Future-proofing

no amount of money will get you future proof ...it would get you at most 2 years...you must do what you can with what you have...

780

Go for whatever suits your budget + SLI.

The Asus P5N-T Deluxe would be a great choice if you can afford it. 780i with room for 3 Nvidia cards in SLI mode. Recommended by Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/25/system_builder_marathon/page3.html

Go for whatever suits your budget + SLI.

The Asus P5N-T Deluxe would be a great choice if you can afford it. 780i with room for 3 Nvidia cards in SLI mode. Recommended by Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/25/system_builder_marathon/page3.html

idreambuild

:lol: @ Tomshardware

That place is a joke.

If you are on a budget, forget SLI all together. A single 8800GT is plenty powerful enough to last of for a few years. By the time you want to add a second 8800GT, theres going to be a better offering on a single card instead.

Get a cheap P35 board like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L if you really are on a budget, or go for a DFI P35-T2RS if you need some serious OCing done on a budget standpoint.

You wont be really future proofing. GPU has always been something you upgrade over time and is often not considered future proofing. That is usually all about the cpu because upgrading it can be alot more hassle, and sometimes require a new chipset of the socket if chipset just wont run the new processors. Older LGA775 chipsets and 45nm wolfdale/yorkfield come to mind.

"Nehalem" will be using a different socket. Everyone will be wanting to upgrade, or most, to this new cpu and thus a new mobo. So you should go with what you want for the next year, and consider whats on the horizon.

While I am sure some kind of cpu will be made for LGA775 again, past the current crop of 45nm processors. I am sure we wont get another shrink, but should be some kind of upgrade before it hits EoL for the LGA775 for upgrading.

However, with the new socket within a 1 year horizon, worrying about future proofing right now shouldnt cause you to stress that much. Go with a nice cheap gigabyte p35 mobo, be had for 80ish, and a nice cpu and go with it. Put some money aside over the next year for a new mobo+cpu and when the time comes get the new socket.

As long as they dont fubar it up, nothing on the market for intel cpu today is going to beat the performance of the Nehalem with a on-board memory controller. This was one reason I didnt go with DDR3 this build, because I am saving money back for the new socket.

P35+1gpu is going to be a solid performer, and leave you extra cash for later on.

Future-proofing sounds like a retarded term created by the hardware industry. Newer and better stuff will always come out.HavocEbonlore

Thanks for all the advice, I know there's no real futureproofing. I was thinking that perhaps being able to buy a second (cheaper) 512Mb 8800GT rather than a new $200 1Gb GPU in a few years would be handy. Also, I assume I should get a mobo that supports C2Q rather than just Duo, right? And what's this about socket 775 becoming obsolete?

So, if I decide I don't need SLI, what's the most important thing to consider when buying a new motherboard?

Thanks.

Thanks for all the advice, I know there's no real futureproofing. I was thinking that perhaps being able to buy a second (cheaper) 512Mb 8800GT rather than a new $200 1Gb GPU in a few years would be handy. Also, I assume I should get a mobo that supports C2Q rather than just Duo, right? And what's this about socket 775 becoming obsolete?

So, if I decide I don't need SLI, what's the most important thing to consider when buying a new motherboard?

Thanks.

pohjie

The thing is, if you want to step beyond Yorkfield CPUs, odds are you'll be doing a total conversion. The upcoming Nehalem CPUs will feature onboard memory controllers based on DDR3 (which currently still carries a heavy price premium). Therefore, Nehalem CPUs need more pins (so LGA775 mobos can't be upgraded) and won't use DDR2 (putting them on the way out as well). Being such a radical change, I expect the next year or so to be a rocky road, so if you want a motherboard now, you might as well go with what works now and worry about making the next jump at a later date.

If SLI/CrossFire is not the biggest of your concerns, reliability and robust features will be your key interest. The best choice is a motherboard based on an Intel P35 or X38 chipset (X38 is newer and supports PCI Ex2.0, but check your power supply if you try this route). Mobos based on either are likely to support the full LGA775 line including Yorkfield, but double-check. Other than that, the devil is in the details. Study each board you want to look at and see what kinds of features will be on board. Look up reviews in case there are flakiness issues. Then...take the plunge.

:lol: @ Tomshardware

That place is a joke.

SSJBen

What's wrong with Tom's? They seem to have their sh!t together. I really like their CPU/GPU charts and they usually provide a graph of average benchmarks across all the games they tested, pretty handy.