Best gaming Mobo

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

Plumcuda1

Senior member
Jan 1, 2005
911
0
0
Going to be putting together a new gaming system and looking for a good mobo. Probably couldnt bring myself to spend more than $200 on a board ... but who knows.

And if it matters here are a few pieces that will be in the system

Q6600
Either 2x8600GTS 512's or 1x 8800GTS 640
4 gbs of Crucial Bllistics ddr2 pc800

Then the usual stuff ....


oh and this is the board I have been considering ..

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
 
P

Pez D Spencer

Banned
Nov 22, 2005
401
0
0
That's the board I have. Been running it about 2 weeks now without a hitch. At the advice of other owners on the EVGA forums I replaced the paste on the chipset with Ceramique. The stock paste was GOBBED on there. Apparently the problems a lot of people were having was attributed to poor application of paste on the chipset. I also replaced the tape on the mosfets with Ceramique because some people were also having problems in that area.

The other morning I woke up and when I turned the PC on I got a POST message that said something about the CPU frequency being out of spec (I don't remember exactly what it said I was half asleep). The strange thing is that I hadn't been fooling with the FSB speed at all. Until I get my Q6600 I'm still running my old P4 530 in it and I OC'd the P4 a little but since it's a prescott and I'm still running the stock cooler it was getting pretty toasty so I put it all back several days before getting this message. This kind of worried me, but I figure EVGA has such a great RMA service that if it goes belly up I can just send it back.

Also I'm not sure if they're still doing it, but when I registered my mobo with EVGA they have this Advanced RMA thing where they'll cross ship you a new board and as long as they get the old board back within 14 days of filing the RMA they won't charge you for the new board. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

But yeah, I'm not a guru and don't have as much experience as some of the guys on these forums, but I'd reccomend going with that board.

 
B

brencat

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2007
2,170
3
76
If you decide to go with only 1 vid card, you can save yourself a bit of cash by going with a good P35 mobo. Take a look at the Abit IP35 series, Gigabyte P35 DS3R, and Asus P5K-E. Just released also is the DFI Infinity P35 T2RL "Blood Iron" for ~ $140
 
Aharami

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Im sorry, but what's a P35 board? Been a while since I did any research on motherboards and trying to catch up on new tech for my upcoming build

edit. nvm. found out what it is. just a chipset
 
N

nyker96

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
5,630
2
81
just get a nice P35 board like the blood iron one mentioned above will serve you well.
 
L

Laminator

Senior member
Jan 31, 2007
852
2
91
Anyone know anything about the P5N32-E SLI? How does it compare to the eVGA 680i board?
 
C

Cutthroat

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2002
1,104
0
0
I used to have a P5N32-E SLI, I killed it with a bad BIOS flash. It was a good board, almost identical to the Striker Extreme without a couple of fancy useless things the Striker Extreme has. Some software would mistake it for a Striker Extreme even. However, I prefer my new Asus P5K Deluxe.
 
C

Cutthroat

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2002
1,104
0
0
Originally posted by: Plumcuda1
So is the evga card that I mentioned a waste of money for a single 8800GTS?
Click to expand...

Yes, if you are not going to go with SLI you should be getting a cheaper but better P35 based motherboard.
 
P

Plumcuda1

Senior member
Jan 1, 2005
911
0
0
would I ever need 2 8800 GTS's? if so, wouldnt it be cheaper in the long run to have the other board?
 
B

brencat

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2007
2,170
3
76
My personal opinion is that very few people will ever use 2 vid cards. It's mostly a marketing gimick. Ask yourself...1 year from now will you really add a second 8800 GTS in there, when the latest and greatest card at that time will almost definitely be 100% faster? You'll sell your existing card or hand it down, and go buy the new one.

Hence, save yourself some money and skip the 680i board and go with a cheaper and less buggy P35 that overclocks just as good.
 
D

drakore

Senior member
Aug 15, 2006
449
0
0
SLI then 680i chipset.

NON-SLi then P35.

For P35 boards:

Abit IP35-E
Gigabyte DS3R
DFI Infinity Blood Iron

I wouldn't bother with the ASUS P5K series.
 
S

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: brencat
My personal opinion is that very few people will ever use 2 vid cards. It's mostly a marketing gimick. Ask yourself...1 year from now will you really add a second 8800 GTS in there, when the latest and greatest card at that time will almost definitely be 100% faster? You'll sell your existing card or hand it down, and go buy the new one.

Hence, save yourself some money and skip the 680i board and go with a cheaper and less buggy P35 that overclocks just as good.
Click to expand...

P35 overclocks better than 650i/680i. Also requires less Vcore for the same core speed.

 
P

Pwntcomputer

Senior member
Oct 6, 2005
273
0
0
overclocking is actually easy if you just do a little research. I have a very modest OC (CPU limited), but I notice a performance difference. DO IT!
 
P

Plumcuda1

Senior member
Jan 1, 2005
911
0
0
Originally posted by: nyker96
just get a nice P35 board like the blood iron one mentioned above will serve you well.
Click to expand...

If I dont go with that board ...

other suggestions?

The mobo is the last piece I need. The vendor I use doesnt have the Blood Iron board ... so I need a GOOD mobo option tonight.

Thanks!
 
5

5t3v0

Senior member
Dec 22, 2005
508
0
0
P35C-DS3R if you dont need 2 x PCI-E 16x, firewire & 1T command rate (limitation of all P35 I believe). You get 8 SATA2 ports with RAID, a reasonable sound card and upgrade opportunities with 45nm cpu support & 2xDDR3 slots. Plus it overclocks like a dream. And it cost $140 here in the UK and is probably a lot cheaper is the US.
 
H

Heidfirst

Platinum Member
May 18, 2005
2,015
0
0
P35 mobo & an 8800.
the abits & Gigabytes are a known quantity & appear pretty solid - I keep seeing a lot of niggles posted about the Asus P5K series.
the DFIs have potential but there isn't a lot of feedback yet from retail boards.
 
P

Plumcuda1

Senior member
Jan 1, 2005
911
0
0
Well trying to get that DFI blood iron board .... but the distributor that the company that is building my pc .... is waiting for them to come in. I know newegg has them ... but not a huge rush and it is a friend of mine that owns the company so I want to give him the business. BUT ... if the DFI board does not come in on Monday ... I will get this http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16813128047
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom