Hello Guys,

I am in no way trying to start a debate, I just lack a lot of knowledge on motherboards and I am currently preparing to upgrade within a month from a Q6600 & P5ND to an i7 950 & ???
(EVGA 131-GT-E767-TR Intel X58 SLI 3     OR      ASUS Sabertooth Intel X58)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%204017%20600007887&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-131-665%5E13-131-665-TS%2C13-188-068%5E13-188-068-TS
EVGA is by far my favorite but I still would like to do some research.

I would like to know which of these two MOBOs would be the right choice, I am planning on adding Corsair Dominator ram which I am also struggling to decide since they have so many models with different timings and prices! Advice on these I would also appreciate a lot!

What about the PCIe 2.0 x 16? I've read only one of the slots is x16? can someone please explain whether this will be a problem if I want to go SLI.  I already have my EVGA GTX480 but I might add one more in the future.

Please point out everything you consider important so I can make the right choice!

Thanks!

 i would have to say go with them over that particular asus board.

The thing thats concerns me the most is the PCIe 2.0 x16 It seems that when I do decide to go SLI the other card is not going to be operating at its best because of that x8 instead of x16. But again I barely know about this I might be wrong.

This is  what's preventing from just going and buying the EVGA 131 for once I am not confident with the PCIe slots. Also  the max MHz for the ram speed for the evga is 1600, is this collective for every ram slot or each one? and any advise on the dominators.

Airplanek8

This is  what's preventing from just going and buying the EVGA 131 for once I am not confident with the PCIe slots. Also  the max MHz for the ram speed for the evga is 1600, is this collective for every ram slot or each one? and any advise on the dominators.

 
personally i would just go with the xms3 from corsair. i see no difference in these vs. the dominators. IMO dominators are just hype. also even though the board say 1600mhz ram, im sure you could go higher. however with that said i running 4ghz with 1600mhz. save the money a go get the xms3 1600mhz 7-7-7-20/24 kit. as far as the PCI-E slots you will be fine. like i said SLI with x8 & x16 you will see no difference in gamming. only in benching and i mean a small difference in benching.
 
IMO just go for it. you won't be sorry.

1600mhz is each slot, and you could probaly go higher. 12gb is overkill IMO. it is a bit harder to OC with 12gb vs 6gb beause the memory controller is on the cpu its self. not to say it cant be done, you will just need more voltages here and there for your oc on your chip which results in more stress on the CPU. Corsair is all i have ever used in all of my build and i swear by them. great customer support as well. you should be able to get that 950 to 4ghz fairly easy. a recommendation for a cpu cooler (corsair H70) I HAD A MEGAHALEM PRIOR AND THE h70 PERFORMS GREAT.
 
like i said go for the xms3.

From my experience with my board and my 930 so far, I wasted my money purchasing ram rated for 2000MHz.  With the CPU's now having the memory controller built in, it seems anything much over 1600 when shooting for a decent OC, is creating quite a headache.

SiriusDragon

One option could be to use 3 x 4gb memory sticks. I know one of the dominator kits is like that, I was looking at it myself as I'd like more ram but I still want to be able to overclock just as high.

good point man. never even thought of that myself...congrats

RAM- just go with 6gb for now (can assure you it works great) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286   - sorry 7-8-7-20 (even better than mine @ 8-8-8-24)

SiriusDragon

Here's the memory I mentioned...
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820145321

or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820145326

But I suppose if you're not gunna aim for a massive overclock, you could just try the memory you have and see how things go :)

 
no need for the 2000mhz if he is only OCing max 3.8 (1600mhz is just fine and way cheaper) like i said IMO dominators are the same as any other ram, just a hype and they look cool.

SiriusDragon

Oh balls. Sorry, I meant to link to the 1600mhz XMS3 12gb kit... it'd be cheaper again then over the one I linked to :)

Edit:
Oops... no such thing as that anyway. Odd... you'd think there would be an XMS3 12gb 1600mhz kit

 
lmao ( IMO unless he is video editing , you dont need more than 6gb of ram...expecially for gamming)

Airplanek8

Nah I don't do video editing just my BC2 gaming and most importantly Flight Sim X  ^.^ However, I am very picky with having everything on highest possible settings with highest possible FPS I normally freak out when it drops below 50FPS lool.

"RAM- just go with 6gb for now (can assure you it works great) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286   - sorry 7-8-7-20 (even better than mine @ 8-8-8-24)"

what if I decided to buy another set of these in the future, wouldnt I benefit instead of having the 12GB kit of XMS3 with timings of 9? I believe it would kill the motherboar and any possiblities of overclocking, am I wrong?
I thought 6GB sucked for gaming? I thought everybody would be at 12GB or at least 8GB. I'm surprised!

If I went for the Xm3 kit of 12GB how badly would it limit my overclocking you guys think assuming I am trying to reach hardcore overclocks?

no the only benifit you would have with going with cas 9 timmings is there probaly a bit cheaper. the lower the timming the faster the ram. if your gamming get 6gb period. no need at all for anymore - trust me.

Just to know, Can I do two sets of  2gbx3 7-8-7-20 without a problem?

Ok I'm gonna go with the 6GB of 7-8-7-20 XMS3s but what if in the future I buy another set of 7-8-7-20 XMs3 and put them together to add 12GB wouldnt this be better than the 12GB kit of XMS3s with slower speeds?
 

Airplanek8

Ok I'm gonna go with the 6GB of 7-8-7-20 XMS3s but what if in the future I buy another set of 7-8-7-20 XMs3 and put them together to add 12GB wouldnt this be better than the 12GB kit of XMS3s with slower speeds?

yes 100%