What is the "must have" Intel-based board at the moment?

[GTaudiophile]

It seems as if every generation of CPUs has a "must have" motherboad of the moment. Certain boards that offer the best combination of features/stability/performance/value.

So what is the current "must have" board for new C2D processors like the Wolfdale 3.0Ghz? I typically have always bought ASUS but also consider Gigabyte and maybe Abit. My typical mobo budget is $150-200, maybe $250 max.

I do not tend to OC, but I like full-featured boards that offer max satbility.

 

[DSF]

From what I've seen, there isn't a board like that right now. There are just too many solid options from several manufacturers for anyone to agree on one board as the cream of the crop. If you buy a P35 board from a reputable manufacturer, you probably won't go wrong.

 

[GTaudiophile]

How is Abit's reputation these days?

They use to be so-so.

 

[Snakexor]

http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16813136037

 

[Tempered81]

abits okay, i have a p35 abit, the bioses are wacky, had to roll back to an older 14 beta 05 bios for good stability. I'd say gigabtye. I loved my p965 gigabtye with my conroe. The good motherboards i know of are:

Dfi Blood iron p35
Asus p5k wifi deluxe
Dfi Lanparty UT p35 tr2
Gigabyte ga-p35-dq6
gigabtye ga-x38t-dq6
gigabtye ga-p35-ds4p
abit ip35-pro

I dont have much experience with nvidia chipsets like 680i, or 650,780,790

havent heard much good news about x38 or x48 except for ddr3 support

and suppsedly p45 will roxor with 4 x16 pci-e slots

 

[GTaudiophile]

Any comments on the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0?

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Any comments on the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0?

thats a great board, and the ds3p or dq6 versions of the p35

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Any comments on the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0?

Any of Gigabyte's P35 boards are good, it's a question of what features you need/want.

 

[Johnniewalker]

Hot Deals Thread for MSI p35

I'm very tempted to buy this MSI P35 board.

 

[KenAF]

With the next-generation Intel P45 chipset just over two months away, a budget P35 board like the MSI P35 Neo2-FR, Abit IP35-E, or Gigabyte P35-DS3L looks like the way to go.

 

[Mustanggt]

How do these new chipsets compare to the Asus P5b deluxe/P965 is it worth upgrading??

 

[KenAF]

Originally posted by: Mustanggt
How do these new chipsets compare to the Asus P5b deluxe/P965 is it worth upgrading??

If you have a P965, you are better off waiting until the P45 is out in a few months with ICH10. ICH10 brings some significant advancements over ICH9.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: KenAF
If you have a P965, you are better off waiting until the P45 is out in a few months with ICH10. ICH10 brings some significant advancements over ICH9.

Like what? More SATAs? Better SATAs? USB 3.0?

 

[socket462]

Why has there been no mention of X38/X48 Intel chipsets? Asus' Rampage Formula (X48) and Extreme are expected to be released within weeks- allowing for PCI 2.0 and many additional bios tweaking- as well as DDr2 support.

 

[Tempered81]

i cant wait for ddr2 support

 

[Peelback79]

Love my GA-P35-DS4 R.2. The comp I have now is my first ground up build ever. I just plugged everything in and the board recognized everything. After I hit power I was playing crisis in about half an hour (woulda been less but Vista took a while to load). It has great on board sound too, always a plus.

 

[bharatwaja]

Onboard sound doesnt matter a lot as long as u have vista...

As far as i can recall, i remember reading somewhere that Hardware acceleration for sound has been removed in vista and only software acceleration is available... somethng to do with directsound etc... but I dont remember.... Pretty confusing concept I must say... I did a google for Vista ultimate 64bit reviews and found one of the top results... cant seem to remember which one... though I remember it was a very reliable site and the reviewer was jamaican or so but from forums found out that he was very reliable too.... check it out if u can...

 

[djnsmith7]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
It seems as if every generation of CPUs has a "must have" motherboad of the moment. Certain boards that offer the best combination of features/stability/performance/value.

So what is the current "must have" board for new C2D processors like the Wolfdale 3.0Ghz? I typically have always bought ASUS but also consider Gigabyte and maybe Abit. My typical mobo budget is $150-200, maybe $250 max.

I do not tend to OC, but I like full-featured boards that offer max satbility.

I have the ASUS Maximus Formula & love it...It fired up the 1st time, no problems or issues & is a great Overclocker, even for a novice OC'er like myself...This was my 1st time overclocking & my E8400 went to 4.0 Ghz on air (Zalman 9700) with ease...The Northbridge gets very warm, but everything else was fine...& it's within your specified budget...

The product is packaged very nicely & the SupremeFX II HD audio is pretty darn good too...Not to mention it's also a Crossfire board, which I'm running, & the CF was pretty smooth as well...I'm running 8 GB of OCZ SLI DDR2-800 RAM & on Vista 64 & it's smooth as butter...