What Conroe motherboard I should get?

[imported_Someone2]

Hi

I am going to get a system which has following parts, and I have been thinking what motherboard I should buy.

-2.4GHz Conroe
-7950GT graphics card
-2GB 800MHz DDR2 (2x 1024MB OCZ CL4 Platinum XTC kit)

It also must have the following features:
-it must have support for 2 IDE-connected optical drives
-it must be able to work with a Promise FastTrak100 IDE controller
-it must have support for 800MHz DDR2
-it should support 4 DIMMs at 800MHz DDR2 in case I decide to add another gig of ram

Of course it would have to be problem-free and as inexpensive as possible. Keep in mind Im NOT going to overclock or use SLI. So what motherboard would you suggest?


EDIT:
I have been looking at MSI P965 Neo, Asus P5B and P5B-E. What do you think of these?

 

[imported_Someone2]

Anybody?

 

[avi85]

Based on the fact that you are getting a 7950GT, I'm gonna assume that you like playing games in which case I would strongly suggest getting 2 GB of RAM right off the bat (and not waiting), as far as conroe mobo's go I'm no expert but I here good things about the DS3

 

[imported_Someone2]

Does 2GB of RAM have a big impact on Windows XP? I have thought that 1GB would be plenty unless you are going for Vista. And 800MHz DDR2 is quite expensive, after all.

 

[Capt Caveman]

If money is an issue, you should look at an E6300 or E6400, overclock it to E6600 speeds then use the money save to buy 2gb kit of DDR2. Multi-tasking, gaming, Photoshop, etc will all greatly benefit by having 2gb of ram.

 

[imported_Someone2]

Hmm.. I guess I'll get 2GB RAM then.. I just was under impression that 2GB of RAM doesn't benefit you much in XP, and by the time I would have needed it, it would have become cheaper. I can save that 100? (and a bit more) by ordering the parts from Germany instead of buying them here in Finland. (Finland is very expensive country, 340? or 430$ for E6600, yuch)

The reason I was going for 1GB RAM instead of E6400 was that it is a lot easier (and cheaper) to add memory than replace CPU, as when you add memory you can keep the original ones.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Someone2
Hmm.. I guess I'll get 2GB RAM then.. I just was under impression that 2GB of RAM doesn't benefit you much in XP, and by the time I would have needed it, it would have become cheaper. I can save that 100? (and a bit more) by ordering the parts from Germany instead of buying them here in Finland. (Finland is very expensive country, 340? or 430$ for E6600, yuch)

The reason I was going for 1GB RAM instead of E6400 was that it is a lot easier (and cheaper) to add memory than replace CPU, as when you add memory you can keep the original ones.

If by "in xp" you mean explorer and office then you're right, but from what I understood you plan on gaming and it is very beneficial for gaming, much more so than going from an e6400 to an e6600.

Edit: don't forget that vista is just around the corner and it seems to use more ram than xp

 

[avi85]

As far as your choice for mobos goes, did you take a look at this?

 

[imported_Someone2]

That is actually quite useful link, thanks.

Btw, what difference there is between Gigabyte S3 and DS3 boards? According to that link there seems to be no difference except the cost..


Oh, and is the MSI P965 Neo-F any good? That is at least quite inexpensive board.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Someone2
That is actually quite useful link, thanks.

Btw, what difference there is between Gigabyte S3 and DS3 boards? According to that link there seems to be no difference except the cost..


Oh, and is the MSI P965 Neo-F any good? That is at least quite inexpensive board.

According to this thread the only differences between the 2 boards are:
1. The ethernet controller (the model number is different by like 1 digit, it's basically the same...)
2. According to this post, The DS3 has solid state capacitors which basically means that the board will last longer.

As far as the MSI board is concerned it seems to have crap reviews at newegg, not one 5-star (egg) review out of 16

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Someone2
That is actually quite useful link, thanks.

Btw, what difference there is between Gigabyte S3 and DS3 boards? According to that link there seems to be no difference except the cost..


Oh, and is the MSI P965 Neo-F any good? That is at least quite inexpensive board.

The DS3 has solid state caps which mean according to Gigabyte a longer lifespan for the mobo. It seems that at least for a while the DS3 was getting better OCs but that only made a difference in extreme cases.

 

[imported_Someone2]

Hmm.. I guess I'll look for S3 or DS3 then..

 

[imported_Someone2]

On the other hand, I read from the DS3 thread that it is picky with memory.. I could get Corsairs memory, but that is more expensive. Is Asus P5B less picky with memory? And is it a good board otherwise?

EDIT: Or, how about this memory?

http://www.mindfactory.de/cgi-bin/MindS...6273fc0a801ed067b/Product/View/0019776

EDIT2: Yes, and will the Jmicron controller co-operate if I use my PCI RAID card?

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Someone2
On the other hand, I read from the DS3 thread that it is picky with memory.. I could get Corsairs memory, but that is more expensive. Is Asus P5B less picky with memory? And is it a good board otherwise?

EDIT: Or, how about this memory?

http://www.mindfactory.de/cgi-bin/MindS...6273fc0a801ed067b/Product/View/0019776

EDIT2: Yes, and will the Jmicron controller co-operate if I use my PCI RAID card?

This might get more responses if it were posted here.

 

[imported_Someone2]

Good idea..

 

[imported_Someone2]

I think I'll get either DS3 (found some other memory than OCZ that doesn't bankrupt me) or P5B. So which one is generally more stable and problem-free?

 

[Skott]

I would hazzard a guess the P5b is a little more stable but they are probably the same in that regard now after all the BIOS updates both have received. I believe the P5B is the better overclocker if you are into that sort of thing. The P5B-E is out now I think so you may want to consider it if you like the P5B.

 

[TheSlamma]

I have the DS3 and have questioned my purchase a few times already. I had 2 ASUS boards before and never had any issues.. now I am seeing a few funny things I don't like on the Giga-byte.

 

[imported_Someone2]

I guess it is P5B then..

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I have the DS3 and have questioned my purchase a few times already. I had 2 ASUS boards before and never had any issues.. now I am seeing a few funny things I don't like on the Giga-byte.

Like what? I've got mine, with my E6600 and my OCZ platinum at 3.2ghz with default voltage on everything (had to set the RAM voltage manually) with great stability. I've yet to have a random reboot that wasn't cause by an app and OCing has been super easy.

I'm coming from an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe (Rev 2) that had a lot more quirks than this one, especially the sound issues (although I haven't used the built in sound on my Gigabyte since I now have an X-Fi.)

 

[cmdrdredd]

If you get a P5B do not get the standard version. Get the P5B Deluxe or P5B-E (new model). The regular P5B that has been out is not as good an overclocker in general and has a few less features. Take a look at the specs and decide if it's what you want.