Which Motherboard for Intel Q9300 Quad Core?

[shady]

I'm putting together a general purpose system that will have the guts for HD video editing. I'm planning on using two monitors.

I like the price of the Intel Quad Code Q9300 2.5 Ghz (been waiting a long time for these prices), so I'm thinking this will be the CPU for my system.

Now for my questions.

1. What is the best motherboard I can match with this chip?
2. Is DDR3 noticably better than DDR2? (with regrads video editing)
3. Will I need 2 graphics cards to drive both monitors? Any suggestions?

thanks in advance

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by shady I'm putting together a general purpose system that will have the guts for HD video editing. I'm planning on using two monitors. I like the price of the Intel Quad Code Q9300 2.5 Ghz (been waiting a long time for these prices), so I'm thinking this will be the CPU for my system. Now for my questions. What is the best motherboard I can match with this chip? Is DDR3 noticably better than DDR2? (with regrads video editing) Will I need 2 graphics cards to drive both monitors? Any suggestions? thanks in advance

1. Most motherboards using the P35, X38 or X48 chipsets will work fine. One of the best motherboards for a good price is the P5K-E, but any in the P5K line are good.

2. DDR3 isn't much better than DDR2 at this stage because not only does it have high latency, it can't be used to it's full potential by the current CPUs, processors such as the Phenom and the upcoming Nehalem can use DDR3 to its full potential. This is because the actual FSB of the Q9300 is 333MHz which is then quad pumped, the actual speed of 1333MHz Ram is 667MHz dual channel. You'll want to match the actual FSB to the actual speed of the Ram for best price and performance (although faster ram won't make it slower, you won't need the extra speed).

3. Pretty much all video cards support 2 or more monitors.