I suggest the X58, triple channel ddr3 FTW!

X58 platform is better in every practical way. Including SATA AHCI support, which Nvidia couldn't bring on their Intel platform for some odd reason.

yup I'm with the others, that X58 Classified board is a true beast, but throw 980x or 990x onto it or grab the Xeon equivalent, the 6 core CPUs extend the longevity of that platform a bit and are just simply cool as hell CPUs to use.

The 980X is still fairly cheap to get but the 990X can sell for silly amounts, the Xeon version of the 990x (X5690/W3690) is cheap though and what I went with. (Check MB compatibility for the two Xeons, they should work with latest Bios but its worth checking first)

-The EVGA board supports the X5690 so if you are wanting a better 6 core CPU then its worth a look !

nForce boards are time bombs. Don't waste money on them.

I've owned 5, out of those 4 have died on me and the 5th (an ASUS all solid state caps board) SORT of works.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-13, 04:08:

yup I'm with the others, that X58 Classified board is a true beast, but throw 980x or 990x onto it or grab the Xeon equivalent, the 6 core CPUs extend the longevity of that platform a bit and are just simply cool as hell CPUs to use.

The 980X is still fairly cheap to get but the 990X can sell for silly amounts, the Xeon version of the 990x (X5690/W3690) is cheap though and what I went with. (Check MB compatibility for the two Xeons, they should work with latest Bios but its worth checking first)

-The EVGA board supports the X5690 so if you are wanting a better 6 core CPU then its worth a look !

The X5650 OC'd to 4.0ghz on my Asus Rampage Genie ii board with a 240mm AIO made the Ryzen 5 2600 upgrade not really feel worth it. Still a good chip for 1080P gaming!

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-13, 04:41:

nForce boards are time bombs. Don't waste money on them.

I've owned 5, out of those 4 have died on me and the 5th (an ASUS all solid state caps board) SORT of works.

I have a Digital PWM version of the EVGA 790i Ultra .. its a rock solid board built far better than the earlier models that's for sure but I do agree on the earlier 790i/780i boards being flaky as hell, even their DDR3 support was hit and miss initially. The biggest flaw however was the stupid north bridge cooling nVidia went with, yes lets throw a stupidly undersized cooling setup on a NB that runs as hot as hell, better yet lets design it so the NB is in the most awkward stupid spot on the board .. right next to the CPU socket !! and put a pissy tiny fan on it.

Smart people remove that stupid NB cooling and use a 3rd party fix for it, then flash the bios to the modded XFX version which fixes 90% of the major problems.

ODwilly wrote on 2023-03-14, 04:23:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-13, 04:08:

yup I'm with the others, that X58 Classified board is a true beast, but throw 980x or 990x onto it or grab the Xeon equivalent, the 6 core CPUs extend the longevity of that platform a bit and are just simply cool as hell CPUs to use.

The 980X is still fairly cheap to get but the 990X can sell for silly amounts, the Xeon version of the 990x (X5690/W3690) is cheap though and what I went with. (Check MB compatibility for the two Xeons, they should work with latest Bios but its worth checking first)

-The EVGA board supports the X5690 so if you are wanting a better 6 core CPU then its worth a look !

The X5650 OC'd to 4.0ghz on my Asus Rampage Genie ii board with a 240mm AIO made the Ryzen 5 2600 upgrade not really feel worth it. Still a good chip for 1080P gaming!

Its a rock solid performer that's for sure!

x58 it is <3 I'll still probably make another nostalgia build with it tho, just curious if there was any feature set that made nForce boards worth it from your experiences? the x58 was my first so never got the pleasure of dealing with nvidia boards.

The BIG thing I was obsessed with at the time was the green motherboard color scheme + ESA support. Anything else y'all saw worth these boards?

darthgamer64 wrote on 2023-03-15, 00:37:

x58 it is <3 I'll still probably make another nostalgia build with it tho, just curious if there was any feature set that made nForce boards worth it from your experiences? the x58 was my first so never got the pleasure of dealing with nvidia boards.

The BIG thing I was obsessed with at the time was the green motherboard color scheme + ESA support. Anything else y'all saw worth these boards?

SLI.

Thats literally the only reason to use an nForce board IMO.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 00:56:

SLI.

Thats literally the only reason to use an nForce board IMO.

Yep That's the only reason my XP rig is based on a nvidia 750i motherboard as if you wanted SLI you HAD to go with nForce
If I ever upgrade to a later socket type I'd definitely go back to Intel now that SLI is supported again.

I've no complaints, issues, or anything with my nForce board. but with intel been the default choice you have the benefit of knowing it'll have good drivers that everyone has tested against

X58 also supports SLI, on some boards at least. But you need GPU driver new enough to recognise the X58 chipset and then allow SLI. Old drivers for GF6/7/8 for instance only work on nForce chipsets.

havli wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:05:

X58 also supports SLI, on some boards at least. But you need GPU driver new enough to recognise the X58 chipset and then allow SLI. Old drivers for GF6/7/8 for instance only work on nForce chipsets.

IIRC X58 supports it by default, X58 was Intel's response to nVidia bending the knee and agreeing to license SLI to Intel after they got cold feet and pulled out of the chipset market.

nVidia thought they could play with the big boys in the chipset market and got sent packing after their nForce fiasco.