Asus Striker Extreme, worth the cost? Input really appreciated.

[ZachBos]

<p>I know many of you have built your own systems and know much more about current hardware than I do, so here goes..</p><p>I'm building a system from scratch, and my only question mark is the mother board.  Any advice will be greatly appreciated.  Why am I doing this, might you ask?  Because I just loaded Vista Ultimate onto my current system (P4 3Ghz, 2GB Ram, Nvidia 6800) and it runs quite horribly.  I'm actually tempted to reload XP, but that's another story.</p><p>Is the Asus Striker Extreme worth the roughly $400.00 that it costs?  </p><p>Is the Nvidia 680i chipset really better than the Intel 975?</p><p>Is 677Mhz ram worth the extra cost?</p><p>Thanks, </p><p>--Maxx</p>

[Wingrider01]

<cite>ZachBos wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I know many of you have built your own systems and know much more about current hardware than I do, so here goes..</p><p>I'm building a system from scratch, and my only question mark is the mother board.  Any advice will be greatly appreciated.  Why am I doing this, might you ask?  Because I just loaded Vista Ultimate onto my current system (P4 3Ghz, 2GB Ram, Nvidia 6800) and it runs quite horribly.  I'm actually tempted to reload XP, but that's another story.</p><p>Is the Asus Striker Extreme worth the roughly $400.00 that it costs?  </p><p>Is the Nvidia 680i chipset really better than the Intel 975?</p><p>Is 677Mhz ram worth the extra cost?</p><p>Thanks, </p><p>--Maxx</p></blockquote><p>If you want to SLI then the 680i is the latest run in the intel line that can do it. I looked at the striker extreme and decided it was not work the cost for the bells and whistles - the ASUS p5n32-E is the same board minus the eye candy. Be aware the Plus version of this board is the 650I chipset, little less on the functionality and cheaper - make sure you compare the abilities. The EVGA, BFG and other 680I boards are pure reference board designs, that is their only difference and they are about 120 less then the P5n32-E. Although the p5n32-e is a tier 1 design, Asus took the reference board and added something that the others don;t have. I have the P5n32-E sli and will admit to issues with the board, but it was one of the first to hit the streets, ended up RMA'ing it to Asus and they sent me a later serial numbered board with a later version of the bios, it has been rock solid with Vista Ultimate since then.</p><p>The 680I is a very versitale chipset, especially if you like to overclock - it is picky on memory so make sure you get something that the board is listed as being available for. All in all, when I have to upgrade the second machine (which is soon) I will stay with the 680I chipset, I like the functionality of it </p>

[TSR-BradG]

<p>Hello <b>Wingrider01</b> , </p><p>Thanks for info, as always I found it very educational. </p>