Help me to choose motherboard having PCI-Express x16 2.0 interface

[yesh1683]

I am upgrading my system I have decided on following

HD4850 (already having in hand)
Intel E8400
2x1GB DDR2 667 MHz
320 GB SATA
19" LCD

Only left to decide with motherboard so hoping for a good advice from digitians

I need following features on it
PCI-Express x16 2.0 interface itz must because my card supports it
But board should be less than 6k

There are good boards with PCI-Express x16 2.0 interface from AMD at below 6k

If i am not able to get intel boards under 6K then i will go with phenom quadcore AMD system

 

[skippednote]

ABit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI for 6.9k
ABit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 1333 FSB for 6200

 

[yesh1683]

# CPU Supports Intel® Core™2 Duo, Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Pentium® D & Pentium®4 Processors with 1066/800MHz FSB
# Chipset ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1250
# Memory 4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 16GB
# Supports Dual channel DDR2 800/667/533 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
# LAN Gigabit Ethernet controller supports 10/100/1000Mbit LAN connections
# Audio 7.1 CH HD Audio CODEC
# Expansion Slots 1 x PCI-E X16, 2 x PCI-E X1, 1 x PCI
# Internal I/O 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88 MB
# 1 x ATA 133/100/66/33 IDE connector
# 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connector
# 3 x USB header (supports 6 additional ports)
# 1 x FP-Audio
# Back Panel I/O 1 x HDMI™ connector
# 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
# 1 x S/P DIF Out
# 7.1 CH Audio connector (Front, Line-in, MIC-in, Center/Subwoofer, Surround, Rear Surround)
# 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN connector
# Serial ATA 4 x SATA 3Gb/s with SATA RAID 0/1/0+1

They have not mentioned it consists of PCI-Express x16 2.0 interface

 

[desiibond]

^^ ABit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI is for nvidia cards
ABit Fatal1ty F-I90HD is not crossfireX board.

You have to pay hefty premium of some 13k-15k for x16 link pcie mobo.

under 10k, you can get ASUS P5Q Pro.

CrossfireX with x8 crossfire link.

one such board with x16 pcie link is MSI x48c Platinum but costs around 13k.

 

[yesh1683]

I dont need crossfireX board just any mobo which supports PCI-E x16 v2.0 interface thats it any brand will do but intrested in Gigabyte and MSI boards

-
-
My mind is really pushing towards Gigabyte (AMD System) GA-MA78GM-S2H has it has got great features

*www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2758

Specifications includes

1. Dual Channel DDR2 1066 for remarkable system performance
2. Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200-based graphics (DX10)
3. Ultimate graphics performance with PCI-E 2.0 x16 interface with ATI Hybrid CrossFireX support

And this mobo Costs just 4.4k

I want similar board

 

[spikygv]

if u dont need X-fire , then any board having pcie slot will do. .pcie x16 1.1 is enough. u'll need pcie x16 2.0 only if u are going for x-fire

 

[yesh1683]

if u dont need X-fire , then any board having pcie slot will do. .pcie x16 1.1 is enough. u'll need pcie x16 2.0 only if u are going for x-fire

Then y does single PCI-E x16 has 2.0 interface ??
2.0 interface will allow more bandwidth

PCI Express 2.0

PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007. PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus standard's bandwidth from 0.25 GByte/s to 0.5 GByte/s, meaning a x32 connector can transfer data at up to 16 GByte/s in each direction.

PCIe 2.0 is backward compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0. In some cases it is possible that a PCI-E 2.0 card will not work correctly on a PCI-E 1.0a slot. This is only limited to certain video cards.

The PCI-SIG also said PCIe 2.0 also features improvements to the point-to-point data transfer protocol and its software architecture

More at
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_2.0

 

[desiibond]

^^ dude. I thought you are looking a mobo for Intel processor.

Yep. GA-MA78GM-S2H is a superb board. But make sure you get rev1.1 or higher.

first edition of this board came with a crappy heatsink for chipset and created few heat issues.

newer revision is just fine with a bigger and better heatsink.

For Intel, go for ASUS P5Q.

 

[yesh1683]

I am looking for intel only

Just if i couldnt get any good one for intel then i will go for AMD

 

[desiibond]

For Intel, go for ASUS P5Q or P5Q Pro (only difference is extra pcie slot) and as the difference is just 800 bucks or less, I would pick ASUS P5Q Pro.

 

[forever]

pci x16 1.1 is more than enough to handle the 4850. anyhow you could look for MSI p43/p45 or Gigabyte ep43 based boards.

 

[comp@ddict]

I dont need crossfireX board just any mobo which supports PCI-E x16 v2.0 interface thats it any brand will do but intrested in Gigabyte and MSI boards

-
-
My mind is really pushing towards Gigabyte (AMD System) GA-MA78GM-S2H has it has got great features

*www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2758

Specifications includes

1. Dual Channel DDR2 1066 for remarkable system performance
2. Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200-based graphics (DX10)
3. Ultimate graphics performance with PCI-E 2.0 x16 interface with ATI Hybrid CrossFireX support

And this mobo Costs just 4.4k

I want similar board

This is the one for you.
But you won't be able to make use of the Hybrid card performance boost, although it will help in saving your (electricity) bill by quite an amount.

 

[desiibond]

You can save on processor and mobo (for Intel) and with that get AMD config with HD4870

E8400 costs around 8.5k. Go for Phenom X3 which costs 5.5k (saved 3k)
A decent mobo costs 6k-8k. gigabyte 780G chipset mobo costs 4.5k (saved 2k)

add another 3k-4k and get HD4870.

 

[imgame2]

why nobody is suggesting a P45 Neo - F for about 5.8k ??? it has all the things u need

*global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1482&maincat_no=1

 

[forever]

why nobody is suggesting a P45 Neo - F for about 5.8k ??? it has all the things u need

*global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1482&maincat_no=1

pci x16 1.1 is more than enough to handle the 4850. anyhow you could look for MSI p43/p45 or Gigabyte ep43 based boards.

 

[spikygv]

Then y does single PCI-E x16 has 2.0 interface ??
2.0 interface will allow more bandwidth

PCI Express 2.0

PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007. PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus standard's bandwidth from 0.25 GByte/s to 0.5 GByte/s, meaning a x32 connector can transfer data at up to 16 GByte/s in each direction.

PCIe 2.0 is backward compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0. In some cases it is possible that a PCI-E 2.0 card will not work correctly on a PCI-E 1.0a slot. This is only limited to certain video cards.

The PCI-SIG also said PCIe 2.0 also features improvements to the point-to-point data transfer protocol and its software architecture

More at
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_2.0

but that extra bandwidth given by pcie 2.0 is not used by any card today .. any minor improvement in performance u see in a board with pcie 2.0 is due to the better chipset . not pcie 2.0

u can be sure that hd4850 will NOT use the extra bandwidth given by pcie 2.0 .

and that incompatibility issue is basically with VIA chipset based mobo's with 8800GT's AFAIK ..most of us are having pcie 1.1 and there are NO compatibility issues at all . NO performance loss. my friend is using a abit ip35 e with a hd4850 and its fine . performance benchies match with those with similar config but with a p45 board sporting a pcie 2.0 interface..

get the pcie 2.0 if u intend to upgrade the card later without upgrading board+mobo.

pcie 2.0 is helpful in X-fire because :

in crossfire enabled p45 boards .. when both the slots are being used , each pcie slot will run at x8 mode. but since its pcie 2.0 , it still gives full bandwidth as that of pcie 1.1 x16. .

get a p45 based board if u intend to upgrade the card later ( atleast after a year ). . getting it just for the sake of pcie 2.0 isnt worth it if u're not going to upgrade.

 

[yesh1683]

Thanx guys for ur valuable suggestions

I will look for MSI if possible

One more last q?
Will core2duo E8400 become hot ?
Does it need CPU cooler ?

I know it can be overclocked to large extent but i want to overclock a little so can i do it without any cooler?

 

[desiibond]

^^^no. unless you insanely overclock E8400 you don't need a cooler.

For a little bit of overclocking you don't need a cooler, you need a good thermal paste to apply on the proccy and 120mm High speed rear fan.

 

[yesh1683]

^^^ thanx buddy

 

[hellgate]

^^^ i dont thinki u'll ned a pcie x16 2.0 slot to get the max out of ur card.even im getting a HD4850 and i'm gonna bech it 2night with my IP35-E.