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Good P55 Board please?

crisscross

Golden Member
I need a nice, stable motherboard with a Core i7 860. I don't plan on overclocking and the primary application will be HT, Excel, Video encoding and mild gaming. I am looking to spend around $120 for the Motherboard. You might ask why I need a i7 for my application and the answer is because i am getting it free! My cousin has a spare CPU he no longer needs.

Would appreciate advice on RAM as well.

Thanks!
 
Anandtech review
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3652

I'd go with the Gigabyte personally.

It's an amazing bang for buck board that includes goodies like Firewire/eSATA/all solid caps/SPDIF & Coax audio jacks.

Likely the one & only negative i could say is lack of fan headers, but @ the pricepoint it is, there's no way i can really complain.

And it's a great OCer (which i know, doesn't matter for you).
 
I've been using that MB for 2 months now (i5 750), very solid and stable and, as n7 pointed, a lot of connectivity options for its price category.
 
i got a gigabyte p55m-ud4 yesterday, and so far i'm really liking it. i think this is a good choice for htpc machines that do more than play movies.

edit:
i'm using the board with crucial ballistix ddr3-1333 and an i5 chip.
 
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I recently got a eVGA P55 LE and am very pleased with it. The best part about this board is you can use your existing LGA775 cooler as it has mounting holes for both.
 
Thanks guys ordered the Gigabyte should be here in a couple of days. One question on the RAM, doesn't G.Skill sell a single 2GB stick? I am short on cash so wanted to buy one and add another stick a little later but couldn't find they are all sold in sets of 2.
 
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I am just trying to figure out hte diff between all the diff Gigabytes P55 boards on newegg. P3 , p4 etc etc.

i am going to write up a new build page.
 
I got the Gigabyte P55M and am in the process of setting everything up, after seeing the board layout I realize i should have probably got the ATX version, my graphics card takes up the PCI port as well leaving me with only one PCI port for my x-fi xtreme gamer. I might need an add-on IDE card as well as this motherboard comes with only one IDE card.

Question: Do newer graphics also end up using an additional slot? or can I hope to save the PCI port when i upgrade my video card?
 
i went for the EVGA P55 SLI for 160 at newegg AR, it got really good reviews and the only thing its missing is IDE so i got a SATA Dvd drive
 
I have the UD2 as well. A very good mobo. Like many mobos though it can be Ram picky. Stick to the QVL list to ensure less problems. Don't try to get too cheap or you could run into problems.
 
I'd also suggest the eVGA. I have the P55 Micro (w/ SLI) and it's been great. I got a LOTES socket, but it sounds like the issue with the Foxxconn socket is somewhat exaggerated for the average user.

As for RAM you are best off selecting some that runs @ 1.5v. The G.Skill Ripjaw series seems to be a favorite. I have been using it for several months now and it's been fine.
 
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