One of the bigger components is now purchased: the motherboard. Originally, one my very first dream PC post, I had talked about going the EVGA route, but after a so-so comment by a friend on the concerned brand, I decided on a dime to ditch the whole EVGA thing and buy an XFX mobo, which despite being 30 dollars more expensive had a lesser 680i LT chipset, but was supposed to be of bulletproof quality. Later, after knowing that many homies from DIC used and greatly praised their EVGA components, I decided that their opinions, forged from usage and not rumor, was probably worth more. Under their encouragements, I purchased this 680i SE SLI motherboard. Bascially, it has everything that I need: the kickass 680i chipset, high definition audio, SLI compatibility, and a very reasonable price, at under 230 $CAD shipped.

Other than that, I also notice the support for other kickass features, such as dual RJ-45 jacks, which is supposed to reduce my ping by lots since it uses one RJ for income and one RJ for outgoing, and lots and lots of SATA ports for all my storage needs. The chipset is also passively cool with a really cool nVidia branded heatsink, with the option of adding a fan. PLUS, it fits my black and blue color scheme!!! :)

Like all the rest of the this box, I’ll have to wait the interminable two weeks for paypal and shipping. Good thing is, my next pay check will be the one that pays my e6600 and Seagate 7200.10. After all that remains to be bought is my 8800 GTS, and that probably won’t be until early December or Christmas, so I’ll probably steal a Geforce 6 from a friend or something in the meanwhile.

Next up: RAM!