I7 Recommendations

[tub210]

I have an Intel I7 920 processor, 12 GB of Corsair DDR3 Dominator RAM, and an EVGA GTX280 1 GB DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card.

I had a Gigabyte EX58-Extreme Motherboard that worked for about 5 months and then started video freezes and rebooting. I RMA'd the video card but have determined since getting the card back and testing other cards that is not the problem. Neither is RAM or processor. I have used another computer to test all of that.

Anyway, basically, I am looking for recommendations for another Motherboard. I wouldn't have another Gigabyte one if someone gave it to me since I can't even seem to get a response from them. Can anyone recommend a good Motherboard that will run well with my other components?

I am also running dual 24 inch monitors. Thanks for any help you can provide. Since I know everyone here plays EQ2 and ISXEQ2, wanted to check with people that know what is best for that.

Better, Valerian?

 

[Valerian]

Holy wall of text! Ever think of buying a keyboard that has an enter key?

As far as motherboard recommendations, I'll leave that for those hardware geeks in the community, they always seem to chime in when it's time for me to get an upgrade.

 

[tub210]

Sorry for originally running it all together, but I was just trying to get my thoughts out. If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it.

 

[Drift3r]

I've had very good luck with Asus. Sometimes I've had to flash the board to get to the latest and greatest BIOS but since you can do that online with Asus Bios tools its not been a big problem. That's my 2 cents.

 

[tub210]

Which ASUS board do you have? And thanks so much for the reply. I 5 or 6 box on my machine a lot, so I want something I can count on. Someone in my family had already suggested ASUS.

 

[Jazcat]

I wouldn't assume it's the motherboard so quickly, a lot of the time ram and/or cpu can fail only under heavy load or high temperatures.

I had some Corsair Dominator ram that only failed when it got warm, as a temporary fix i undervolted and underclocked to keep it working until i got some new sticks. You should try doing that on the ram then cpu and see if it's still failing before changing the board.

 

[tub210]

Well, I would agree with you if it was not for the fact that it can do this with only one instance open, and the case is extremely cool. I even tried changing the RAM and the CPU and it still did it, and it is almost immediate so it does not have time to heat up at all.

 

[Valerian]

From the person who has released the magic smoke from many... don't rule out the power supply.

 

[tub210]

Unfortunately, that is one of the things I have replaced, and now I am pretty certain that was a waste of money. It didn't change what was happening.

The only thing I have not replaced or checked is the hard drive. I don't believe the hard drive would cause what I have seen, but if anyone has seen hard machine lockups with color pixels across the screen due to a hard drive problem, please let me know.

 

[Valerian]

Ok, I wasn't saying it was THE SOLUTION, just that I've had a shitton of problems with power supplies and I know they can cause pretty much all the issues you described. As long as it's also ruled out, proceed with the motherboard discussion.

 

[tub210]

I totally understand. It definitely acts like a power or memory issue, but I have pretty much ruled them all out.

I would really love to hear what others are running as far as Motherboards. I want to get one that can do what I intended when I made my first purchase. I don't always box but I do spend a great deal of time with up to 6 characters logged in so I would really like to hear from people here since I know most do box multiple toons. I am a very frustrated female atm. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Jazcat]

Depends if you plan on overclocking or not, some boards support it better than others, some are designed for it.

If not then i'd stick with an ASUS or GIGABYTE basic board that meets your needs, just make sure its a relatively new model so i'll support the newer generation(and future) CPU's and RAM.

When i say basic model, do you really need 2 network cards with 2 WiFi controllers and an inbuilt raid controller? More than likely not, so just go for the entry level one.

Best thing you can do is go to the manufacturers sites and browse through their product range comparing features, they should all work well with EQ2 and windows 7.

 

[tub210]

Thanks, but already ordered the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2. Am really anxious to get everything up and running again because now I am really paranoid. I have never seen the problems I was having, and I am so afraid that something else will happen. Since I raid 4 times a week, I just couldn't keep doing it on the laptop. It is way too stressful.