Seeking MoBo for Q6600

[liftit36]

I've searched, have seen several posts asking for mobo recomendations. I appologize for asking it again, and for such a long post, but I just have not found a decision making post or thread, not that I could find anyway.

I want the best board for OC'ing the q6600 GO. I do care about the money, but at the same time I don't mind spending $300 on a board if its going to give me a stable OC on air. The PC is basically a hobby for me, but I do use it for work as well as gaming. I am new to (OC'ing) as and feel pretty stupid sitting here for the last month trying to OC the q6600 on an EVGA 680i AR board. Called EVGA today, found out have to RMA for a revised edition to OC a quad. I've had this board since Jan 07, and think its time to move on to another, more reliable board, and sell the new board when it arrives. (I've also read posts that say all heat sinks need thermal re-applied for NB, SB, and MOSFETS) I was considering a P35 or X38 chipset, but don't see an SLI solution for these unless I'm just overlooking it (I have read several posts here saying SLI is not needed, but would like input from you pro's) I don't have to have the latest and greatest, as I feel future proofing doesn't last for long, especially for the money you have to spend, newer and better things are always around the corner. I would like dual G LAN and eventually a raid 0 + 1 array. Something that will handle blu ray and hd. I was thinking DFI LP UT P35 T2R LGA 775 or Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6, may be overkill tho.

Please give me your recommendations.

my current stuff
corsair dominator 2gig
seagate 7200 320g
evga 8800 gts 320
creative audigy Z2S
OCZ Gaming Extreme 700w
XP Pro SP2 32bit
q6600 GO
going to be getting TR Ultra Extreme 120 for cooling

 

[coreyb]

I recommend the Asus P5k Premium. I have the deluxe version and I acheived a 3.6GHz overclock no problem. Apparently the premium version is even better then mine.

 

[liftit36]

Thanks for the reply coreyb. I will certainly consider this board.

Surely there's other opinions...c'mon guys...

 

[Heidfirst]

If you really need SLI & want to overclock a quad then 680i is your only choice of chipset currently.
The question is do you really need SLI & therefore can you open up your options to other chipsets?
If you aren't running at least 1600x1200 then you won't seee a significant improvement over your single 8800GTS.

X38 is too new to have much feedback yet but is probably worth waiting a few weeks for that to start building to the point where reasonable assumptions can be made.
Other than that then P35 chipset mobos from abit, Asus, DFI & Gigabyte are all pretty sound (no doubt MSI's is too).
If you don't need RAID & firewire then even something like abit's IP35-E (that you can find for ~$70 after rebate or the IP35 ~$100 if you do need RAID & firewire) will give you a decent oc on a quad.

 

[liftit36]

I'm currently running 1680x1050. Cant run that rez in Bio Shock, but take a step back and it runs fine. So you've convinced me i don't need SLI, (can always get the GTX if I need more performance?) I do more video encoding than playing games and do a lot of downloading of different apps. I didn't realize SLI was only available with Nvidia chip set, sry. So I am definitely open to other chip sets, especially if it means an easier and more stable OC for the Q6600. Another silly question, but thats the reason I''m on here asking...want to make sure I understand, the P35-X38 chip set will run a Nvidia based GPU, just not SLI, correct? I don't want to have to go buy an ATI video card to change chip sets. I also will take your advice on the X38. I do want RAID. So that narrows it down to P35. Who has the best customer service? Ane will RAID run better (more reliable/performance) on a RAID add on card?
Thanks for the input and please keep it coming, my problem is I have to make a fairly quick decision, as I have no back up PC, and as I stated earlier, I have to use this PC for work too, so I can afford only minimal down time.

 

[Heidfirst]

P35/X38 etc. will all run a single PCI-E card using any gpu OK - it's just Crossfire/SLI support varies according to chipset - so no need to change your 8800GTS.

In terms of onboard RAID I'm led to believe that Intel's onboard Matrix RAID is better than nVidia's but as I don't run RAID myself I can't say for sure.
A dedicated hardware RAID card is likely to be better than onboard (& you can swap it from board to board when you upgrade) - if buying 1 now you probably want to go with a PCI-E version as that would avoid possible PCI bus saturation problems.

 

[liftit36]

Thanks for the response. Think I'll go with the Asus P5k Premium or Deluxe.

 

[Heidfirst]

The P5K Premium has had a lot of incompatability problems with HDDs - you might want to check up on that first seeing as you want RAID.

 

[trake1]

evga 680i all the way. tons of fantastic evga and evga user forum support and thier latest p31 bios has every q6600 owner in heaven.

 

[coreyb]

Does the P5k Deluxe have the same issues as the premium?

 

[Aharami]

IP35-E. No need to get a $300 board when this $70 board will do just fine. Yes, it does have a dual boot issue, but from what I gather, it's more of the chipset's fault rather than the board's. Plus, the dual boot issue is fixed in the 13 beta bios. I have a Q6600 and Im OCed to 3.2 GHz easy with this board (with a ultra 120 extreme)

edit: missed the first time that you want RAID. Then this board isnt for you. Get the regular IP35 or Gigabyte P35-DS3R. I knew I didnt need RAID so i just saved some money and got this board

 

[weldeng]

I am planning on buying pretty much the same thing coreyb is using

Q6600, Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme + Scythe S-Flex, Asus P5k Deluxe Wifi, 150GB Raptor, EVGA Geforce 8800 GTX, Corsair 620HX, Windows Vista Home Premium x64, Thermalright Armor case, Samsung 245BW monitor, 4GB mem.

When using 4Gb mem are you stuck having to use DDR2 800 or will 4GB 1066 work? ASUS qualified vendor list doesnt list anything as proven in 1066 speed range.

 

[liftit36]

Maybe I'll just keep the new RMA'd EVGA 680i A1 that I should get sometime next week. I got an old PC I had around up and running to do my work with so I'd have more time to make a decision. The P31 BIOS sounds like it may improve things for the Q6600. Its a shame that SLI will only work with Nvidia chip set. I'd think that with AMD acquiring ATI, that Nvidia would work closer with Intel...or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about, yea, thats prob it.

 

[wittangamo]

Another vote for Abit. The IP35 Pro has RAID support and gets solid reviews. I have the IP35, which also has RAID but lacks a couple of luxuries like an external CMOS switch for when you goof a setting and it won't boot. The pro also has dual G-lan, my plain IP35 has single.

That didn't stop me from hitting a nice 400x9=3.6 ghz OC on my Q6600. And after rebate the IP35 was a wallet-pleasing $100. Abit also has a forum full of experienced hands willing to pitch in when you have a question or problem.

Edit: I just noticed the OP was interested in SLI. The IP35 Pro won't do that. But you don't need it for HD DVD or Blu-ray. I run HD DVD smooth as silk with a lowly HD 2600XT.

 

[fortunatio]

Hello all,
I am a brand new member here and can share my experiences with the following build

Intel Q6600 (B3) running @ 3.0 GHz with stock cooler
ASUS P5k Deluxe Wifi AP
2 x 1GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2-800 (rated 4-4-4-12)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT dual DVI (fanless Gigabyte SilentPipe II)
Antec Sonata III with Earthwatts PS
Seagate 500 GB sata/300
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
addt'l low speed internal chassis fan for cooling the chipset, DRAM and GFX card

I am currently using BIOS default jumperless settings "AUTO" with only the following exceptions:

CPU FSB 333
DRAM Memory Freq 800
DRAM Timing 4-4-4-12


Firstly, system runs fast and stable, and never shuts down. It is also reasonably quiet. I observe 50 degree core temp readings using the ASUS PCProbe (which I understand from this forum may be seriously underreporting the actual temps). Sad to say, my Vista experience has been an unbelieveable drag: virtually nothing installs or works first time. Always lots of fiddling, system updates that continue to reinstall themselves, compatibility issues, etc. Tried like hell to get my pair of WD raptor 74GBs to play raid0 with this ASUS board, but each time I configured them (ie fresh install of Vista) the intel controller would report "drive errors" within a day or two. These drives continue to work just fine back in my old MSI Neo-FSR with the Via controller. Tried to get two different HDTV subsystems to play with Vista's Media Center with no luck: KWorld's Conexant based PCI 120 HDTV card and Pinnacle's brand new USB based Ultimate HDTV stick - which both claim Vista compatibility. Gonna keep this system in the office, but have decided switch to Apple for the living room. Finally, I suspect that I might be able to coax more performance out of the memory, but don't have a very good handle on what parameters I should be shooting for... besides it appears that adding another 2GB memory (around $50) would buy more performance than any minor fiddling with the DDR2-800 that I already have in there. Well, that's my report.

 

[fortunatio]

Here's an update to my previous post, I got the DRAM running much faster and my PC Pitstop CPU and Memory benchmark speeds increased 50%! System runs incredibly snappy now.

I am currently using P5K Deluxe BIOS default jumperless settings "AUTO" with only the following exceptions:

CPU FSB 333
DRAM Memory Freq 1000
DRAM VOltage 2.2 V
DRAM Timing 5-5-5-15

TechExpress link for your current results:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/teche...sp?id=N1K9HW8ZV6VSTMVV

 

[jmmtn4aj]

I use the LP UT P35 T2R so you know what my recommendation's going to be

 

[GFORCE100]

Asus Maximus Formula.