Motherboard advice needed

[aboldi]

Hey everyone, first time poster here with a few questions about buying a new mobo.

Basically, I'm torn between what motherboard to buy! At the moment my budget is around the $200Aus range (about $140 in US dollars) and im leaning towards the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L from [http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2].

Does anyone out there have any ideas which would be a better board for around that same price range?

Soon-to-be system specs:
Q9550
2x2g sticks of Corsair DDR2 800Mhz RAM
Gigabyte 4870X2 2G OR GTX295
Samsung 37' full-HD TV
700W Coolermaster modular Silent Pro

 

[Stumps]

Hey another Aussie...bout time more of us started to invade the forums...

To be honest with you that mobo is proably the one I would have picked if I was on a budget.

The Gigabyte p45 boards are awesome overclockers.

 

[aboldi]

Thanks for the advice man, that's exactly what I was after. Also I just noticed that the Asus P5Q-SE ExpGate is more or less the same price...any ideas which'd be a better buy for OC'ing and expandability? (I think the EP45-UD3 one I picked only has one 16x PCI slot and 2x RAM slots?)

Thanks again and up the aussies! Haha

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: aboldi
Thanks for the advice man, that's exactly what I was after. Also I just noticed that the Asus P5Q-SE ExpGate is more or less the same price...any ideas which'd be a better buy for OC'ing and expandability? (I think the EP45-UD3 one I picked only has one 16x PCI slot and 2x RAM slots?)

Thanks again and up the aussies! Haha

The UD3R (single GPU slot) or UD3P (dual GPU slots) are IMO about the best 775lga socket mobo's out there. I am realizing my mistake with my Asus Maximus II Formula board. You cannot get a quad stable on the MIIF board stable at or above 500fsb. The UD3 series can do this all day long. Check out XS forums and read the official UD3 series thread then the Maximus II Formula ...a new P45 king? thread. I am personally going to stay away from Asus until then get their act together. Asus :thumbsdown:

 

[Infrnl]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: aboldi
Thanks for the advice man, that's exactly what I was after. Also I just noticed that the Asus P5Q-SE ExpGate is more or less the same price...any ideas which'd be a better buy for OC'ing and expandability? (I think the EP45-UD3 one I picked only has one 16x PCI slot and 2x RAM slots?)

Thanks again and up the aussies! Haha

The UD3R (single GPU slot) or UD3P (dual GPU slots) are IMO about the best 775lga socket mobo's out there. I am realizing my mistake with my Asus Maximus II Formula board. You cannot get a quad stable on the MIIF board stable at or above 500fsb. The UD3 series can do this all day long. Check out XS forums and read the official UD3 series thread then the Maximus II Formula ...a new P45 king? thread. I am personally going to stay away from Asus until then get their act together. Asus :thumbsdown:

I tried telling you that
I am glad to see that you finally gave in and you are happy now.

To the op; not sure what the price diff is for you, but I highly recommend the 2 boards that BTRY listed. IMO they are the top 2 P45/Quad boards made. They have High-end performance for entry level pricing; well maybe midrange. Price for performance cannot be beat. You can hit usually up to 530fsb on quads and the xtreme guys can go even higher. dual coe If I recall can get up to 600-600+fsb. Has all the options most peopl need. Cant be beat IMO!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Got an extra EK with a 1366 bracket for sale; cheap for an old friend