Which Motherboard?

JDD

Member
Hi guys, I'm thinking of placing an order for a new desktop from PCS (first impressions of PCS are great BTW) but a quick question first... can someone tell me the difference between the ASUS P6X58D-E and P6X58D-Premium motherboards? I understand that there is a difference with the PCI ports but I'm not really sure what that might mean to me and therefore I'm not able to work out whether the extra £90 for the premium board is something that will offer value/benefit to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Gorman

Author Level
Hi JDD and welcome!

The difference as you suspect is the amount and type of ports on the mobo.

Its only worth the extra cash if you need the extra slots etc. Most dont.
 

JDD

Member
You see, this may not be an official support channel but with prompt responses like that there are many other companies with so called "official" channels that could learn from you! Can you give me just a little more detail? I know that PCI-E is basically a faster and more modern version of the older PCI connectors on the mobo but I don't know if the P6X58D-E uses the newer or older connectors or how the configuration of the machine I'm about to order would make use of these ports? I'm looking to build a fast PC for processing digital photo's and videos and, as far as it's possible to do, build a PC that isn't obsolete by this time next week. At the moment I'm looking at i7-950 Quad core, 1Gb GTX465 Graphic card, 12Gb 1600Mhz RAM; 1 x 160 Gb SSD + 2 x 1Tb WD Caviar Green Hard drives.
 

Gorman

Author Level
heres a rundown of the two boards:

P6X58D-E

This motherboard supports the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors in LGA1366 package with integrated memory controller to support 3-channel (6 DIMMs) DDR3 memory. It also supports Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) with a system bus of up to 6.4 GT/s and a max bandwidth of up to 25.6 GB/s. Intel® Core™ i7 processor is one of the most powerful and energy efficient CPUs in the world.

The P6X58D-E breaks the boundaries to bring you the multi-GPU choice of either SLI™ or CrossFireX. The motherboard features a dedicated graphics engine on the most powerful Intel X58 platform to optimize PCIe allocation in multiple GPU configurations. Expect a brand-new gaming style you've never experienced before!

Chipset Intel® X58
RAM Slots 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Expansion Slots 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x8/x8 or x16/x16/x1 mode)
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
SATA Ports 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, 2 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports
USB Ports 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
Networking Gigabit LAN controller
Audio Realtek® ALC889 8-Channel High Definition Audio

Premium version:

This motherboard supports the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors in LGA1366 package with integrated memory controller to support 3-channel (6 DIMMs) DDR3 memory. Supports Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) with a system bus of up to 6.4 GT/s and a max bandwidth of up to 25.6 GB/s. Intel® Core™ i7 processor is one of the most powerful and energy efficient CPUs in the world.


Chipset Intel X58
RAM Slots 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Expansion Slots 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
SATA Ports 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, 2 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports
USB Ports 8 x USB 2.0 (4 ports at midboard; 4 ports at back panel)
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (at back panel)
Networking Dual Gigabit LAN controllers
Audio Realtek® ALC889 8-Channel High Definition Audio

So the main difference to my mind is the speed of PCI-E (mainly graphics cards use these) slots.

Post me a budget and exactly what the machine will be used for and i will reply with a spec. Please include wether it will be for gaming as well :)
 

Shibin

Enthusiast
Dude that setup definitely wont be obsolete by next week, seems like a really good and solid setup. Also the mobo has 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 which is the latest version you can get,unless you count the 2.1. Your 460 would be using this port and i guess if u wanted to sli it would be a good mobo. Anyway good luck :D

edit:gorman beat me to answering while i was typing...=(. Gorman is soo pro
 

JDD

Member
Hi, the spec that I am looking at is as shown below (although I may now select the std motherboard rather than the premium). The machine is nothing more than a home server which I will be using for processing digital photographs and videos as well as for business (office use). I think the machine that I have spec'd below is already more than I actually need (although I could improve the graphics card). Above all else I want a fast and quiet machine and have been working to a budget of around £2k but if the benefits are there I can up this slightly. I am not looking for a gaming machine and I don't (currently) see a need to add any additional monitors. Thanks for your help and let me know if you need any more info.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D PREMIUM: DDR3, USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
12GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (6 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX465 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
160GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 100MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£89)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI EXPRESS CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA B2712HDS 27" WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£249)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Cordless Desktop Wave™ Laser Mouse & Keyboard Combo (£48)
Surge Protection
Belkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector with £25,000 Protection! (Special Offer £6)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,968.00 including VAT and delivery.
 

JDD

Member
Hi Shibin, thanks for your response and for putting a smile on my face "...Dude that setup definitely wont be obsolete...". Full spec is below and I'd still welcome your comments before I hit the order button.
 

Gorman

Author Level
Case
COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6T WS PROFESSIONAL: NEW ERA CORE i7 WORKSTATION
Memory (RAM)
12GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
PNY QUADRO FX580 512MB GDDR3, CUDA ENABLED - 2 x DP, 1 x DVI-I
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 285MB/sR | 275MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£89)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1366 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA B2712HDS 27" WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£249)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Cordless Desktop Wave™ Laser Mouse & Keyboard Combo (£48)
Surge Protection
Belkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector with £25,000 Protection! (Special Offer £6)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,785.00 including VAT and delivery.

This spec is purely about "processing digital photographs and videos as well as for business (office use)".

It will beat the snot out of the previous spec which was based on gaming machine ideals, be almost silent, cost less and allow for a lot of expansion in the future.
 

JDD

Member
Wow thanks. I need to take a look at that. Just one question...other than cost why 1333Mhz memory rather than the 1600Mhz that I originally spec'd?
 

Gorman

Author Level
If you could record the difference in performance between 1333 and 1600 i would applaud you. It makes for an easier overclock and thats about it. 1333 tends to be more stable and costs less, its a winner.
 
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