Hey.

I'm having trouble settling down on a motherboard I like. I was originally going to go with an EVGA nForce 750i FTW, but then I heard that there are some issues involving the chipset and video corruption. My initial thought was to go to the 780i FTW, but I read from one poster (dif forum) that the issue exists on the 780i as well. Then I felt like going with an ASUS + Intel chipset. The price was higher, but I'm having some doubts about that because I'm beginning to wonder if the EVGA would be better suited for an GeForce graphics card.

So, in addition to any comments/advice on the above, I have three questions:
1. Will an ASUS + Intel mobo work as well with GeForce cards as an EVGA + Nvidia mobo will?

2. Does the EVGA nForce 780i FTW indeed have the same issues with video corruption as the 750i?

3. Is the problem with the EVGA mobo still existent with a GTX 280 card? I've heard of the problem happening with lots of different cards, but I don't think anyone mentioned a 200 series card.

Please and thank you!

Do you plan SLI?

EDIT: It doesn't matter at all to have a Geforce card on a Nforce/Intel chipset (or ATI chipset for that matter).

what is your budget? i assume if you are considering a gtx280 you have some moeny for your mobo??

+1 to bruce as far as it not mattering if you have Asus + Intel. non issue.

I'm only getting one card at the moment, but eventually I'd like to take advantage of SLI.

But so you're saying that the chipset you use has no bearing on the performance of the cards? If so, I'll prob stick with ASUS. I could check to see if 780i doesn't have the video issue (because it's a bit cheaper than the Asus i picked), but I hear asus + intel is better anyway, so I'll probably stick with that.

I heard from someone that nForce chipsets are better with SLI, but is that even true, and if so, how much of a benefit would I get if ever do decide to use SLI? Or does the "chipset makes no difference statement" apply here too?

EDIT: I have no precise budget limit, but I don't want to spend money on something if the benefit isn't worth it.

You need a nforce chipset to do SLI, that's why I ask. But if your buying a GTX 280 now and don't plan on SLI'ing for a while than you'll probably wait just long enough to where it won't be feasable to get SLI and it'll be cheaper and less power to get that performance with the new single card at that time.

EDIT: The age old question, what monitor are you going to be using?

I personally have the EVGA nForce 780i FTW. I tried a few Asus 780i products, but they each had multiple problems. After I got my board from eVGA, I have had no problems with it at all. I am running a gt280 and a Q9550. The Dummy OC feature in the Evga BIOS allows an OC of up to 25%...without fault. From my experience, I'll be sticking with eVGA for a looong time to come. They seem to be one step above the rest.

Have you ever heard of any video corruption issues with that board? Most of the complaints I read were about the 750i, but like I said, one guy said it was the same thing with the 780i.

The fact that you're using a gtx280 slightly supports my guess that the problem might not occur with 200 series cards. What do you with your PC? (i.e., gaming, video editing, to what degree?) and how long have you had it?

Also, ignoring my idea about the problem not occurring with a 200 series, would you recommend the gtx280 over the 9800 gx2 (as far as the improvement in performance compared to the extra cost)?

@bruce: Oh, so you absolutely need an nForce chip to use SLI? I'm not sure exactly what monitor I'll be using, but why is it important? As far as size I'd judge around 20".

the reason he asks is resolution will determine what video card you need and if sli will make any difference. if you are using a 20" screen then you don't need to sli. the 280 will be plenty. in fact you could save $ with the 4870 or even the gtx 260 or 4850 for that matter and get great performance on that screen. where the beefier (read more $$) cards shine and where crossfire or sl is of greater need is when you are 1920x1200 or higher. so you are looking typically at 24" monitor or so.

Unless you want to use a cracked bios with no support to get the Intel Chipset do SLI its just worth it so you should get the nforce board.

Why I ask about the monitor is for the resolution sake. Taking Crysis out of the equation there's allot of cheaper cards that the GTX 280 that will run all the games maxed out at your monitors highest resolution. So if you get a single 280 with no need to get SLI at all you can happily get a Intel chipset if thats what you want.

EDIT: Thanks bdollar, you beat me while I was replying. What he said.

Hmm... ok. Well, I could imagine myself getting a 24 inch. Honestly I'm not too sure because I haven't been into PC gaming (due to my uber fail graphics cards). I'd still feel safer going with a config that could support SLI. Then again, I'm almost certainly not planning on getting 2 cards at the moment, so I guess I could upgrade my mobo along with a 2nd video card if the time comes that I want to use SLI.

I have heard of issues, but I haven't seen any personally. I went from eVGA's 780i board to the 780i FTW. In both boards I never had any problem. The only reason that I did the change was for the ease of OCing my CPU. I have a few friends that do some gaming. Two of them have the 780i FTW board and they love it as well. I have personally had the 780i FTW for almost a month and a half now.

The only games I play are Crysis, Bioshock, WoW, UT3...and a few other random games. I also do some very basic video editing with Sony Vegas and Adobe.

One of my friends has a 9800gx2, but as far as I know, he has never had any video corruption issues. I personally would have a hard time buying a slightly older card like the 9800 series over the newer 200 series...but that is just me. It is also very easy to OC the GT280 using the software from Nvidia's website. Never hurts to get a little more juice out of the system.

Back to what I said before, don't plan on SLI then. By the time you want more horsepower it would be smarter to beef up your computer with the latest graphics card out there rather than trying to find another GTX 280 to sli (Nvidia's going to stop making these ASAP).

You don't need that horsepower now and by the time you do all the mainstream cards will be as fast as your single card now and its really easy/ cheaper and less power to get that SLI performance out of your machine by buying some of the new products that are out there.

But if you want, get a nforce chipset, just don't make the decicion upon it just to SLI in the future. Hell it could very well be (like it is right now) a better idea to get a good Intel Chipset so you can Crossfire in the future.

I've got a 790i with a GX2, and don't have any (non Creative) problems with the mobo. They tend to oveclock well after the 780i model as well.

And just so you know, its funner to buy more components more often than blowing your wad all at once and having to live with it for a long time.

Um, wait, so you think I should get nForce? Little confused there...

Well, if you have played Crysis I don't think your board' bad. I've heard people who just watch a video and get all messed up.

I think I'm leaning for the nForce right now. I haven't heard of the problems for the 780, and even less so for 200 series boards. Even if I'm not going to use SLI right now, I feel weird getting a board that doesn't support it. As I said, this is my entry into PC gaming, so I may find that I do want higher res monitors in the future.