What Motherboard and CPU to buy?

[daddystabz]

The Striker Extreme is not worth it IMO. [H]ardOCP has said here that the performance it provides is not worth the price and that other 680i-based boards perform a lot better for far lower prices. The same opinion was echoed here by X-bit labs. The E6600 and 8800GTS/GTX are good upgrades but need a lot of $$$, which not everyone is ready to spend. And dual 8800s are so much overkill it's not even funny. Not a rebuttal or anything to the above post, just my 2 cents.

I have seen some of the reviews you mention but the good thing is that this board is made for the FUTURE not for now. It is quad core ready now. when quad core processors become normal you will be ready and not have to switch motherboards/RAM. It is a board that allows you to grow into it and will last far longer than most of the other boards in this class. Also, it allows for full PCI Express 16 on BOTH of your dual 8800s or whatever card you use in SLI mode, whereas with many other boards you only get PCI Express x8 when you run 2 cards at one time. That is something to think about as well.

 

[daddystabz]

What other motherboard would you suggest Rage_3K_Moiz, over this one that supports SLI with SLI enabled 16x PCI Express on both cards for a cheaper price? Especially with comparable or better overclocking features?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

It is quad core ready now. when quad core processors become normal you will be ready and not have to switch motherboards/RAM. It is a board that allows you to grow into it and will last far longer than most of the other boards in this class.

That is exactly the point. When quad-core processors do become the norm, they'll probably be used in most homes for things other than gaming. For gaming, there'll probably be 16-core or something processors available and you will need a new mobo for them. Also you talk about "Full x16 SLI" but that is an old thing and NVIDIA is using it as a marketing gimmick for the 680i. The ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe here has/had that feature too, even though it is one of the now almost extinct Socket 939 platform boards and if you care to see the benchmarks at the bottom, "Full x16 SLI" doesn't help performance much at all. In fact, the 650i is capable of supporting two 8800s and has only dual 8x PCI-E for SLI.
Below are more reviews and benchmarks:
Neoseeker's Review of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Anandtech's Review of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Keep in mind that the reviews also speak of "the future" but since then, 8800s/DX10 were touted as the future of gaming. But if the 8800s also do not need "Full x16 SLI", what card does? It's all just marketing. Not to say that the 680i is a bad chipset, but I'd rather get the 957X or the 650i (which perform at par with the 680i) rather than pay so much money for the 680i.