need a first time builder/clockers board for my 5000 black

[donnybrook]

i heard building one step at a time is a better idea then buying everything all at once, so im doing that. i just got ahold of a new 5000 black 2.6 X2 and im going to go for my mobo sometime this week. my question is. looking from the standpoint of knowing enough about technology that learning what i need to do wouldnt be difficult, but in no ways do i have a decent understanding of the process of doing so, im looking to build an overclockable performance system, yet trying to stay budget minded.

i do have a graphics card, xfx 8500gt sli ready, which might or might not make a difference, im almost content for the moment sticking with a non sli system, but would limiting my self to a non sli board be dumb in the long run, eventually i might want to add a second card. does having an open pci slot on an sli board hinder performance at all? thanks in advance! ive yet to ask something you folks havnt been able to help with

[slytown]

No, an idle PCI slot has no effect. Most boards now come with at least 3 PCI slots. Having an SLI board but only one graphics card has no effect.

It's not necessary to buy everything separately. If you everything at once from the same place that will save a little money though in shipping. Do your reaserch and ask questions. What are you looking for in terms of computer use? Overclocking? Gaming? Music? Production?

There's really no point in SLing the 8600. SLi is for benching and hi-end systems. Better to buy a nicer single card than spend money on a second 8600.

[winginit]

What is your budget for a board?

[donnybrook]

well the majority of all my computer use, is world of warcraft lol. what i need to see out of it is the ability to run around 10 extra add ons, play my music off itunes or something in the background and other mild computer use (forum browsing, making and editing movies off warcraft, and of course stuff for my college courses.)

anything is going to be an improvement to me, so i dont want to make a rash decision just because everything is an upgrade to my old system lol. comming from a 5 year old pentium 4, even at 3ghz, on a gateway board, 1.5gig memory and a geforce4 4600ti, stuff that is horrible by todays standards is going to blow mine away. basically, i just dont want to get ripped off, i want to be able to upgrade to newer technology as time goes on, and i want something thats easy to overclock and understand, without limiting its overclocking capabilities (ie, i dont want a board with "training wheels" that limit me to what i can do.) i have heard of a few boards out there with like no overclocking ability, and while im not going to be pushing this thing to its breaking point, i would like to dabble in it, get my feet wet as they say.


as for budget, the 100-125 dollar price range is what i would call "ideal" but im willing to negotiate that seeing as i got that processor at 60 bucks less then i thot it was going to cost my overall budget is going to try and stick around 600 bucks, including everytihng but a case and monitor and mouse. ive taken care of the processor, OS, and vid card at 250 so im sitting on around 350 bucks for the mobo, PSU, keyboard, HDD, cables and anything else i might need.





PS. i also bought my tuniq tower cpu cooler if that makes a difference.

[winginit]

This board is a little above your budget, and it isn't SLI, but it will let you get the potential out of that 5000 Black:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136044

.... or for less $ and with one PCIE slot.... the Biostar TA770 like the one in my sig:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138102

[roningai]

you don't need a high priced boards w/ BE proc's they will OC with a mid range board just fine.

[winginit]

Originally Posted by roningai

you don't need a high priced boards w/ BE proc's they will OC with a mid range board just fine.

I agree.... it's working great on my 770.

[donnybrook]

ok so a question. between those 2 boards, (man i really like that dfi board lol) upon inital start up after i get everything together and set up, ready to go and whatnot, between those 2 boards, which is going to give me more trouble. reading a bit about that biostar, while its a very pretty board and the specs are very nice, people seem to have trouble with the bios and some other stuff if they dont know everything about what they're doing. maybe im just being paranoid, im just a bit worried about getting something thats going to overwhelm me from the get-go.

[winginit]

I had absolutely zero problems getting mine set up and running.... I had even flashed to a new BIOS twice before I started to install the OS. I used the integrated flash utility in the BIOS, and it worked just fine. It was a very smooth build for me.... I've done well with the board.

[darkninja420]

first off, save you money.

http://www.evga.com/products/bstock.asp

buy the 590sli am2 motherboard.

$69.99 is a great deal for that board.

secondly dont sli 8600's.. return them if you already bought them... pick up a 8800gt or a 9600gt (i just bought one ) and save cash and trouble.


the evga 590sli is the best am2 motherboard for under $100

if your wanting to blow cash then buy the crosshair am2 board.