Help Me Decide...

[Nickc19]

So my computer died on me a week or two ago (not sure if its the CPU or mobo, but figure I may as well upgrade everything since its been about 2 years) and I really need some help picking out which motherboard to go with. I've read posts here and whatnot, but I'm still not figuring out what to go with. I'll be getting an E6600 cpu to put in it, and maybe a 7950gt video card or something else under $250.

I dont really plan to overclock and know I wouldnt ever add a 2nd video card so SLI isnt needed. The GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 seems to be basically what I'm looking for, and in the price range I wanted to stay in, but I kinda want something with onboard firewire (mainly just in case i ever need it and since my case has it on the front), which this doesn't have. Someone help me make a decision, as I'm trying to find something to oder asap...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Any of the Nvidia 650i based boards are good. There are quite a few with firewire etc.

Or The Asus P5B series is still a solid board.

 

[Heidfirst]

abit AB9/AB9 Pro are probably 2 of the cheaper 965 mobos with Firewire.
Decent, solid mobos that are amongst the best performers at stock & with the latest BIOS credidable overclocking too.

 

[Nickc19]

I think I've narrowed it down to the MSI P6N SLI-FI or ASUS P5N-E SLI. Would either of these be fine if I'm not overclocking? Any of them better than the other for any particular reason?

 

[brencat]

Hi there. It seems a fair number of people have had real issues with that particular Asus mobo -- specifically in the areas of RAM compatibility, dead RAM slots, trying to run at 1T command rates, and general quality issues. I personally have always liked Asus - I'm using one of the best from the "old" XP generation...but I have real reservations now about the quality of their recent offerings. In your shoes I would take MSI -- generally top quality products and good support community, but at the expense of <real> overclocking upside (which you said you weren't interested in anyway).