Which to choose?

[AMD++]

Hello,

I'm new here, and it's the first time I've signed up to a hardware related forum so please excuse me if I come across lost at times!

At the moment I've got no choice but to upgrade my motherboard, I think it's been faulty from the get go because I've had endless problems with PSUs and various other equipment.

At the moment I have the Gigabyte S-Series with the older type of the Nvidia chipset (580a I think?). I'm not an overclocker, however I am interested in doing so once I learn some more about it.

My other equipment is;

AMD Athlon 6400+ X2 Black Edition (3.2Ghz)
Hiper type-R2 680Watt PSU (5th one, this one being less powerful but it works?)
ASUS Nvidia 8800GTX
Reaper Module 8GB DDR2 (1066Mhz)

I've been undecided between two motherboard at the moment, reviews on both are somewhat equal but sometimes reflecting good/bad points about both so it really doesn't help me select which one.

They are 'Foxconn Destroyer' and the 'Asus crosshair 2'. I have wanted the Foxconn for longer however a friend that works as a PC engineer suggested the Asus however I wasn't sure and would like to have some views from other people before I spend quite a large amount of money.

So which is best for me? - I would be thankful any views/thoughts and suggestions.

(edit)I'd better tell you what I generally use my computer for; I'm a game programmer, and web designer. I do a lot of 3D Rendering and photo shopping. I also like to play games such as COD5 and Crysis. Not to mention powerful train simulators that I program for.

 

[TheCrow]

The asus sounds good to me but i thought the crosshair was for crossfire?
Maybe you would be better with a M2N-SLI or something similar?

As for the foxconn i've never had any experience with them sorry.

 

[AMD++]

Thanks for your input. I'm not sure but I don't think it's for crossfire at all.

Good thing with the Foxconn is that it also supports AM3 with the BIOS update; no performance increase but it is compatible which is a nice extra for upgrade space.

 

[Asylum]

Do you need 3 pci-e slots? If not there are alot of other boards out there with 1 or 2 slots with the same speed for alot cheaper!!

 

[Thrackan]

Foxconn is pretty decent. They've made parts for a lot of other companies before and only recently sold them on their own brand.

 

[J-Man]

I wonder... how well does the 8800 GTX perform in the latest games? I bet it still does well considering when the GeForce 9 series came out, people claimed it still was king.

 

[AMD++]

I haven't seen any other graphics cards in action or read up on them infact so I can't really compare but put it this way I'm starting to forget what the phrase 'poor frames rates' actually means.

I can still run games (apart from Crysis/FSX) at full settings without a stutter, and now the PhsX chips has been activated it's even more powerful. I am looking at doubling up the 8800GTX rather than buying the newer versions.

Thanks for the views so far, I'm still leaning towards Foxconn.

 

[TheCrow]

You are right about the asus board. I didn't notice the two!

I think one of those with another 8800gtx for sli would rock!

 

[Mike0409]

Foxconn has been reliable and unreliable depending on their boards. The Destroyer board has been doing fairly well, their Quantum series boards are usually pretty good. (black-ops and blood rage) And i believe this board is part of that series. Be aware that the Phenom II BIOS update for this board I don't believe its available just yet. Foxconn does seem to have issues with their BIOS, as least from what I have seen.

As for the Asus board, I've only had experience with the Asus A8n-SLI deluxe which is still cranking away as my secondary PC. It run's like a champ, but I've always had problems with BSOD's in trying to OC with this board. The M2N-SLI is the board I put in my fathers machine and that thing is fantastic for a lower end board and for the cost.

Also with onboard graphics you can run the Asus and or Foxconn in Hybrid SLI using the onboard video as a boost, until you get your secondary card.

Edit: Check the Power Phase's on each board, are they 4+1 or 8+2?

 

[AMD++]

Thanks - I'm not sure what a power phase is and I dont think it's listed in the descriptions.

Foxconn has been reliable and unreliable depending on their boards. The Destroyer board has been doing fairly well, their Quantum series boards are usually pretty good. (black-ops and blood rage) And i believe this board is part of that series. Be aware that the Phenom II BIOS update for this board I don't believe its available just yet. Foxconn does seem to have issues with their BIOS, as least from what I have seen.

As for the Asus board, I've only had experience with the Asus A8n-SLI deluxe which is still cranking away as my secondary PC. It run's like a champ, but I've always had problems with BSOD's in trying to OC with this board. The M2N-SLI is the board I put in my fathers machine and that thing is fantastic for a lower end board and for the cost.

Also with onboard graphics you can run the Asus and or Foxconn in Hybrid SLI using the onboard video as a boost, until you get your secondary card.

Edit: Check the Power Phase's on each board, are they 4+1 or 8+2?