[ProjectVirtue]

So i'm planning to buy a new rig later on this year, primarily for SC2 and an assortment of other games as well as increasing the canvas size in painter whilst maintaining a stable condition.

In either case, i was taking a quick look at motherboards the otherday and i saw some benchmark results between a couple of the asus mobo's. The difference that they made were relatively noticeable which surprised me. The read and write time for taxing programs like photoshop/pianter were faster on one over the other. In the same way, FPS's in certain games increased also.
The hardware they used was the same for each mobo, but then i wasn't able to confirm if all 4 were 780i mobo's, or if theres the possibility some of them were from the 600 series.
The thing is, i'm planning dual super clocked 9600 GT in SLI by EVGA, so i thought "sure, i'll get the evga mobo also, same company must have the most compliant drivers and architecture" but then i saw the asus results that made me wonder...
The other thing regarding the mobo, is the decision between 780i and 790i. The price difference being 100$ and the only advantage i can think of off the top of my head being the new "hybrid power" feature implemented between the 9000 series and the 790i mobo =\

Any help/suggestions?

[apparition]

can we see these benchmarks you're referring to? usually, theres a very minute difference between motherboard in terms of performance... im not too familiar with nvidia's chipsets...but maybe ones ddr2 and the other ddr3? thats where i can see the difference coming from...

and btw... i highly doubt you'll need an SLI setup for SC2 im about to get 2x9600gts in a few months with a new computer and my next mobo will probably be asus. ive been with them since my first Pentium 100...

[ProjectVirtue]

i cant find the benchmarks in my history tab, but i recall the most drastic change was a 2000 packet increase of a write speed for photoshop.
even if the mobo was DDR3, the hardware that they were using were still DDR 2 800 MHZ.

haha, naw i dun need sli for SC2. But i'm hoping to have this rig last at least 3-4 years.
My friend went for a 3000$ rig 2 1/2 years ago and its still doing alright for him. getting him full detail on GoW at 19x12 resolution.
The other thing is, the game companies are still targeting their requirements and engines around high end dual cores. until quad cores enter the mass market i should still be on top. and even then, i'll have a pretty high end quad core also.

[dot1q]

Hybrid Power SLI is practically useless. You can read up on it to see if its something that would matter to you (for most it wont)

The main difference between 780i and 790i is that the latter uses DDR3 (opposed to DDR2). High performing DDR3 costs a lot more than DDR2. Personally, I don't think DDR3 is mature enough yet to warrant the cost difference (although it has gotten a LOT cheaper in the past 2-3 months). If money is a factor, DDR2 vs DDR3 should be the least of your concerns. Stick with DDR2 (780i) and invest in good hard drive(s), power supply, display, etc instead; components that would last you years.

[ProjectVirtue]

the thing is. i'm looking at the average DDR3 and its at a 1066 MHZ clock speed.
But the memory i'm actually looking at getting is the corsair dominator which already has 1066 MHZ clock speed with an airflow fan =\
Hybrid power does seem useless, but i couldn't think of any other factors.

What about the Asus series. Most benchmarks / teams i read about use the striker or some other board by asus. are they any bettter? /hmm

[chanelight]

the thing is. i'm looking at the average DDR3 and its at a 1066 MHZ clock speed.
But the memory i'm actually looking at getting is the corsair dominator which already has 1066 MHZ clock speed with an airflow fan =\
Hybrid power does seem useless, but i couldn't think of any other factors.

What about the Asus series. Most benchmarks / teams i read about use the striker or some other board by asus. are they any bettter? /hmm

AFAIK, in same speed (e.g DDR2 1066 and DDR3 1066) DDR2 is a bit faster because of tighter timings and lower latencies

if you don't need SLI, you can also use Intel chipsets like P35, X38 or X48 i think intel's chipsets are cooler

CMIIW

[87ers]

In my opinion, I'd say get either an Intel X48 board or a Nvidia n790i. Intel boards are usually better for overclocking and stability (some reviews even go to say the only reason to buy an Nvidia board over intel is for SLi) but you'll need an Nvidia chipset if you're going the SLi route. Though in a review by Anandtech they said the n790i is supposedly better than the x48 for overclocking. I wouldn't go with the x38, tho i can't remember what i didn't like about it..

[ProjectVirtue]

Hybrid Power SLI is practically useless. You can read up on it to see if its something that would matter to you (for most it wont)

The main difference between 780i and 790i is that the latter uses DDR3 (opposed to DDR2). High performing DDR3 costs a lot more than DDR2. Personally, I don't think DDR3 is mature enough yet to warrant the cost difference (although it has gotten a LOT cheaper in the past 2-3 months). If money is a factor, DDR2 vs DDR3 should be the least of your concerns. Stick with DDR2 (780i) and invest in good hard drive(s), power supply, display, etc instead; components that would last you years.

Hmmm, new problem.
I was looking at video cards again, and i saw the XFX XXX edition with 1GB memory on an originally 512MB mem card.
In either case, the clock frequency is just a little overclocked, but reading it carefully the memory said thats its
GDDR3 memory... this made me wonder, since this memory is reserved on the video card, would i still need a
DDR3 compliant motherboard in order to make it work?

thanks for all the input everyone
currently looking at the asus- maximus formula

[D_K]

What's your budget for this system? Are you planning to buy through Memory Express?

[87ers]

No, you wouldn't need a DDR3 compliant motherboard for a graphics card with GDDR3 ram

[ProjectVirtue]

What's your budget for this system? Are you planning to buy through Memory Express?

right now its breaking off even at 3000.
and yeah, i'm using memory express. they've always been really reliable for me
plus their prices are good too

thanks 87