Core 2 & AM2 Motherboards - Recommendations

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xyyz

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
4,331
0
0
i'm so far outta' current hardware trends and tech, so correct me if i'm wrong, but SLI boards are either crossfire or nvidia sli right? anything out there compatible with both nvidia and ati cards?
 

Ygrec

Junior Member
Dec 27, 2007
11
0
0
Wow, renethx, what a great job! Thanks a lot, that's a lot of very useful information :).
Now perhaps you can help me decide - I've looked through many reviews, and all the great information you provided, but still can't choose the best mobo/CPU combination for low power consumption. Actually, I'm trying to figure out which chipset is the most energy efficient. I'm currently looking at Nvidia GeForce 7100/nforce 630i (Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H), Intel G31/ICH7 (Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2) and Intel 965G/ICH8 (Foxconn G9657MA-8KS2H) for Intel E2180 or E4500, or AMD 690G (Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H) and Nvidia GeForce 7025/nForce 630a (GA-MA69VM-S2) for AMD BE-2350. Don't need anything fancy - no games, no OC, just some office apps, music, movies, media files encoding, light image editing and that's pretty much it. So I just need a reliable/endurable board with low power consumption - trying to be energy conscious. Any ideas/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
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Ygrec

Either

E2200 + GA-73PVM-S2H

or

BE-2400 + GA-MA69GM-S2H

is a good choice for low power consumption and reasonable performance.
 

deepava

Junior Member
Jan 3, 2008
1
0
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:D
You have given very useful information.
Can I get information on Sony Vaio mother boards for different models?

 

falkengeist

Junior Member
Jan 4, 2008
3
0
0
I posted the following on several forums with little or no response. Any comment?
I narrowed my search for a motherboard to Intel DG965WH or DG965RY for use with a Core 2 Duo E6750. I went to Newegg's site to look at the reviews and found a fair amount of negatives for both. I then started looking at other boards and found almost everything had a fair amount of negatives. Can this be attributed to people that don't know what they're doing or talking about, or are these boards really bad. Like everyone else, I certainly don't like the headaches involved in using problem parts, but now I'm not sure what to use. This is just a system for small business, and the boards listed provide features that I need at a good price. The currently recommended chipset (P35) doesn't offer me many advantages since tweaking, etc. is not part of the game plan. In fact one of the boards I listed was a previous recommendation in the mid-price ATX category. Important is a serial port for a 3Com Courier, RAID, upward flexibility (CPU), memory), and imbedded audio, video and LAN are pluses. The 2 boards listed cover all the bases, and I've had little trouble with Intel boards in the past. Any thoughts?
 

w4r10ck

Junior Member
Jan 6, 2008
1
0
0
For a mid-range machine (based on the AMD platform), which chipset combo would you recommend:
GeForce 7050 PV + nForce 630a or AMD 690G + SB600?

----------

I must say this is one of the most complete and informative articles I've ever seen...
renethx, you rock!
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
Either one is fine. 690G is slightly better than GeForce 7050 PV, but SB600 is weaker. If you can wait, AMD 780G (to be released on Jan 23, 2008) will be the best choice, then will GeForce 8200 and nForce 730a follow.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,736
126
i bought an AMD 5000 black edition. Newegg

i also bought CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit .

since the black edition is unlocked, it's meant to be overclocked HARD.

i read the recommended list, but am not sure which level (low/mid/high) or type (atx/micro-atx) i should get for this type of chip.

i would like a mobo with onboard DVI since i have 2 20inch LCD's and prefer not to waste a pci slot for a pci video card. or is it silly to limit the mobo selection given this type of cpu?

and all i have is PATA devices (2 ide hard drive, cd burner, dvd burner). but i can live with 1 ide hd, and the dvd burner and use a usb external enclosure for my other hd.

THX!
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
Wait a month or so. NVIDIA just announced a couple of new chipsets at 2008 International CES and AMD will also release a new chipset very soon (this month).

NVIDIA
- nForce 780a/750a SLI: These chipsets have integerated GPU with VGA and DVI ports unlike the previous nForce3, nForce4, nForce 500.
- GeForce 8200 mGPU: The successor to GeForce 7050. Much better 3D performance, DX10, and PureVideo HD

AMD
- AMD 780G: The best 3D performance. UVD

All of them are Socket AM2+, meaning they support Athlon 64 X2 5000+ BE but also Phenom natively. They have only one IDE controller. So you need to connect the DVD burner and the IDE drive to the same controller (master/slave).
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
Originally posted by: falkengeist
I posted the following on several forums with little or no response. Any comment?
I narrowed my search for a motherboard to Intel DG965WH or DG965RY for use with a Core 2 Duo E6750. I went to Newegg's site to look at the reviews and found a fair amount of negatives for both. I then started looking at other boards and found almost everything had a fair amount of negatives. Can this be attributed to people that don't know what they're doing or talking about, or are these boards really bad. Like everyone else, I certainly don't like the headaches involved in using problem parts, but now I'm not sure what to use. This is just a system for small business, and the boards listed provide features that I need at a good price. The currently recommended chipset (P35) doesn't offer me many advantages since tweaking, etc. is not part of the game plan. In fact one of the boards I listed was a previous recommendation in the mid-price ATX category. Important is a serial port for a 3Com Courier, RAID, upward flexibility (CPU), memory), and imbedded audio, video and LAN are pluses. The 2 boards listed cover all the bases, and I've had little trouble with Intel boards in the past. Any thoughts?

Oops! I missed this post.

DG965WH and DG965RY are nice boards. However DG965RY lacks RAID support. What is "upward flexibility (CPU, memory)"? None of them supports the current FSB 1333 processors (or the upcoming 45 nm processors). On the other hand, the current Intel G33 motherboards are legacy-free (no PS/2 port, no serial/parallel port, serial header only, no floppy disk controller). In addition to DG965WH (remember there is no CPU upgrade path with this mb), you should also consider:

GIGABYTE GA-G33M-DS2R
ASUS P5E-VM DO

that meet your requirements.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,736
126
Originally posted by: renethx
Wait a month or so. NVIDIA just announced a couple of new chipsets at 2008 International CES and AMD will also release a new chipset very soon (this month).

NVIDIA
- nForce 780a/750a SLI: These chipsets have integerated GPU with VGA and DVI ports unlike the previous nForce3, nForce4, nForce 500.
- GeForce 8200 mGPU: The successor to GeForce 7050. Much better 3D performance, DX10, and PureVideo HD

AMD
- AMD 780G: The best 3D performance. UVD

All of them are Socket AM2+, meaning they support Athlon 64 X2 5000+ BE but also Phenom natively. They have only one IDE controller. So you need to connect the DVD burner and the IDE drive to the same controller (master/slave).

i'll probably be paying a premium for new chipset mobos?

i'm looking more for bang for the buck.

There are alot of rebates for ECS mobos at Newegg.
Link- Some even $34 after rebate :Q

Full list from rebate form

This one is $45 after rebate: ECS AMD690GM-M2 AM2 AMD 690G Micro ATX (ATI RADEON X1250 GRAPHICS w/DVI :Q)
I'm am leaning towards it. Yes/No for the X2 5000 Black Edition? Why/why not?

 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
A source says, the price of a GeForce 8200 mb is 55-60 US$. RS780 is a bit pricey ($100?).

The ECS 690G should be fine for 5000+ BE. Personally I prefer new features.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,736
126
Originally posted by: renethx
A source says, the price of a GeForce 8200 mb is 55-60 US$. RS780 is a bit pricey ($100?).

The ECS 690G should be fine for 5000+ BE. Personally I prefer new features.

from the reviews of the ecs 690G, how do you overclock an unclocked 5000 black edition?

Would it be better to buy this?
Biostar TA690G
(Open box, $50) or not worth the risk of buying open box?

And how would u o/c using the biostar mobo?
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
There are two ways to overclock BE: raise "CPU multiplier" (the multiplier of BE is unlocked) or raise "Clock Generator Frequency". The actual CPU frequency is

CPU frequency = CPU multiplier x Clock Generator Frequency

ECS : "CPU multiplier" = NPT Fid controller, "Clock Generator Frequency" = CPU Clock
BIOSTAR: "CPU multiplier" = Hammer CPU Multiplier, "Clock Generator Frequency" = CPU frequency

Yeah, confusing. I bet BIOSTAR is much better for overclocking.
 

Xatrix

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
398
0
76
I think you should add the DFI DK P35 board in the mid-range recs... its been a great board for me so far.
 

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
0
I havnt tried overclocking with my Biostar TP35D2-A7 up until now, and finally decided to give it a go with my 3870 waiting to be shipped on monday. For some reason, the mobo shuts off after I do "save settings and exit" even with very modest overclock (333 FSB). It has never done that without overclocking, so it definitely has to do with changing the FSB.

DDR2 sticks I am using are 800mhz pairs from OCZ and Patriot. In the bios, I set them at 5-5-5-15 for initial testing as described in the OC guide found in the CPU forums. Upon reboot, I am notified that overclock has forced the mobo to boot with default settings. What gives?

Regardless, I will need another mobo for my secondary rig anyway.
Any known issues with the MSI Neo-2FR? I think I heard of one unit catching on fire, but I am sure thats just one oddball case (I hope)

EDIT: nvm, looks like I shouldnt have left the vcore setting on auto, or must have been something else... whatever that was, now I am rocking @3.5ghz :D
 

mcv

Member
Jan 14, 2008
47
0
0
I'm having real trouble figuring out which motherboard to get for my new PC. My PC is supposed to be quiet, fast and as energy-friendly as possible without sacrificing the other two. I am, for example, looking at the extremely quiet Antex P182 and P150 cases, I'm taking the quietest Samsung Spinpoint T 400LJ harddisk, and I'll probably buy the Intel E8200 (which should be comparable to the E6750, but cooler). The PC will be used for game programming as well as gaming (but not particularly high-end gaming; I might take a loot at the Crysis demo, but that's it).

So I'm looking for a motherboard with low power consumption, preferably passively cooled, without relying on a big fan on the CPU (I'm planning a big passive Scythe Ninja heatsink there), but fast and responsive. I was planning to start with 4 GB memory, with the option to upgrade to 8 GB later, but most mobos have 4 slots and no or few 2GB memory modules on their QVL, so perhaps I should consider just sticking with 4 GB for now -- that should be plenty for the forseeable future, and I hear that Intel will be abandoning the 775 socket in about a year, so a CPU upgrade will probably mean a motherboard upgrade as well.

The single most important feature, however, is reliability. I'll be using it professionally, but I'll be doing my own system maintainance, so I can't really afford to lose time on obscure hardware errors, and being a software guy, I know almost nothing about motherboards.

I'm having a really hard time figuring out which motherboard fits my requirements best. Does anyone have any advice for me?
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
mcv

There are several choices. My preference goes to

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 (DS3L + IEEE 1394, +4 SATA ports, RAID, DTS Connect)
 

mcv

Member
Jan 14, 2008
47
0
0
Thanks, renethx!

I was already looking at the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3/4 line (although I don't think I'd seen the L yet), but I feared I might be ignoring lots of great Asus cards. I'm glad you recommend something that sounds familiar.