Asus P5B or Gigabyte 965P-DS3?

[NTB]

Going to order parts for a new PC tommorow, but I'm still going back and forth on which motherboard to get; right now I'm leaning toward getting the P5B. Thought I'd post here to get some opinions, too. Here's what I'm looking at:

Intel Core2 Duo E4400 (2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
2x1GB DDR2-800 (Transcend JetRam)
80GB 7200RPM WD SATA hard drive for the boot/program drive
500GB 7200RPM WD SATA hard drive for storage
CoolerMaster Centurion 534-B case
Scythe S-flex 120mm fans for case & CPU cooling
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU heatsink
50mm fan for Northbridge, if needed
Fortron-Source Bluestorm II 500W PSU
XFX Geforce 8600GT video card
Sony/NEC 18x SATA DVD/CD burner

EDIT: forgot a couple things: Sound will be either the built-in sound or my old SB Audigy, and I am thinking about getting a WinTV HDTV tuner (model # 1600), as well.

Nathan

 

[Xvys]

I bought a DS3 and had it for one day then took it back and got an Asus P5B, which was the same cost on sale. The DS3 had several issues, like the LAN connection not working, ect. I had always bought Asus but decided to try the DS3 because of its features and reasonable price. I soon realized I missed the Asus stability and superior implementation on many levels. I'm sure there are many people who love their DS3's and they can be paragon's of computing, just like many Asus fans feel about P5B. But there is a good reason why Asus is by far the No. 1 retail m/b manufacturer. Asus has pretty good m/b support with frequent bios upgrades, even on the base P5B model I have.
...This is sort of like buying a Toyota over a Mitsubishi. You pays your money and takes your chances. I built my P5B/E6300 system and it worked perfectly right out of the box, which is more than I could say for the DS3. My E6300 system runs at 470FSB (3300MHz) at stock 1.32v and o/c's to over 525FSB x 7 = 3675MHz on air...

p.s. the on-board sound of my P5B was incredibly bad, even using optical outputs...very muffled and dead sounding. My $25 Soundblaster Audigy SE is so far superior it ain't funny, although other P5B models have different sound chips.

Prices are dropping rapidly for the P5B as most new builders are going for the P35, or whatever, which can run the new cpu's and can o/c higher. In this range I would recommend the P5B Deluxe or the newer P5B Plus. My P5B is also perfectly acceptable and can be had for near $100 now.

----------------------------------------------
Asus P5B/E6300 @ 3300MHz 1.32v / 2 x 1G Crucial 10th Anniversary 4-4-4-12 @ 940MHz 2.0v / ATI X800XL / Seagate 250G / Hec AcePower 420w

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Xvys
p.s. the on-board sound of my P5B was incredibly bad, even using optical outputs...very muffled and dead sounding. My $25 Soundblaster Audigy SE is so far superior it ain't funny, although other P5B models have different sound chips.

audigy it is for the sound, then

 

[SerpentRoyal]

The P5B Deluxe is a nice board, but it uses a lot of electricity. C1E/EIST didn't work well for me (clean install with latest drivers from Intel). The fan speed control was also spotty.

I recently switched to an Abit IP35-E. This board should keep up with the P5B Deluxe in the overclocking department. Note that this is a basic overclocking board without the bells and whistles.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2063989&enterthread=y