Motherboard recommendations

[Timeb]

Finally getting around to building a new PC (You don't want to know what i'm running now)

All the planning was going well until I realized I know nothing about modern motherboard chipsets, and thus I have no idea which board to choose

I plan on getting a Q6600 and OCing to around 3-3.2
Graphics will be provided by an 9600GT

Due to me being somewhat geographically isolated from low priced pc parts, this list http://www.pricespy.co.nz/cat_6.html represents the selection available to me, and the best prices I can get them for

I aim to spend $130-140 on a board, but Can go up to around $160 if there's a good reason to.
Please only recommend boards from that list, as seeing how cheap everything is on newegg compared to here just makes my cry.

Thanks a lot,
Timeb

 

[coolpurplefan]

http://www.pcstats.com/article...?articleid=2047&page=1

I found a review for one of the boards listed. I don't take it as a great sign if there are no reviews for a motherboard. That means it hasn't been submitted for review.

 

[Butterbean]

Your link doesn't work easy because part of the parenthesis at the end got included. looking at that list I see what you mean about the prices being high. I saw an Asus P 45 board on there I know is good because I have one (Asus P5Q-E) but its more than you want to spend and definitely more than Newegg:

Asustek P5Q-E Intel P45 ATX DDR2 34 prices $182.25
http://www.pricespy.co.nz/c_184.html?d=13095

If you want something 140ish I can see some good P 35 (P = Penryn) boards listed. Those boards came out around 2007 (the recent P45's replaced them) and the Q6600 works with them. I see Asus and Gigabyte varieties and each could be decent depending on features you want. Some boards listed are micro mobo's or the 4 PCI slots job - they often have "G" in their names. A P35 or P45 in the name is good bet. Some of those other mobos listed are old and no good for Penryn (like 945's)

 

[Timeb]

Thanks for your help, I had a look for some P35 boards, and saw the Abit IP35-E for $135, it appears to have everything I need, and performed well In the reviews I read.

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en...E=IP35-E&fMTYPE=LGA775

It also fits into my price range very nicely, Can anyone see a reason not to get this? One of the reviewers mentioned he could only get an E6700 up to 355x10 on this, Although I only want to push a Q6600 up to 3.2, this shouldn't be too much of an issue..

 

[Butterbean]

3.2 is doable - at least I have seen it anyway. Here is article about OCing that board:

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Motherboards/ABIT-IP35E/

Just keep in mind the chipset is Intel ICH9 so there is no RAID - the chipset needed for that would be Intel ICH9R (or the newer ICH10R's). There is no Crossfire function either since only one PCIx16 slot. Neither of these things are big deal to me but are to some.

 

[Timeb]

I Just went ahead and bought that board, Here's hoping it works out well.

Rather than starting a new thread, can someone please give me a rough estimate of what wattage PSU I'm going to need? I'll be running a Q6600, 9600GT, 2gb Supertalent ddr2-800 and two 7200rpm SATA drives. CPU and maybe graphics will be overclocked
I'm guessing I'm going to need somewhere around 450w but I'm not sure

Thanks a lot
Timeb

 

[Butterbean]

A 450 is probably fine - but the brands vary in quality. A good 450 watt can be better than a crappy 550 watt. The power suppy market is overhyped a bit these days and people are buying bigger psu's than they need. I would get a 500 watt from a good maker.
Here's a little work page to figure what you need.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine