New and Exciting! E6600 Motherboard Choices!

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

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

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Quote :

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

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

ASUS or ABIT. I couldn't have done better myself. here is the ASUS list. beware of needed BIOS updates for core 2 duo readiness.

http://zeus.asus.com/hq/products1. [...] =txt/core2

Reply to badge

new boards now ship with the latest BIOS that supports Core 2 Duo

Reply to holcar

The latest ASUS BIOS for ASUS boards supporting Core 2 Duo is 7/31/06, Sunday. I have one.

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Quote :

ASUS or ABIT. I couldn't have done better myself. here is the ASUS list. beware of needed BIOS updates for core 2 duo readiness.

http://zeus.asus.com/hq/products1. [...] =txt/core2

Two quick questions:
1) ASUS or ABIT. Do you mean either Asus board or the AB9 or just the P5W/AB9 or just P5B/AB9? Thanks.

2) Can anyone here speak to the OC performance of the P5B with a retail E6600?

Reply to DaCarez

Since you mentioned the P5WDH first.

Here: The latest BIOS is 7/31/06

http://support.asus.com/download/d [...] uage=en-us

Model: P5W DH Deluxe BIOS History BIOS History

Map Latest All BIOS Drivers Utilities Manual

Beta Version 0901 2006/07/31 update

OS All

Description P5W DH Deluxe Beta BIOS 0901
Latest Beta BIOS

File Size 674.3 (KBytes)

Sory I can not speak to the Oc'ing ability. I don't own one!

Reply to badge

Hi,

You mentioned you have a Scythe Ninja. Is it that HUGE heatsink with a 120mm fan? I have one as well but haven't got a motherboard yet. Are you certain it can fit on the motherboards you mentioned? Can that CPU withstand its weight (its very small compared to previous CPUs I've seen).

Another thing I'd like to know, can we run it fanless? (Core2 is rated at 65W which is a lot lower than some high-end AMD/Pentium ones, so it could be possible, is it?).

Let me know how it goes!

Reply to AspireMe

When All of U were intel fans I was one of the first telling all my friends that Amd was just as good for less money and no one belived me . now Im telling u this .. Buy ECS since the release of their Extreme Series they are one of the big dogs but still being a tiny little company , well their probably billionares now but they make good mobos. either that or Msi.. Ive never used asus but they are way to expensive for line 2 or 3 fps more .. bah who cares buy what ever u guys want..

Reply to master9716

I like their new slogan over there, "Cutting edge innovation is not in our vocabulary. Let us run your CPU and watch the depression set in." 8O :wink:

Reply to badge

If you are looking for a board for the E6600, I would stay away from the Gigabyte DS3. It's a good board, but it doesn't OC the conroes (E6600) as well as the allendales (E6300). The P5W Board OCs well, but many on XS have had them die on them. The Abit is probably the best out of the bunch, minus the wacky layout. I haven't heard much yet from the P5B Deluxe boards, but so far Asus has not made a good showing for their Core 2 Duo boards at all, and its really, really overpriced. Some helpful links:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=101408

This thread will give you a summary of the thoughts and rants (good and bad) of the various board types. I would like to link to a few more threads from XS, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. Sorry. If you look around though, your questions should be answered quickly.

Reply to Vein

I think you might be right. ECS will have a P965 board coming out that looks really, really nice. No benchmarks seen as of yet though. I will try and provide some benchies for my DP965LT board, when I get her running, as that should be another solid, inexpensive board (no RAID though). ECS will also be making an RD600 board as well, so that ought to be a nice option, especially since you won't have to take out a loan for it like you will for the DFI version...

Reply to Vein

Quote :

If you are looking for a board for the E6600, I would stay away from the Gigabyte DS3. It's a good board, but it doesn't OC the conroes (E6600) as well as the allendales (E6300). The P5W Board OCs well, but many on XS have had them die on them. The Abit is probably the best out of the bunch, minus the wacky layout. I haven't heard much yet from the P5B Deluxe boards, but so far Asus has not made a good showing for their Core 2 Duo boards at all, and its really, really overpriced. Some helpful links:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=101408

This thread will give you a summary of the thoughts and rants (good and bad) of the various board types. I would like to link to a few more threads from XS, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. Sorry. If you look around though, your questions should be answered quickly.

After some more research I saw that the DS3 is clearly not a Conroe board. However, the Abit board is also a bit strange as you can see on their forum (Abit forum) that it is VERY picky about memory. So it appears I am between two (admittedly overpriced) Asus boards. I'm not much a fan of ECS to be honest.

Reply to DaCarez

Please explain why the DS3 is not a Core 2 motherboard.

Reply to CptCpu

Quote :

When All of U were intel fans I was one of the first telling all my friends that Amd was just as good for less money and no one belived me . now Im telling u this .. Buy ECS since the release of their Extreme Series they are one of the big dogs but still being a tiny little company , well their probably billionares now but they make good mobos. either that or Msi.. Ive never used asus but they are way to expensive for line 2 or 3 fps more .. bah who cares buy what ever u guys want..

Just FYI,

ECS is certainly not a "tiny" company. I think they still are the #1 company in volume shipments. They have supplied motherboards to OEMs, as a result, they've been the largest motherboard manufacturer for many years.

I know ASUS has gotten big now but, I don't think they have overtaken ECS in volume yet. If they have, it's not by much.

Peace.

Reply to 440bx

Quote :

Please explain why the DS3 is not a Core 2 motherboard.

Ah, why I shouldn't write so late at night . What I meant, is that the DS3 is better suited for overclocking the Allendales (2mb cache) than the Conroes (4mb). This is not to say that a Conroe will not work in a DS3, and thus the DS3 is in fact a Core 2 motherboard.

Reply to DaCarez

Now I get what you mean. I thought thats what you meant to say.

Reply to CptCpu

A quick question about the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe mobo. Has anyone completed a build with the mobo in the Antec P180 case???

Also, will this combo work ok with this PSU???? APEVIA (ASPIRE) ATX-AS680W-BL ATX12V/ EPS12V 680W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817148022

Thanks!

Reply to fishboi

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