Bad Axe 2, eVGA 680i or DFI R600?

[Nuance]

I am looking for a stable motherboard that I can reach a 400 FSB on running 1:1 memory and a E6600. I will be mounting an air cooler such as the Tuniq or Thermaltake Ultra-120.

Which motherboard do you all recommend for stability and convenience? Does the new revision of the eVGA 680i still have those capacitors on the back of the board that could interfere with the mounting bracket from a Tuniq or Thermalright?

Any info you can give me would be most helpful. It's really tough choosing!

Thank you!

 

[tuteja1986]

My Gigabyte DS3P could do that easy... its doing 500FBS 1:1. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=2017813

Gigabyte 965P DS3 3.3v = can do that easy and i think its overall the best overclocking for the price/performance. So if you were looking for an awesome high quality board than DS3 is for you.
DFI R600 = can do that easy. If you were willing to spend $$$ then would be an awesome oc board.
evga 680i = could do it but i ain't fan of that board unless your SLI mad then go for it otherwise buy something else
bad Axe 2 = can do that easy


As for cooling :
Tuniq = awesome cooler that comes with everything you need but the fan gets real nosiy at 2000rpm
Scythe S-Flex 120mm fan + Termalright Ultra 120 = better cooling than Tuniq and much quiter than than Tuniq and almost ever cooler at full load.

 

[brencat]

Gigabyte 965P DS3 3.3v = can do that easy and i think its overall the best overclocking for the price/performance.

Agree with above comment, provided you don't need RAID or dual vid cards.

Also consider Asus P5B Deluxe and Abit Quad GT (if they ever release a new bios), both for ~ $180ish which will give you RAID, more bios options, more fan headers, and dual vid card support.

But if it had to be only out of the three you mentioned in your OP, I'd take the new Rev A1 eVGA

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: brencat

Gigabyte 965P DS3 3.3v = can do that easy and i think its overall the best overclocking for the price/performance.

Agree with above comment, provided you don't need RAID or dual vid cards.

Also consider Asus P5B Deluxe and Abit Quad GT (if they ever release a new bios), both for ~ $180ish which will give you RAID, more bios options, more fan headers, and dual vid card support.

But if it had to be only out of the three you mentioned in your OP, I'd take the new Rev A1 eVGA

Meh that Evga 680I aint all that great, i just picked up that board today and will be returning it tomorrow.

 

[hardwareking]

Actually rev 3.3 of the DS3 has 2 physical pci-e 16x slots which support crossfire.But i believe there isn't raid
Other than that if u can find a rev 3.3 DS3,u can't go wrong with it

 

[CP5670]

DFI R600 = can do that easy. If you were willing to spend $$$ then would be an awesome oc board.

What happpened to this board anyway? It's been out for a while now, but nobody says much about it anymore despite all the hype leading up to its release.

 

[tuteja1986]

lol its an awesome board but DFI screwed up by not putting heat pipe cooling ... The north bridge gets way too hot so you can not obtain supper awesome overclocking result that board can offer. You can solve this problem by installing after math cooling on the north bridge.

 

[Nuance]

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Meh that Evga 680I aint all that great, i just picked up that board today and will be returning it tomorrow.

Care to elaborate? There are 4 versions of the eVGA motherboard available - yours was the A1? What was wrong with it and what system hardware do you have?

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Nuance

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Meh that Evga 680I aint all that great, i just picked up that board today and will be returning it tomorrow.

Care to elaborate? There are 4 versions of the eVGA motherboard available - yours was the A1? What was wrong with it and what system hardware do you have?

Yep it was A1, Well i didnt really care for the price considering my biostar does just as good. The only thing i liked about it was the way you were able to keep your memory at 800mhz and still run the cpu at 3.4ghz. oh yeah and the fan is freakin loud on the chipset.