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Can you recommend a good Intel C2D motherboard for around $130?

Sulaco

Sulaco

Diamond Member
Hey guys,

I'm building myself a new gaming PC here in the next week or two. Most of my components are coming along nicely, but I'm utterly lost when it comes to good socket 775 motherboards. FWIW, this is my first Intel build in over a decade. I've only built AMD systems since before the Athlon XP days, so I'm unsure what's best in this arena.

Here's my needs:

--I plan on running a C2D E8500 or E8600, with 4 gigs of RAM.

--I'm not big on overclocking, but a little room would be nice.

--I'm planning on using onboard sound, but will definitely have a video card (so no onboard GPU, thanks)

--Reliable (as best anyone can judge)

--Hopefully no more than around $135? Or less?


Again, I don't need too much out of this board besides reliability and decent onboard sound for around $130 or less.

Can anyone recommend some good places to start? Any builder's guides or motherboard/system comparisons would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: If something is clearly better all-around in the $150 range, I'll consider it.
 
gigabyte ep45-ud3p is a FANTASTIC value and is $136 before rebate on newegg. this board competes with $300 boards as far as overclocking is concerned, can support crossfire, has 8 sata ports and is raid capable. this board has been shown to be stable with quadcores at 500fsb+. this is one of the best value boards i have seen.
 
Originally posted by: jeffw2767602
gigabyte ep45-ud3p is a FANTASTIC value and is $136 before rebate on newegg. this board competes with $300 boards as far as overclocking is concerned, can support crossfire, has 8 sata ports and is raid capable. this board has been shown to be stable with quadcores at 500fsb+. this is one of the best value boards i have seen.
Click to expand...

+1

I read reviews on this board, and jeffw is right. Absolutely fantastic.

Mine should be arriving today 🙂
 
Thanks for the responses guys!

I will definitely look into both the Gigabye board and the Asus.

Much appreciated!
 
FWIW, I'm thinking about building up an identical system in the next few weeks, and after doing some research, I'm considering the p5Q Pro and the Gigabyte ep45-ud3R. The ud3R is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128359

As far as I can tell, the ud3R only differs from the ud3P in not having a second PCIe slot for crossfire. Others can correct me if I'm wrong.

If you can buy from Newegg, check out the fantastic combo deal they have on the p5Q Pro and an e8400:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131299

Both for $250 before rebate - can't be beat, I'd say.
 
Forgive me, but I am a relative noob who is also looking at these two boards, plus the ds3l.

What is the difference b/w the P5Q Pro and the UD3R? The specs say that the P5Q Pro has less supported memory at a little lower slower speed (1233+ v 800) and 2 fewer USB slots, but has one more PCI 2.0 slot.

1) What does the mean practically for someone who wants to OC and doesn't need two videocards, and

2) What are the differences b/w the boards p5qpro, ud3r, and ds3l that the specs don't tell us?

Sorry for jumping in on this conversation but I thought the questions might help us both.

Thanks in advance!

 
The UD3R is made with 2oz of copper in the PCB, instead of 1oz. I don't know too much about it, but that is what their marketing team is promoting. It must have something to do with the stability of these motherboards, because these are some of the only boards I have seen hit 525FSB with a quad core CPU. The UD3R is the best value of the bunch by far, but all of those motherboards are okay. The DS3L is probably the worst of the bunch.
 
I recommend the UD3R as well if you not interested in dolby, 2nd video card slot and dual lan over the UD3P.
 
I have a UD3P and I love it. Dolby Home Theater is great and I love having DD Live. DD Live never worked well on my X-fi.
 
I have the same issue...Gigabyte UD3R or P or ASUS P5Q Pro or Deluxe. HOWEVER, I have read a lot of forums and see that there is much more support from forums on ASUS than Gigabyte. In fact, Gigabyte has no forum of their own. ASUS releases new BIOS often and Gigabyte seems not to. Someone said on a different forum that their UD3P (or R?) would not wake up when they wanted it to resume after sleep. Others said it was a known issue and that they hoped it would be fixed in BIOS. I did want to try the UD3R, as I too have no need for dual LAN and Video, but I am just not sure!

P.S. I was looking for an E8400/E8500 as well and wonder if I can now assume it would be E0 from Newegg, or does it not matter!
 
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