Best motherboards for the Core 2 Duos?

[Swany420]

I am in the process of building a new pc for the first time and of course i am going to get the new core 2 but i am clueless on motherboards and need some suggestions on some great gaming mother boards.

With SLI because ATI was bought by AMD and i dont know how well the drivers would work if i got a ATI with the intel. So i am going nvidia 500 series and i need some opinnions on what ones work the best with the core 2

 

[weilin]

ehhh, sorry but ill edit this reply within the next week or so. After i see whether these ATI/NVidia board really exist or not. As of now, i haven't seen one so suggestions would be rather difficult.

If you want a board now, may i recommend Abit's AB9 (pro). It seems to have everything a person would want and is from a reputible company. Its based on the INtel P965 chipset so it supports Conroe. I've gotten too many mixed reviews about Gigabyte's GA-965P-DS3 that im not sure what to say abuot it. So i wont say anything about it.

 

[redraider_gamer]

Unless your willing to wait a while, go with the one that's solid as a rock and available right now. Intel's D975XBXLRK (make sure it's Bios 304 or after, I called Tiger to make sure before I placed the order, older bios' are not Conroe ready). Install was easy (see below). The system runs great! I'm a BF2 addict and on my AMD3200 Baryon I alwasy spawned in three minutes after everyone one else. With this new system, I spawn in so fast I now have to wait for other to shoot. I have everything turn up full and no lag -no drag!

I wouldn't hesitate to use the Intel D975XBXLRK!

Two minor install issues:

The 2x4 power connector was confusing the way the documentation reads. You simply have to use a real 2/4 connector for Conroe, you can't use the 2x2 with a 2x4 connector.

Watch the Intel system utilities. It wants 2.05v for the CPU and Conroe only takes 1.15v. Doesn't look like Intel has upgraded the stock utilities on their MB CD's in a while.

My rig:
X6800 Conroe stock clock (for now)
Intel D975XBXLRK
2 GB Corsair Pro PC6400 4-4-4-12
ATI X1900XTX
74GB 10k Raptor
Soundblaster Audigy 2 SZ
Thermaltake Big Typhoon HSF
Ultra X-Finity 600W

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