The ratings are on the last page. P.S. I got my EVGA mobo and GTX 285 today!!! I'm so excited! The mobo is pretty cool looking!


Thanks a lot!
infowarrior.45