Looking for a good motherboard

[OLpal]

Originally posted by: KotBigemot

Hey KotBigmot hope your build comes out sweet.. 1. your in the right place for oC'n guidance, i just love my E8400 with a mild overcloxck to 3.6ghz not even a boost in voltage... whereas you'd have to push a Q6600 very hard to reach 3.6ghz & really need that Zalman. & THERE'S ONLY A COUPLE OF GAMES OR SOFTWARE THAT UTILIZES THE QUAD CORE.... THIS E8400 IS SUCH A FLYER THAT stores are price gouging the heck out of them.. Glad i got mine early..

WOW!!! Now I feel like I am ready to order parts at last.
OLPal, can you give me more info on your MB. I tried to locate it on newegg.com and it gave me like 5 different boards. Which one would you recommend? Here is the link:
NEWEGG.com
Yes, I think for the first time in 10 years I am going to try Gigabyte. You guys sound very confident about that board so I will order it instead of Asus.
Why do you suggest installing memory 2GB at a time? Can I install all 4GB at once? I am just a bit lazy Once I build it and close the case, I do not want to reopen it for at least next month or so.
Thanks for telling me about the paste. I usually use my own paste and it works pretty well.
PASTE
Finally in 2 weeks of research I feel confident. Thank you. After I build the system, I will start asking questions about OC. Want to try it, see what happens.


This is my motherboard, but it's on backorder & the price is up for some reason !!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

then there is the newer energy saver board... http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128086


As for my setup i have rev 2.1 & it's been up now for a couple weeks.. Like i sain glad i beat most of the price gouging on this chip & board.... I would build this same computer again AS i have no need for SLI or Crossfire & like Garfield i'm not a RAID user either.

On my drivers, only one iv'e added is Nvidia Video driveer, the rest of my computer is running smoothly on Vista 64 setup !!..

you might give these a look as well if you don't mind the xtra money !! But i'd read the reviews to see what the newest owners with E8400 are saying !!


GA-EP35-DS3P Intel MotherboardsView Pic
[14]
Ultra Durable 2 & Dynamic Energy Saver

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3P LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail
CPU Type: Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium
Dual Channel Supported: Yes
FSB: 1600 (O.C.)/1333/1066FSB
Maximum Memory Supported: 8GB
Model #: GA-EP35-DS3P
Item #: N82E16813128083
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Original Price: $164.99
You Save: $10.00
3 Business Day Shipping $6.61
Your Price:$154.99





GA-EP35-DS4 Intel MotherboardsView Pic
[1]
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS4 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail
CPU Type: Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium
Dual Channel Supported: Yes
FSB: 1600 (O.C.)/1333/1066MHz
Maximum Memory Supported: 8GB
Model #: GA-EP35-DS4
Item #: N82E16813128087
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Original Price: $179.99
You Save: $10.00
3 Business Day Shipping $6.61
Your Price:$169.99



GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 Intel MotherboardsView Pic
[161]
Ultra Durable 2, ultra cooling

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail
1x Winner of Customer Choice Award - Intel Motherboards
CPU Type: Quad-core / Core 2 Duo / Pentium D / Celeron
Dual Channel Supported: Yes
FSB: 1333/1066MHz
Maximum Memory Supported: 8GB
Model #: GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0
Item #: N82E16813128064
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
$179.99

Good Luck Ol'Pal

 

[OLpal]

By the way, the reason i recomend the Freezer Pro 7 or better is that intel has cut back on the cooling fan of the E8000 series, since they are 45nm & run cooler... So what looks like a celeron cooler is still in the intel box unused !!

Also alot of bad reviews on NE w/RMA sometimes stem from dumb [me sometimes] or careless assembly & mistakes.. Although iv'e not had to RMA anything in all this time !!
People will flex the dickens out of their board fighting & cursing to get those cooler pins in !!
Also they will not know how to go into BIOS & set memory timings & voltage for the memory to run it's specs..
Or the tip i told you about only installing 1 2gig mem chip untill your finished installing your OS.. Then put the other 1 in !!

Make sure you get a good quality power supply [don't over do it] & have a great build !!

Ol'Pal Gary

 

[KotBigemot]

By the way, the reason i recomend the Freezer Pro 7 or better is that intel has cut back on the cooling fan of the E8000 series, since they are 45nm & run cooler... So what looks like a celeron cooler is still in the intel box unused !!

Thanks so much for your advice OLpal.
Yes, many people have no idea how to build a system and yet, they give bad reviews to perfectly good products. They should not be allowed to leave any feedback at all.
Like guys complaining about P5E WS professional. Complain is - the is audio noise in system. All they need to do is update BIOS and most important update audio drivers. That takes care of it. And guess what they blame for it??? A PSU!!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well.
I am ordering parts today...and still not sure about MB :-(
So far I am down to 2 - P5E WS PRO and GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4
P5E seems to have more options plus it is upgradeable. But Gigabyte is cheaper. Choices choices?

 

[KotBigemot]

Finally I am done building!!! It went very smooth. No surprises, no problems with BIOS as many people say. In fact, I never had such a smooth install. Amazing. MB already had latest BIOS installed (big surprise), reacted very well to my E8400.
OLPal, thank you very much for tip on installing cooler for CPU. As you suggested, I installed it before I put MB in to the case - worked great, much easier and no stress on MB.
So far my CPU runs no higher than 28C. I did not try to OC it yet and I do not think I am going to. But I tested it my way - while downloading very large files from 5 locations, I had Photoshop running, was burning DVD, editing another video file and having a video conference with friends. NOT 1 SEC. OF DELAY. W-O-W!!!
So, GarfieldtheCat and OLPal. Thank you for your help. It is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Here are final specs for my new system:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W
ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI E2.0
Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA-II
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
2X LITE-ON LH-20A1S DVD Burners
BFG Tech BFGR650PSU ATX 12v 2.0 / EPS 12V 650Watts Power Supply
Rosewill R6XR8-BK Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[OLpal]

Way it sounds, you've got a winner on your hands !! Congrats to ya !!
Hope more people read your thread & pick up on some of the ideas & tips given ,, to make their builds easier !!
Glad the Asus boards are now recognizing E8400, as i read too many horror stories where folks have had to use an old processor to upgrade bios, before the motherboard would recognize the E8400
Which Oper. Sys did you install on it !!????????

Hope you have many enjoyable hrs. on your new puter !!

Ol'Pal

 

[KotBigemot]

Originally posted by: OLpal
Way it sounds, you've got a winner on your hands !! Congrats to ya !!
Hope more people read your thread & pick up on some of the ideas & tips given ,, to make their builds easier !!
Glad the Asus boards are now recognizing E8400, as i read too many horror stories where folks have had to use an old processor to upgrade bios, before the motherboard would recognize the E8400
Which Oper. Sys did you install on it !!????????

Hope you have many enjoyable hrs. on your new puter !!

Ol'Pal

Thank you very much. Yes, it is a great machine. So far I am happy. I run Windows XP Pro 32 Bit.
Many times people are too fast to give a bad review just because they have no idea what they are doing. They see something they do not understand or do not want to spend time to understand and here you go - a horror story about a bad ASUS board that did not power up at all.....in reality all he needed to do was connect the power plug to PC
I hear many stories like that every day, I mean literally every day. Honestly, I have not had a bad ASUS board in years. And I went through about 100 boards in past, say 5 years. That is between me, my friends, family and at work. That is a good rating I think.
If anyone asked for my advice, I?d say - READ FIRST, PUSH BOTTONS LATER.
Same reason why I do not believe in over clocking. Why OC? To get extra pixel? COME ON!!!! I am an EE myself and when people say OC, to me it sounds like over current. Try it on your TV, give it about 3-4 AMPS over the limit, see how much smoke you are going to get out of it . That was a joke, DO NOT TRY THAT!!! Anyways, I do not see a logical reason why OC. If you do, then please explain.
Well, thanks again guys for your help. Let me know if I assist with anything on this site. Will be happy to help.

 

[OLpal]

On the oC'n , it's just that 3.6ghz is just setting there saying "come out & play with me" it's not stressing my system in the least...
I'm running with Stock Auto VCore & cool temps !!
After seeing that celeron type cooler that came with your E8400, aren't you glad ya went with the Freezer Pro 7
Now the folks trying to see how fast they can be & raising the vcore over 1.4 are cruiz'n for a brusin' As some aren't even satisfied with 4 ghz they gotta go after 4.5 - 5 ghz then when they have a problem, it's intels fault or the MB or Memory & they want to RMA !!
I feel pretty stongly about Gigabyte motherboards as you do w/Asus.. But iv'e used most of the major boards for some special build needs, even EPOX
These E8400 processors, to me are the best intel has ever done !! IMHO
Most Q6600 are huff'n & puff'n trying to get to 3.2ghz & then run hot doing it !!

Enjoy Ol'Pal Gary