headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 Well, I wound up toasting the ultra-d from a faulty Seasonic S-12 600w psu, so I'm looking to replace it. Question is: should I go with the SLI Expert? I understand it provides a better layout for addons, i.e, vid cooling, cpu cooling, etc, if that's correct. I have opted for a different psu (see sig), which should handle the requirements. Can anyone give me the pros & cons of either board taking in consideration that: 1. I don't necessarily need sli, but may reconsider later on. 2. All the other components in my sig are fine. 3. I am determined to oc this baby. Been running stock on all parts since Jan06. This rig will be used mainly for video/photo/music editing. The gaming rig will come next. Any good input is appreciated. headlokd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest erico Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 It will all depend on your confidence and level of experience. The "Expert" is not an easy MOBO to get up and running, but well worth the results should you choose it. A wise thing to do would be to do a search in the forum here or elsewhere for the combination of MOBO and DRAM that you wish to use and see what kind of successes other forum members have had. Now that will help you to make an "informed choice" on your own. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 Both good choices. Looking at your sig, if you get the Expert you should be good to go. Giving pros and cons is kinda difficult, Expert does have a much better layout and more room to work with. The RAM slots are positioned in the rear to help get the warm air they create moved out of the case better. Expert has more RAID options and more sata ports iirc. Expert "may" give the user a higher stable overclock that ultra-d. These are just a few of my opinions that lean towards getting an Expert. Experts are not any more difficult to get up and running as long as you have some good RAM, which you appear to have in your G.SKILL HZs. Good luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 "The "Expert" is not an easy MOBO to get up and running, but well worth the results should you choose it." My skill level is not great, and I guess I'm not willing to spend days on tweaks to get that satisfaction. After all, this will be my main box for the reasons mentioned in op. But, thanks for your response! I guess I should have mentioned that I need to decide quickly, because I'm using the wife's old rig to be here and it's slow (note to self: build wife new computer). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasr Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 I agree your components are a wining combination for the Expert. Good PSU and good RAM G.Skill F1-HZ. So if you feel confident go for the Expert. The egg has it for $129. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 @Kingfisher Thank you. I think you gave me some good points to consider. Although I may not immediately hit the oc goldspot, I wanted to know which gave me better options. Thanks to both of you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoetuS Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 It will all depend on your confidence and level of experience. The "Expert" is not an easy MOBO to get up and running, but well worth the results should you choose it. I'll have to disagree with you on this. I thought the Expert was very easy to get up and running and many (probably most) others have had an easy time with it as well. I never had any problems getting it going, nor have I had any problems with it at all in the ~10 months that I have owned it. Keep in mind that the Expert was the first DFI board I had ever used. The only thing that will really hold you back with the Expert is poor quality components - and you don't have to worry about that at all. As for the RAM, It will work just fine with the expert (as a matter of fact, I am using the same ram). I see no reason to get the Ultra-D again, you have already used that board, might as well 'upgrade' and play with a new one. Get the Expert, You'll like it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 @tasr Ok, it's a deal I'll go with. I'm pressing the button on the Expert. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 Let us know how things turn out, if you need any assitance folks here always will be glad to help. While the Egg is preparing your order, you may want to do a little homework in the stock speeds database. Grab some timings from folks who have your RAM, I am almost positive there are several entries in there using HZs. It's always a good idea to start with stock settings on an expert and then you can work on how high your ceiling will be. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 Whoa! Just did a price check & discovered Ewiz has what appears to be a better deal on the Expert here They also appear to have good ratings on service. I've never dealt with them. Anyone care to comment on this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoetuS Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 I have bought from them a couple of times and generally I think that they are OK. I won't do business with them anymore because they burned me on a motherboard RMA. I am not saying that you shouldn't buy from them or that you have anything to worry about, I am just telling you why I won't give them my business. Ultimately you know that you will receive excellent CS from DFI if anything should go wrong, so you might as well save yourself the $20... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
headlokd Posted December 20, 2006 Posted December 20, 2006 Ultimately you know that you will receive excellent CS from DFI if anything should go wrong, so you might as well save yourself the $20... I'm with u on that. Thanks all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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