Best Motherboard for Conroe (Under $200)

[crazydingo]

I'm looking to upgrade my old faithful PC and going with a Conroe based rig.

What is the best motherboard out there for Conroe right now? And which one is the best bang for buck (>$200) ?

Currently I can get MSI 975 Platinum for 200 bucks and Gigabyte DS3 for 150. From what I have read so far, both boards have their own share of problems/issues.

Thanks for the advice. :beer:

 

[slpaulson]

Do you need SLI or crossfire?

 

[lopri]

P5B-Deluxe non-wireless version. But if your choice of CPU is E6600/E6700 you might want to consider spending $20 extra towards P5W-DH.

 

[crazydingo]

Originally posted by: cRazYdood
Do you need SLI or crossfire?

I dont need it. I dont mind having an extra PCIe slot.

Originally posted by: lopri
P5B-Deluxe non-wireless version. But if your choice of CPU is E6600/E6700 you might want to consider spending $20 extra towards P5W-DH.

That is as costly as the MSI 975 Platinum. Is it worth it?

I'm planning on getting a 6300 and do some oc, nothing extreme. 🙂

I just want to bide my time till Kentsfield comes to the midrange segment, some time early next year. So should I be looking at things like 1033FSB and DDR800 support?

 

[you2]

Define best. Probably the pb5-e has the best cost to feature ratio. Does that make it best ?

 

[Icepick]

Originally posted by: you2
Define best. Probably the pb5-e has the best cost to feature ratio. Does that make it best ?

QFT

 

[crazydingo]

P5B-E looks great value, will definitely consider it.

Also I was reading Anandtech's High-end buying guide and they recommended the MSI 975X. :Q http://anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2852&p=4

Coming back to my earlier question, is it worth paying the same price for a 965 board (Asus P5B Deluxe) when you can get a 975 motherboard?

Also when is BadAxe2 hitting retail?

Thanks for all the help. 🙂

 

[ChiPCGuy]

ASUS P5B-E, unless you need to take your RAM past 2.1v.

 

[crazydingo]

Is it worth paying the same price for a 965 board (Asus P5B Deluxe) when you can get a 975 motherboard?

Anyone?