Please Help with E6600 Mobo Choice

[DaCarez]

Hi,

I'm looking for a motherboard for my new E6600. I would like to overclock it (getting DDR2-800 OCZ RAM, already have a Scythe Ninja). I'm also looking for a motherboard with Dual LAN and plenty of SATA ports (I already have 4 SATA HDD and possibly getting more, so at least 6 is good here). Finally, I have no plans for SLI/Crossfire, although I have a slight preference for nVidia graphics.I do, however, need to have this in my hands by about August 10-15, as it is coming to college with me.

That said, here is my current understanding of motherboards:

1) Asus P5W DH
Pros: Great Overclocker, has features I specified and more
Cons: A lot of useless stuff (EZBackup, Remote, Wifi AP), Expensive, Very low availability

2) Gigabyte DS3
Pros: Also Great overclocker, price
Cons: Possibly availability, missing features

3) Abit AB9 Pro
Pros: Cost, availability, features
Cons: Overclocking?

4) Asus P5B Deluxe
Pros: Features, possibly overclocking
Cons: Price for a 965 board

5) Wait for a nForce 570 SLI board?
Pros: Could be better performer, overclocker possibly, price
Cons: Unknown ETA

If anyone has any more information / better suggestions for this list, please, don't be shy

 

[CrappyLuckMan]

Is there such a thing as a "known estimated time of arrival?"
If you search froogle, the eta is listed on one store as 8/16/07 which I posted on a RELATED post before.
Gary also said there is a review on it tomarrow

 

[gobucks]

i think i'm gonna go for the ds3 because of the overclocking. since i'm buying an e6400, i need to be able to crank up that FSB pretty high to get a good OC. I thought about the ab9 pro, especially because of the low price and dolby digital live support, but it sounds like at least for the moment the overclocking is not quite as good. i currently have an abit an8 32x and after a few bios updates, the board is fantastic, so i think they are a good brand.

 

[Kremus]

I am building a new system using the Giga-Byte DS3. I don't need the SLI support. The features of the DQ6 are not worth the money. So that makes the DS3 worth the money.

 

[Hidden Hippo]

I'm not so sure about the DS3. Don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic board, especially for overclocking, but I don't think the issues with RAM incompatibility and the problem with running RAID with an IDE drive running at the same time is worth it. I personally would go for the Abit AB9 or the AB9 Pro. Using the same test set up, the DQ6 only managed a 41% overclock and the AB9 Pro a 37%, so not much difference there. I've provided some links for perusal.

AB9 Pro Review, specifically the overclocking results

DQ6 in the Conroe Buyer's Guide

DS3 Supported memory list

Hope this helps.

Edit: Fixed broken links. For the memory list, just click on the "Memory Support List" link on the right.

 

[sweetrugger]

Anybody else have some opinions?

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Hidden Hippo
I'm not so sure about the DS3. Don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic board, especially for overclocking, but I don't think the issues with RAM incompatibility and the problem with running RAID with an IDE drive running at the same time is worth it. I personally would go for the Abit AB9 or the AB9 Pro. Using the same test set up, the DQ6 only managed a 41% overclock and the AB9 Pro a 37%, so not much difference there. I've provided some links for perusal.

AB9 Pro Review, specifically the overclocking results

DQ6 in the Conroe Buyer's Guide

DS3 Supported memory list

Hope this helps.

Edit: Fixed broken links. For the memory list, just click on the "Memory Support List" link on the right.

There is a new bios around that fixes the raid problems. As for the memory, i'm sure that will be fixed soon. My ocz plat should be find though .

 

[Kwint Sommer]

I went with the P5W DH Deluxe purely for overclocking as I plan to take an E6600 to 4GHz and beyond. The board has some nice and some useless features. I doubt I will ever seriously use the remote, especially since I'm stuck in the narrowest dorm on MIT's campus but some of the raid features are nice and you have to admit, dual gigabit ethernet ports plus built in WiFi is freaking awesome. It also has a crap load of internal SATA2s and one external one. Ultimately though, features won't bring me to buy a board, lack of them might turn me a way but it is the ability to overclock that earns my dollars and the P5W DH Deluxe has that in spades and it will continue to be the leader at least through the end of the year.


P.S. If you have the money to buy a 2nd video card for SLI or Crossfire put it towards buying 1 better card as dual cards just aren't that powerful and no one needs dual x1900xtx, it's just overkill.

 

[amd4life]

your DS3 WILL NOT work with your oz ram, be forwarned (It has something to do with CAS 4 ram--I have ddr2 800 platinum) , mine has to go back due to incompaitbility

wont post at all