MaddHawk
12-26-2008, 07:54 AM
As stated in the title, no budget as I am currently amongst the growing number of unemployed in the States. However, rather than let dust gather about my feet I figure I can atleast research out my next PC build so that when I am employed again and financially sound, it will be a simple deal to place the orders for everything.
I am looking for a motherboard based on the AMD 790FX north bridge / 750 south bridge chipset. I will be going with the Agena Phenom I processor, model 9950 BE. I will be going with ATI HD 4870x2 graphics card. I will not be OCing initially though I plan to do my research there as well and do so down the road, hence the BE. I will be DI water cooling the GPU and CPU as well and have already been doing actively doing research in the liquid cooling section of XS.
I will not consider Intel in any way, shape, or form. I have a HUGE amount of inertia when it comes to changing companies that I have positive experiences with. I build my loyalties early and don't change them unless the company becomes, generally, a large garbage heap whose competitors outperform enormously. Please don't point to Intel benchmark numbers as saying Intel outperforms AMD either, as only the ability to perform real world apps counts as far as I am concerned and I know there really isn't any difference between the two when it comes to running games.
I was originally considering the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe. Recently, though, as I have been reading through these forums on other topics, I have noticed a few horror stories regarding ASUS products and worse their customer service. The mobo in my now dead machine is an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe that lasted me nearly 4 and half years, built it back in March-April '04. To say it ran perfect would be a lie as when I turned off AC power to the PSU and then restored it the entire PC would turn on without me hitting the mobo power switch and would proceed to POST and then boot into the OS. As I could see no other side effects of this apparent defect I decided to keep it. However this along with the other stories is enough for me to question whither or not ASUS is worth my loyalty or perhaps another manufacturer might have better offerings.
So with that all said, what recommendations, advice, and counsel is there? What manufacturers would be worth taking a look at? And finally, what are some good UNBIASED sites that I can use to look various mobos up on?
I am looking for a motherboard based on the AMD 790FX north bridge / 750 south bridge chipset. I will be going with the Agena Phenom I processor, model 9950 BE. I will be going with ATI HD 4870x2 graphics card. I will not be OCing initially though I plan to do my research there as well and do so down the road, hence the BE. I will be DI water cooling the GPU and CPU as well and have already been doing actively doing research in the liquid cooling section of XS.
I will not consider Intel in any way, shape, or form. I have a HUGE amount of inertia when it comes to changing companies that I have positive experiences with. I build my loyalties early and don't change them unless the company becomes, generally, a large garbage heap whose competitors outperform enormously. Please don't point to Intel benchmark numbers as saying Intel outperforms AMD either, as only the ability to perform real world apps counts as far as I am concerned and I know there really isn't any difference between the two when it comes to running games.
I was originally considering the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe. Recently, though, as I have been reading through these forums on other topics, I have noticed a few horror stories regarding ASUS products and worse their customer service. The mobo in my now dead machine is an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe that lasted me nearly 4 and half years, built it back in March-April '04. To say it ran perfect would be a lie as when I turned off AC power to the PSU and then restored it the entire PC would turn on without me hitting the mobo power switch and would proceed to POST and then boot into the OS. As I could see no other side effects of this apparent defect I decided to keep it. However this along with the other stories is enough for me to question whither or not ASUS is worth my loyalty or perhaps another manufacturer might have better offerings.
So with that all said, what recommendations, advice, and counsel is there? What manufacturers would be worth taking a look at? And finally, what are some good UNBIASED sites that I can use to look various mobos up on?