Need help deciding which P5K motherboard to buy

[kallekill]

I have been looking around trying to figure out which motherboard I'm going to choose and my head is spinning from all options. I have decided on a P5K motherboard and I'm leaning towards an Asus board. I am going to run an Intel Quad Q6600 2.4 Ghz CPU on it and I'm aiming at reaching 3 Ghz. I don't need any fancy stuff such as Wi-Fi, Raid, Crossfire, DDR3 or Firewire but I want it to be quiet without any fans. And I have heard that Asus P5k vanilla isn't very good at overclocking and that some Asus P5K boards use a lot of power and run very hot.

So I'm looking for the cheapest board that is good at overclocking, is quit and doesn't generate a lot of heat. 3 PCI slots are also welcomed though it seems like you can't use the third slot on the boards because it is located right beneath the graphic card slot.

I found an Asus board named "Asus P5K iP35" which isn't on Asus product comparison chart that isn't so expensive. Does anyone know what is special about this board?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[renethx]

abit IP35-E or GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R, both have 3 PCI slots.

Asus P5K iP35 looks like an OEM product. It's close to P5K vanilla but with different audio codec.

 

[drextremeops007]

Dont know if you see my other thread, but I got myself a P5K-E Wifi/AP edition, which I think is not yet out in major retailers. Fry's have them on special. I havent built my rig yet but I will be pairing the mobo with a E6750/6850.

 

[orion23]

The best option is the Abit P35 Pro board and it is only about $180, and that's the Premium board!

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: kallekill
I don't need any fancy stuff such as Wi-Fi, Raid, Crossfire, DDR3 or Firewire but I want it to be quiet without any fans. And I have heard that Asus P5k vanilla isn't very good at overclocking and that some Asus P5K boards use a lot of power and run very hot.

So I'm looking for the cheapest board that is good at overclocking, is quit and doesn't generate a lot of heat. 3 PCI slots are also welcomed though it seems like you can't use the third slot on the boards because it is located right beneath the graphic card slot.

abit IP35-E or Gigabyte P35-S3/DS3

 

[DXtreme]

I have the P5K vanilla board and it's great. I've had no issues at all and overclocking is excellent. Just got more ram, so now running vista ultimate 64bit. See my rig below!

I've doubled my fps from my old X2 3800+, which I think is amazing! I didn't think it would be that big of an improvement.

Happying hunting for a board!

 

[SerpentRoyal]

IP35-E has a free bay below the GPU slot for additional ventilation! No problem reaching 488MHz FSB at 1:1 memory divider. May go higher with a better chip. My only complain is the double boot at startup.

 

[Aznguy1872]

Isn't there a way to get rid of the dual boot? Anyway, how about the Asus P5k Wifi/Ap delux mobos? Those aren't too bad and they cost around 220 dollars.

 

[kallekill]

After reading all the replies I'm now going for either the Abit IP35-E or the Gigabyte P35-DS3. The bad thing with the Abit motherboard seems to be the double post annoyance and I got the impression that the Gigabyte board is a little slower from the reviews I've been reading.