Tearing my hair out-need help again

[Dynesh]

I'm really still trying to decide on a motherboard. I find one I like, then I read reviews on newegg or somewhere and see all kinds of problems, and I'm just not experienced enough with mobos to deal with a bunch of problems. As per my last post, I had decided on a P5w dh deluxe, because it had two ide ports, and that's the only kind of hard drives and DVD players I have at the moment, and I want to save money right now by not buying those.

But now I have decided to go with the possibility of have two graphics cards (later on when the prices come down) and go with a 680i motherboard. So I've decided on the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR LGA 775 simply because it seemed to have the least amount of problems on newegg. The drawback is its about 30$ more than some of the others I was looking at. I need someone to tell me to go for it or whoa boy, here's something you haven't thought of.

I'll be using this Ram with it OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB and I'm just hoping that RAM will work fine.

I'm assuming I'll have no problem using one of my existing IDE hard drives on it, let me know if I'm wrong.

Also, what is the best option to use my other 250 gig drive as storage for this PC. Isn't there some sort of converter to USB, or even SATA if possible.

Sorry for all the questions, but I had no idea what a headache choosing all this stuff would be. If I had the money I'd just go with a pre built PC, as frustrated as I am right now.

Thanks in advance.

[vaio]

An overclocking rig or just a solid stable stock machine.
Oh and I wouldn't put much stock in the likes of Newegg reviews.

Read proper reviews from reputable hardware sites.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Dynesh

But now I have decided to go with the possibility of have two graphics cards (later on when the prices come down) and go with a 680i motherboard. So I've decided on the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR LGA 775 simply because it seemed to have the least amount of problems on newegg.

It's kind of ironic that you bring up Newegg reviews. Take a look at this following LINK and I think you may find some good information on why Newegg reviews aren't all that great.

Honestly, when it comes to reviews on Newegg, I would be extremely wary of them. Your mileage will definately vary. I take much more stock with professional review sites (like HardwareLogic) than I would with some fanboi or hater on a site like Newegg. I suggest you do some searches on various hardware sites for reviews, advice and information on the products you want to buy, and stay away from the reviews by people on Newegg.

[Panda Man]

You could have saved the headache and just hit up our recommendation page

You needed a budget board? That's a high end board you are looking at now, what all specs are going in it? Also what resolutions will you be running? Unless you plan on going 64657437874x332642365, there is no need for SLi/Crossfire

Also note that half the people that write reviews a newegg are retarded. Good budget board:

Newegg.com - MSI G965M-F Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

If you still plan to go dual video card later:

Newegg.com - ASUS P5N-E SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Just my 2 cents

[vaio]

64657437874x332642365

[One4yu2c]

Couple of comments:

1) Unless you're fairly confident you'll be running two videocards in the future, I wouldn't put much stock into SLI. The main benefits will be found by those running very high resolutions (think greater than 1600x1200). But even so, most people that buy one card today end up upgrading it tomorrow, rather than picking up a second one. For example, how appealing would it be to add a second 7800GTX to an existing setup as opposed to stepping up to a 8800GTS/GTX?

2) That being said, the eVGA 680i is a damn fine board. So is the Asus P5W DH Deluxe you picked out (I'm currently running one), but along with SLI support, the eVGA also provides a bit better overclocking options and capability.

3) There are IDE to SATA adapters available (LINK, for example), though I haven't used one personally. Another option for your storage IDE drive is to buy an external enclosure for backups, which will connect via a USB port. Can be particularly handy if you have more than one PC.

4) That's a good set of RAM you picked out with a heckuva nice price tag. Would be worth browsing eVGA's forums though, to see if any particular kits seem to be more/less friendly than others on that specific motherboard.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by garetjax

It's kind of ironic that you bring up Newegg reviews. Take a look at this following LINK and I think you may find some good information on why Newegg reviews aren't all that great.

Honestly, when it comes to reviews on Newegg, I would be extremely wary of them. Your mileage will definately vary. I take much more stock with professional review sites (like HardwareLogic) than I would with some fanboi or hater on a site like Newegg. I suggest you do some searches on various hardware sites for reviews, advice and information on the products you want to buy, and stay away from the reviews by people on Newegg.

Garet is 100% correct here. It's always best to see what respected Hardware sites have to say about a product your thinking about buying. If you do read the Newegg reviews, look for a constant problem, but take it with a grain of salt until you research it further.

[Dynesh]

Thanks folks.

I'll just let it be known that I wasn't judging cards just based on newegg reviews, its just some cards had a crazy amount of problems, it seemed. And I did use the recommendation page here, which is where I found the first board and the RAM.

Since it doensn't sound like I should put much stock in the SLI bit, then I think I'll go with the P5W board, though the one common complaint I saw on newegg was customer support with asus, hopefully I won't need it. This will solve my hdd/dvd drive issue. Of course the board that panda man showed me had two PATA ports too, so I may go with that one. I'm not a big overclocker, but I might like to bump the speed of my processor up a little down the road. Any thoughts?

I'm also going with the 320mb 8800gts, with the e6600( I was going to wait for the 6420, but I'm tired of waiting, so I'll fork over the extra hundred or so for this one. Seems similar to what the 6420 will be. And I'll go with the OCZ RAM from the mainstream recommendation page, though I might try and look at some boards to see if this RAM will work good with that mobo.

Also I'm gonna get Vista, but run a dual boot with xp.

And that's it. I guess I'll place the order tomorrow or the next day. Any more thoughts, suggestions or tips would be most appreciated. I'm a little apprehensive, and pessimistic that something will go wrong, since all I've ever done was install individaul components, and never a motherboard/processor.

Thanks again.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by vaio

An overclocking rig or just a solid stable stock machine.
Oh and I wouldn't put much stock in the likes of Newegg reviews.

Read proper reviews from reputable hardware sites.

While I have nothing against hardware sites or the way they review components, it's quite hard to get the feedback on how reliable in the long run a component can be. Those components are rarely tested more than a week, and I totally understand why. That's also why I recommend asking around in forums (like you did Dynesh ;D) to get opinions from owners or people who worked with the component for more than a few minutes. :)

[vaio]

Agreed.........when I said hardware sites I took it as a given that folk would see the forum feedback too.