Help me pick a Conroe mainboard?

[Midnight Man]

I'm hoping some of the experts here might be able to steer me in the right direction

I'm looking for a Conroe mainboard - the system will not get any overclocking.

I wish to use at least one X1900 in there, preferably with an after-market cooler such as the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 - this would mean that there should be enough space to accomodate a second one of these if I later decide to go Crossfire (and probably rules out the Intel D975XBX).

I don't need all the bells and whistles, but a good, solid performer capable of Crossfire.

I've used a couple of Gigabyte products in years gone past, also some Asus. I wasn't hugely impressed with either, but not hugely disappointed, either. And, at the end of the day, if I'm shelling out the big bucks for a mainboard (Asus or Gigabyte or other), I really don't want to be disappointed.

I have no experience with MSI, but their Platinum Power Up edition caught my eye, as has the P5B Deluxe from Asus (although it's a little more pricey than I'd like), as has the Gigabyte DS4 or DQ6.

So... what to people recommend?

 

[nitromullet]

Those two Gigabyte boards and the Asus P5B Deluxe that you mentioned are not Crossfire capable. You need to look at boards that are based on the Intel 975X chipset that are Conroe compatible. You might want to check the stickies at the top of this forum for user experiences. I know there is one up there for the MSI board.

 

[Cheng]

or you could wait until rd600 comes out