Only this time, I'm quite ignorant to the obvious options. I've always traditionally been an AMD guy and haven't really pieced together a system for a year or more. Now to add to my ignorance, I need to build an Intel box (Q6600 or Q6700 is the CPU).
So, I need:
- a high-performance, rock-stable mobo (I'd take stability/reliability over performance so that part is VERY important)
- Overclockability is not a concern at all. Features are
- dual GB ethernet
- many SATA (2 is not gonna cut it, would like more than 4, 6 minimum prolly)
- good RAID options are nice but not entirely required (tho if RAID 5 is possible, I'd like that)
- DDR3 would be nice but not required and if dual-format boards perform equally as good as single-format boards, then that would be nice
- faster FSBs than slower is good. I'd like to be able to buy the fastest RAM that I can reasonably buy without sacrificing stability (i.e. I don't want to be pushing the limits of the mobo!)
- SLI is not important but if I can choose having it or not having it for only a couple bucks, I'll take it.
It seems there are quite a few good candidates for $150+. I'm guessing $250 or so is a decent sweet spot in pricing high performance mobos so that's what I'm targetting. I'd consider $350 even but I've seen some $600 mobos and I think they're out of my budget.
So, throw at me what you got! What else do you need to know from me about what I need? I think I've covered most of the basics. I'm assuming that you're assuming things like I need an IDE, USB 2.0, Firewire, etc. (the normal things that you'd expect any good mobo to have).
Thanks!
-Jax
So, I need:
- a high-performance, rock-stable mobo (I'd take stability/reliability over performance so that part is VERY important)
- Overclockability is not a concern at all. Features are
- dual GB ethernet
- many SATA (2 is not gonna cut it, would like more than 4, 6 minimum prolly)
- good RAID options are nice but not entirely required (tho if RAID 5 is possible, I'd like that)
- DDR3 would be nice but not required and if dual-format boards perform equally as good as single-format boards, then that would be nice
- faster FSBs than slower is good. I'd like to be able to buy the fastest RAM that I can reasonably buy without sacrificing stability (i.e. I don't want to be pushing the limits of the mobo!)
- SLI is not important but if I can choose having it or not having it for only a couple bucks, I'll take it.
It seems there are quite a few good candidates for $150+. I'm guessing $250 or so is a decent sweet spot in pricing high performance mobos so that's what I'm targetting. I'd consider $350 even but I've seen some $600 mobos and I think they're out of my budget.
So, throw at me what you got! What else do you need to know from me about what I need? I think I've covered most of the basics. I'm assuming that you're assuming things like I need an IDE, USB 2.0, Firewire, etc. (the normal things that you'd expect any good mobo to have).
Thanks!
-Jax
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