The Mother Board

[tupapison]

Im building my new computer and i have to decide between X58B-A or a DX58SO motherboard, I know the DX58SO is better but what are the main differences?

My new pc will have:

Radeon HD 5870 1GB Video card
i7 930 2.88ghz
6GB Ram
500gb harddrive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

With those specs, which one do you recommend and why? The price difference between them is $100-120 bucks where i live.

Thanks for you help

[fussnfeathers]

The ECS supports 24GB RAM, the Intel supports 16GB. Along with that, the ECS supports the full 24GB in triple channel, while the Intel will only do 12GB in triple channel. The ECS supports Crossfire only, for ATI cards, the Intel supports both ATI's Crossfire and nVidia's SLI. Different RAID options (0/1/0+1, 5 on the ECS, 0/1/5/10 on the Intel), The ECS has two LAN ports, the Intel has one. The Intel has more compatible processors (it'll run most 1366 Xeons, if you want) the ECS is more limited. Probably some memory support in there for more options, you'll want to look at the QVL for both boards on their websites to figure out what matches.

Memory support for the Intel

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dx58so/sb/CS-029865.htm

Memory list for the ECS

http://download.ecsusa.com/dlfileecs/manual/qvl/QVL%20of%20X58B-A%20(1.0).pdf

Of the two, the Intel is more server oriented, not really meant for overclocking, if you have any thoughts of doing that. Intel boards are typically very solid, dependable, and speedy as is, but you can't really push them too hard. The ECS is an older model, not made anymore, but it's geared toward the enthusiast that wants to push their overclock hard.

Pretty much take your pick. I might skip the ECS (depending on what your price is) and the Intel both, and get a newer, more up to date board designed around consumer use. Asus and Gigabyte are both quite good. There's a review of the ECS here in the review section...

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1843_1.html

Read over that, and see what you think.
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Mine go to 11

[tupapison]

Thank you for your answer, sadly i can only choose among the DX58SO or the Intel Rampage II Extreme (since the other one is so so)since those are the only sold sold by the place i got credit at(long story), Obviously the Extreme one is for overclocking, but the exrreme one is at around 500 bucks, and the dx58so is at around 340(Chilean pesos, hard to convert to dollars atm)...If i have to choose between those 2, which one do you recommend? is the extreme one really worth it?

**Asus Rampage II Extreme