Which Mobo for my new setup?

[phunghuyhau]

So I've compiled my wants into a system for gaming. This is my second built system, so im still a noob and any help is appreciated. Here are the specs:

CPU: E6850
RAM: G.Skill F2-8500CL5D-2GBHK 2 GB DDR2-1066 Kit
Mobo:?
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[cmdrdredd]

Will you overclock? If not then the Intel P35 board is the most stable out there. If you are overclocking then either the Abit IP35, Asus P5K, or Gigabyte DS3R would be my choices.

 

[Blazer7]

Are you interested in a multi-GPU setup ? (SLI/Crossfire). Are you planning on upgrading your mem from 2 to 4 GB anytime soon ?

-----------------------------
GA-N680SLI-DQ6 rev1
ASUS EN8800GTX
E6850 or Q6600 (G0) sometime next week
E6600 (former CPU)
4GB @1066 4-3-3-5-2T@2.275V (2 x G.Skill F2-8500PHU2-2GBHZ) + OCZ XTC Cooler

 

[cmdrdredd]

quick bump for ya...answer our questions and we'll make some suggestions.

 

[phunghuyhau]

Yes, I want to overclock, which mobo competition? P5K Deluxe or GA-N680SLI-DQ6 or GA-P965-DQ6?

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'd go with P5K. I've heard less problems than other boards based on P35.

 

[orion23]

SLI?

If no, then any premium P35 if you want RAID, ESATA, better cooling, Dual Lan, etc

Abit P35 Pro, Asus P5K Premium (same as deluxe, only newer and hopefully without the SATA / Bios flashing issues), Gigabyte P35 DQ6

They are all just as good. Base it on the features you need...How many SATA ports, PCI slots...

 

[nitromullet]

I wouldn't spend that kind of cash on a P35 board. P35 is Intel's mainstream chipset, so no matter what cooling and extra voltage control motherboard makers put on their boards, it's still a midrange board. That stuff may help you eek out a teeny bit more MHz out of your CPU when overclocking if you really know what you are doing, but probably not enough to notice in the real world. I would go for one of the boards under $200 that has a decent feature set that you will actually use. I'm personally considering the the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P, MSI P35 Platinum, or Abit IP35 (Pro). This is saying a lot for me, since I am generally an Asus man, but they have just really gone off the deep end with adding a bunch of useless crap I don't need and charging a premium for it lately.

Now is not the time to drop big money on a motherboard anyway as 680i and 975X are reaching the end of their life cycles as high end chipsets relatively soon, and all the "high end" P35 boards are just twinked out, overpriced midrange boards.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: phunghuyhau
Yes, I want to overclock, which mobo competition? P5K Deluxe or GA-N680SLI-DQ6 or GA-P965-DQ6?

Before I got my G.Skills I had contacted G.Skill as to whether the memory would work fine with the GA-965P-DQ6. They said yes so I went ahead with the purchase. The memory worked but not without problems (sometimes it wouldn?t boot). My GA-965P-DQ6 was rev1 not rev2 or rev3.3 but the bottom line was that I had to change mobo. That?s how I ended up with the GA-N680SLI-DQ6. I do not know if the GA-965P-DQ6 rev3.3 will work flawlessly but I would definitely avoid it just to be on the safe side. I don?t think that anybody can guarantee that it will work fine If you upgrade your mem to 4GB. Besides, the P35 and 680 solutions are much better.

The GA-N680SLI-DQ6 is not the top overclocker with the quads but has no problem with the Duos. On top of that it is packed with features and its quality is unrivalled. nVidia stated that the 680 boards will work with Penryn also with just a BIOS upgrade but this remains to be seen. On the bad side all 680 boards are getting hot and are expensive. On the good side these boards are more mature compared to the P35s.

The P35 boards like the GA-P35-DS3P are probably the best choice right now as they offer good performance, decent oc and are not too expensive but have in mind that the X38 chipset is not that far away. In fact it is scheduled for release July/early August and its aimed at the high end of the market. This will feature PCI-E 2.0, DDR2 and DDR3 and will be teamed with Intel?s ICH9/ICH9R southbridge. As soon as the X38 mobos start hitting the market expect the price of the P35 and 680 boards to start dropping.