Check Out This Bad Boy

[Twister]

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1156/Maximus_III_Extreme/

You may change your pants now.


P.S: Must be a pain to keep your computer cool with that thing in there.

P.S.S: I saw this while looking around for a new motherboard. I am building a system, with raw power and maximum storage.

... You know ... It's difficult to find the right components you need. It takes a whole lot of time to research everything is compatible and everything will run (especially keep running for a long time, too!) :boohoo:

[zemtex]

I've had a few extreme motherboards from Asus over the years. The latest I bought was the Asus Striker II Extreme with Triple Sli. The problem with high-end motherboards is that you won't even use half of the features that comes with it.

I have my own special dedicated soundcard so I didn't need the sound card that came with the motherboard. All the extra usb ports will never be used. On mid range cards you have a little less usb ports, but it doesnt matter you wont use them all anyway, unless you are a man of many gadgets in your home.

The "extra" performance you get from high end cards is usually barely noticeable on benchmarks. If you cut 100 dollars on the motherboard and spend those dollars in a better graphics card, you can easily replace that extra performance in something better.

Although I usually buy high end motherboards from Asus, but after a while I discovered that I didn't really need it, i'm thinking of buying this one, its much cheaper and is a very god mid range card:

ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155



:naughty:

[Twister]

I never thought building a computer would be so challenging until now.

There are so many things on the market, I'm not even sure how to compare them any more. You are right about the unnecessary features. I don't like how they put their own embedded sound cards on the board because I would like to add my own; they are probably just doing it to run up the price a little more.

Would you mind if I asked you for help on this project of mine?

[zemtex]

I can help you with a cpu and a cooler.

Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler
Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K

This processor supports the new intel AES instruction set, if you have encrypted your drives using TrueCrypt (latest truecrypt supports hardware AES)

According to wikipedia:
"In AES-NI Performance Analyzed, Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos found, "... impressive results from a handful of applications already optimized to take advantage of Intel's AES-NI capability".[6] A performance analysis using the Crypto++ security library showed an increase in throughput from approximately 28.0 cycles per byte to 3.5 cycles per byte with AES/GCM versus a Pentium 4 with no acceleration."

That is a very good add. And it also supports Hyper Threading.

With this cpu cooler you can achieve 5 GHz overclock stable.
(If you are into gaming, which I am not personally)

[Twister]

I am into making a gaming pc, but stable also!

I couldn't decide on Intel or AMD. I like AMD because of their prices and their Hexi-core CPU, but Intel on the other hand has better features. I am going for a 64-bit architecture also. :bg

I also like AMD because their ATI graphics cards are simple and compatible with both Linux and Windows. I currently have an Nvidia card, and I could never get the drivers to load right - no matter what I tried. Nvidia does have the PhysX engine though which makes a big difference, and I have no problem going back to Windows on the gaming computer and keep this one for just small tasks.... You know what, I think I just may do that. Scratch everything I said before. I will go with a Windows 7 64-Bit gaming rig.

I just can't figure out which version of the Intel i7 is better...

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/index.htm#features

The i7 processors are similar in that they both have the same cache size, cores/threads, and roughly the same technology/features. The two with the highest clocks have differ in that one has the Intel Trustable Execution and one doesn't.


===

Responding to your recent post:

The built in AES feature is pretty neat and all, but wouldn't that feature be more useful for servers? It's a nice feature and all, cutting down the time it takes to encrypt something or calculating the hash.


You picked the i7-2600K - the processor that doesn't have the Intel® Trusted Execution Technology. Is it because it's not very useful and it will just take up more clocks? I am very secure about my system, and I know what I am doing. I am seeing that this feature may be for more inexperienced users, maybe?

[zemtex]

The letters after the model number means this:

K - Processors featuring unlocked turbo multipliers.
S - Low-power processors
T - Ultra low-power processors

You want to avvoid any cpu that has an S and a T if you aim for performance.

[Twister]

zemtex,

I had no idea there were these certain codes for processors. I just may have to look more into that. What does it mean if their is no letter after the model number? Does that just mean it's just the plain processor with no modifications?

I'll go with the Intel® Core™ i7-2600K processor.

----

Added;

I don't understand what the full purpose for chipsets. Many manufacturers are creating them, as I can see; Graphics card manufacturers (Nvidia), Intel, AMD, even ASUS whom manufacturers motherboards.

[zemtex]

The built in AES feature is pretty neat and all, but wouldn't that feature be more useful for servers? It's a nice feature and all, cutting down the time it takes to encrypt something or calculating the hash.

You picked the i7-2600K - the processor that doesn't have the Intel® Trusted Execution Technology. Is it because it's not very useful and it will just take up more clocks? I am very secure about my system, and I know what I am doing. I am seeing that this feature may be for more inexperienced users, maybe?

Hardware AES is beneficial to home users also. Truecrypt have already implemented support for it and many others will follow.

I don't think you need intel trusted execution technology. It is just my ignorant opinion. Let me know otherwise. You certainly don't need it for gaming.

EDIT: Yes those without letters are without those features, or without any such achievement.

[Twister]

Found this hidden at the bottom of the page marked 'Disclaimer'

64-bit computing on Intel® architecture requires a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, operating system, device drivers, and applications enabled for Intel® 64 architecture. Processors will not operate (including 32-bit operation) without an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software configurations. Consult with your system vendor for more information.

I will have to be very careful on my research then.

---

I don't really understand the Trusted Execution Technology either. I think it's just part of a marketing scheme. The OS already does that, even anti-virus programs.

[zemtex]

The good thing about choosing intel is that you get intel turbo boost technology. If your game is designed to run on only 2 cores, then it will automatically overclock your cpu higher than it would if you ran the game on 4 cores. If the game runs on only 1 core, it will overclock it even higher, because one core on full load produce less heat than 4 cores on full. So it automatically adjusts the speed according to how many cores the game/program utilizes. When the computer is idle, it automatically reduces the clock back to a low level to save power and also give a more stable system when you dont need all the power.

[Twister]

I have made a pick, and a great one at that! The i7-2600K uses the 64-bit architecture, so I will need to find a 64-bit motherboard. I am looking into ASUS. They have the nicest (or should I say meanest :8)) boards.

[Twister]

I am stuck now.

Here is the processor specs: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52214

Here are the motherboards: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards

The socket the processor supports is the Intel Socket 1155. After that I am not sure which chipset to select. I went with the Z68 chipset afterall.

[Twister]

I am heading to bed now.

[vanjast]

Although I would like to see more competition between CPU manufacturers, I've always stuck with an Intel purely because MSoft and other video cards seem to be geared for Intel. I'm worried about the compatibility issues with AMD.

Those Mobos look interesting, and I will be needing an upgrade soon  :green2

[sinsi]

Nice CPU, as far as the board goes get a basic usb3/sata3 setup, for speed get a pcie raid card - forget about onboard raid.
Spend your money on a good video card - I bought a GTX 580 and it flies ($650 card, $110 board).