Most stable OCable Motherboard for E6300 under $200?

[crspyjohn]

I was searching forums and forums for the past few days. I found that the DS3 is my best bet but it has so many problems. I bought OCZ ram (which i heard dosn't work with this board) and there are a lot of driver issues. Does anyone recommend another board that is good for overclocking and can support my PC2-6400 OCZ 2.1v Platium ram?

 

[gobucks]

from what i can tell, the DS3 is pretty much the entire list right now for allendales, unless you wanna shell out $200 or more for an Asus board. i have one and it is great, especially with the new bios. i used to have that same memory and it isn't very good. if i were you i'd just go with the DS3, return the OCZ, and pick up some Corsair or Patriot memory instead. I can say from personal experience that the Corsair XMS PC2-6400 C5 is extremely good, and mine is capable of of close to DDR2-1000 speeds at 5-4-5-10. i got mine for $175. i heard Patriot makes some excellent DDR2-800 as well, and i think it's in the $165 range.

 

[Mudokon]

asus p5b, newegg. end of story.

 

[crspyjohn]

i heard that board can't even overclock over 1ghz? Also that board dosn't work with the OCZ ram right?

 

[aggressor]

Your options are the Gigabyte DS3 and the Asus P5B. There are some x975 boards in your price range, but those simply don't overclock high enough on the FSB to be worth it on your E6300.

Your OCZ ram does work on the DS3, but it may be difficult booting at first. I *believe* newer BIOSes correct the problem, but even if you don't get one with a newer BIOS, you can usually boot with one stick, change the dram voltage to 2.1, and then flash with a newer one.

 

[crspyjohn]

Which bios version do you recommend? The retail f4 or f4c beta? I have seen people have issues like http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111521 ect. I bought the ram on outpost so returning it is possible but would take time. What do you guys recommend?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Asus P5B. less problems, more stable, better BIOS atm.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: crspyjohn
i heard that board can't even overclock over 1ghz? Also that board dosn't work with the OCZ ram right?

Overclock over 1Ghz...that's not exactly the norm despite what the forums would have you believe. Now, every board and every chip is a crap shoot. Even the exact same board in your case with your specific bin of memory and HDD may not go over 350Mhz FSB. While someone else can take the same one and do 390. Also some of the overclocking stories you see have not been checked for stability yet. Some of these reports are simply a boot to windows, open CPUz, get a screenshot and post it. Some of these people who get good overclocks have more exotic cooling solutions like water or phase. Again it's luck depengind on your components. This is not to say that you won't see amazing results, but it isn't guranteed by any stretch. Your mileage will always vary and it relies alot on your luck.


What I would say you can try is what was mentioned above, but slight nodified. Boot with 1 memory stick and load windows and drivers. Flash to the latest BIOS and set the Voltage on the memory to the recommended stock voltage for your memory. In this case 2.1v. Then try both sticks in dual channel. If it fails, get different memory. I'm going to assume you have some time before you need to RMA?

 

[crspyjohn]

Yeah, i got time but i just wanted to get a system up and running by next week before school starts. My parts are coming monday/tuesday. I'm thinking of just going to frys and buying the motherboard. Does the Asus P5B $150 version have a better bios and stability?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: crspyjohn
Yeah, i got time but i just wanted to get a system up and running by next week before school starts. My parts are coming monday/tuesday. I'm thinking of just going to frys and buying the motherboard. Does the Asus P5B $150 version have a better bios and stability?

After seeing both in action I would say yes. It seems like a better board overall. I've seen good overclocking results from it too. Just be sure to update your BIOS when you get windows and drivers loaded.

It's not uncommon on either board to top 380Mhz FSB with either a e6300 or e6400

 

[crspyjohn]

Damn that board is $220 at frys. I guess i might order that or the DS3. I shouldn't of bought the OCZ ram. I might return it to outpost, but what kinda ram do you recommend?

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'd say Corsair XMS2 6400 it's 1.9v memory which works out of the box with the DS3.

The board you looked at, was it the deluxe? The deluxe is alot more expensive than the plain AB5.

Don't get me wrong the DS3 is a good board for many, but it does have memory problems.

 

[crspyjohn]

I am looking at the basic for $160 on newegg but it is $220 at frys Was looking at the p5b and it dosn't seem to have updated bios?

 

[n7]

Asus P5B (non-Deluxe).

Should be a bit less troublesome than the DS3, & still seems to OC well.

 

[y2klam]

the DS3 seems to have the super capacitor which makes everything more durable....how is P5b better than that?

 

[Baked]

I don't know what you Asus fanboys are talking about. My DS3 + E6400 is stable as hell. And yes, I have the dreaded OCZ RAM as well. See sig for details.

 

[Mogadon]

DS3 + E6400 + G Skill 6400HZ here ... stable as hell too at 430*8 ... .