A better motherboard?

**Crowbar** · February 10th, 2011, 04:10 AM

I'm almost done getting all the parts for my new machine, but the particular motherboard went out of stock on amazon.

This one: Amazon.com: ASUS P7P55D-E PRO - Motherboard - ATX - iP55 - LGA1156 Socket - UDMA133, SATA-300 (RAID), SATA-600 - Gigabit Ethernet - FireWire - SuperSpeed USB - HD Audio (8-channel): Electronics

I need an equally good or better motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte perhaps. Does anyone have any suggestions please?

These are the parts I have.

CPU: Amazon.com: Intel Core i5-760 2.8GHz 8 MB LGA1156 Processor BX80605I5760: Electronics

Video Card: Amazon.com: PNY nVidia Quadro VCQ 4000 Professional Graphics Card VCQ4000-PB: Electronics

Power Supply: Amazon.com: Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850-Watt TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Intel Core i7 and Core i5: Electronics

Hard Drive: Amazon.com: Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD2001FASS: Electronics

Going to do 16gb of ram, but wouldn't mind if it goes as high as 24 or 32. Really appreciate the input.

**JPMiller** · February 10th, 2011, 04:30 AM

You may want to reconsider your parts list depending on what your planning on using this for....
Is there a reason your going through Amazon for all the parts?
Is this for the same build in your other "beast" thread?

**Crowbar** · February 10th, 2011, 05:06 AM

Hey JP,

Yea, the parts have changed because I learned what works with how I'm going to use the machine. So essentially it's different. And now that I was down to the last piece, I thought I ask a specific question as to not cause any confusion due to the previous post.

With amazon I was able to find a few cheaper parts, so I was ordering together. No specific reason. I ordered some other stuff from Newegg too.

Main focus, I'm no longer looking for 2 video card slots on. I settled for 16gb of ram. It's gonna be used for video effects, like After Effects, little bit of 3d modeling, and some games.

Also, some of the parts that we were looking on the last list... got removed as well. I heard there was some problems with the processors not working with the motherboards.. so I already ordered this processor and power supply. (Too late?) Only thing I need to order is the video card and the motherboard...

What would you propose I do different?

**JPMiller** · February 10th, 2011, 05:01 PM

I was mostly curious why you chose that videocard...
Did you research it or was it just a suggestion by someone else?

And for about $30 more you could have gone with a Sandybridge setup instead...
But if you've already got the CPU....
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
16 Gig is the max for an 1156 Board

**Crowbar** · February 10th, 2011, 06:30 PM

The videocard was a suggestion. After I learned that After Effects doesn't support 2 videocards. I would need one powerful one instead.

What do you think is wrong with the videocard?

**Morphuess** · February 10th, 2011, 10:59 PM

I might be wrong, but I think JPMiller is concerned as to why you are buying a professional/workstation video card over a standard one.

Professional/workstation video cards have better technical support, more development tools for particular programs, and longer warranties, but cost significantly more than normal video cards.

Honestly I have never done professional work before, so I really don't know if you really do or do not require a professional card. If I were you, I strongly urge you to check and make sure that you really need a Quadros/FireGL over a Geforce/Radeon. It can likely save you several hundred dollars.

**JPMiller** · February 11th, 2011, 12:02 AM

Generically that card is geared toward specific programs and types of machines...
Its significantly more expensive than even the new GF580 and even though you are going to be doing rendering and some professional work, I have to wonder if a 580 isnt a better choice for the money...
I'd rather have a 580 and a small SSD as a scratch and temp file drive to offset to, instead of that card

**KarmaKiller** · February 11th, 2011, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by JPMiller

I was mostly curious why you chose that videocard...
Did you research it or was it just a suggestion by someone else?

And for about $30 more you could have gone with a Sandybridge setup instead...
But if you've already got the CPU....
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
16 Gig is the max for an 1156 Board

He'd have to wait until April before he would be able to get a Sandy setup. But still, I'd agree with you. If your doing rendering, you want a FAST cpu. Which the i5 is no slouch, but for the price, you'd be better with a i7 series cpu. More cores/threads would help you.
As far as a Mobo for 1156, I'd check into some of EVGA's offerings. They have a P55FTW edition out that's basically one of the best P55 boards on the market. My next choice would probably be a MSI. I've used a few MSI P55 boards for builds in the last year, and they have been flawless. That or check into Gigabyte's offerings.
Now for a GPU, get a fermi (nvidia) card. They have CUDA, which I believe more "pro" programs support. That would GREATLY help your render times.
You can get something like a 470 for ~$230, and that would do everything you needed it to. Or if you wanna go all out, pick up a 570/580. Again, more then enough power to handle what you need.

**JPMiller** · February 11th, 2011, 01:23 AM

No, I thought the same thing, but Amazon is still selling Sandybridge CPU's and MObos...
Besides, this whole thing is Completely overblown...
A. the chipset MAY have an issue eventually, and even if it does, it only affects certain connectors, and all you'd have to do is turn it in under warranty, or simply add a card.
This reaction is simply because retailers dont want to face huge returns or people taking advantage of the situation...

**ShyguyXPC** · February 11th, 2011, 02:08 AM

The Other day Newegg was still selling the Sandy Bridge 2600K Model CPU, but no other CPU's and no boards, thought that was kind of odd.

**Crowbar** · February 11th, 2011, 04:03 AM

Maybe I read all the comments at the wrong time (since I'm having a shitty day), but now I feel like a total idiot for buying that i5.

About the video card. It WAS supposed to work well with this Asus mobo: Amazon.com: ASUS P7P55D-E PRO - Motherboard - ATX - iP55 - LGA1156 Socket - UDMA133, SATA-300 (RAID), SATA-600 - Gigabit Ethernet - FireWire - SuperSpeed USB - HD Audio (8-channel): Electronics

Since it's no longer in stock (regardless of what it says on amazon) I was looking for a new one...

I didn't order the video card or the motherboard yet. I did get the cpu, which I totally want to return or resell.

I thought I had a great list of parts before the sandybridge got taken down (and the gigabyte mobo got removed)... But now I'm clueless if the setup I have is any good.

This is simply what I want. Mobo that goes as high as 24 or 32GB, even though I'll only do 16gb of ram right now. I want to be able to add more later and not have to get a whole new motherboard. I wanted this video card before:

Newegg.com - EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Is that good?

PLEASE help me get to the bottom of this.

I need a great mobo/cpu/video card mix. Please help me.

**ShyguyXPC** · February 11th, 2011, 04:49 AM

the GPU is fine, GTX 580 is near top of the line for all cards, only slightly bested by the Radeon 5970, and soon to be released 6990.

Nvidia is also coming out with the Dual GPU competitor to the 6990 soon, supposedly.

But for single GPU the 580 is the best out there right now.

Its a great gaming GPU, but for applications that will actually use its performance it will still perform great with.

as to the RAM capacity, most X58 Socket 1366 Motherboards support (6 slots) 24GB of RAM.

I saw somewhere (I think Newegg), an Intel Branded Board with the X58 chipset that supports up to 48GB (6 Slots) of RAM, that might be something you want to consider.

I think Most Socket 1156 Intel Boards go up to 16GB RAM, but there might be some that support 32GB, though I haven't seen any myself.

Here's the 48GB Supporting Socket 1366 Boards:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Motherboards,Intel Motherboards,LGA 1366,48GB

One is a Single CPU board, the other is Dual CPU board (Requires more expensive Xeon CPU's to run on it though)

Ahhh, here we go, Socket 1156 32GB Boards: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Motherboards,Server Motherboards,LGA 1156,32GB

Their all Server boards, so you'll have to make sure you get compatible RAM, and check to see if they'll run regular i5/i7 Quads and Xeons, or Only Xeons.

Also Couldn't hurt to check out the AMD Server Boards as well as far as Pricing and finding a Board with a PCIe x16 slot on it.

**Crowbar** · February 11th, 2011, 06:27 AM

Okay, so let's say I still use this processor:

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760

with this card:

Newegg.com - EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Is it possible to find a motherboard that even goes up to 24 or 32 gb that's gonna support a 1156 socket? I couldn't find ANY.

**ShyguyXPC** · February 11th, 2011, 12:21 PM

(Please tell me you looked at the last link in my reply above, 3rd Board down is one for starters, there may be more in that list)

**Crowbar** · February 11th, 2011, 06:03 PM

Thanks Shyguy. I did look at that list. I may have not mentioned this before but I'm not very good at this. And so I don't know how to deal with server boards. I don't know what to look for when it comes to ram that's gonna work with it.

I may just have to go with a 16gb mobo to make this easy on me. No expert here.

**stroyal** · February 11th, 2011, 06:43 PM

Then go with the server board and get 16 GIG of regular memory, and you won' t know the difference.

The only difference is that server boards, uses registered memory, if you go over 16GIG
Error correction/ registered/ server memory is more expensive, but all specs and latency numbers are read the same as unregistered memory.
There is nothing to get confused about, if you can pick out unregistered memory, you can pick registers.

New Egg lists them under server memory

In the past, there have been regular boards that required ECC memory, over a certain amount, not just server boards.