C2D Value Motherboard

[laxman04]

Hi everyone,
Im buying a C2D e6400 and i'm wondering what would be a good choice for a value motherboard that has good overclocking potential. Anywhere between $100-$150. I'm not planning on running SLi on this setup. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Vile]

Asus P5B

 

[laxman04]

I've heard good things about the asus P5B, but it's kinda expensive. Also would this motherboard or any other recommended motherboard support pqi turbo ram pc5400 667mhz DDR2?

Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[jonnyli]

Right now there really arnt any value C2D motherboards, intel needs to make their money somehow right? I would wait for the Nforce C2D motherboards to come out, but im not sure how long thats going to take =\

 

[jaQa]

Hi,

you may wanna read this reviewReview of Value Core2Duo boards

There is little difference in performance between the different chipsets.

Some boards with "real" value:

Biostar TForce 945P
Biostar TForce 965 Deluxe - one of the least expensive 965 boards out there
ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 - also 945P

as i see it the 945 chipset is most promising cause:
-its an Intel chipset
-performance with 667 memory is on level with 965/975 chipsets
-it is coupled with ICH7R soutbrighe and supports PATA natively

Getting one of those boards give's you 99% performance of the 200$ boards with higher end (new overpriced) chipsets for less than half the price - easy decision isn't it ?

Christian

 

[jamesgoddard]

asrock have a huge range of value C2D motherboards.... http://www.asrock.com/index_english.html

 

[Newf]

MSI P965 Neo-F LGA775 965 ATX Conroe $110+6 8/18/06
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130052
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=P965_Neo-F&class=mb
Out of stock today. Replenishment due tomorrow...

 

[Vile]

Actually, that MSI is quite a nice budget board. Entry level for the P965 chipset, which is a nice chipset to use.

 

[Generals]

Hi,

you may wanna read this reviewReview of Value Core2Duo boards

There is little difference in performance between the different chipsets.

Some boards with "real" value:

Biostar TForce 945P
Biostar TForce 965 Deluxe - one of the least expensive 965 boards out there
ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 - also 945P

as i see it the 945 chipset is most promising cause:
-its an Intel chipset
-performance with 667 memory is on level with 965/975 chipsets
-it is coupled with ICH7R soutbrighe and supports PATA natively

Getting one of those boards give's you 99% performance of the 200$ boards with higher end (new overpriced) chipsets for less than half the price - easy decision isn't it ?

Christian

so your suggesting that its a better choice to get a 945 chipset mobo for Conroe processor, due to price (against the 965 chipset)?

coz i bn waiting for a 965G chipset, but if i can go for 945G that supports Conroe CPU's would be good choice.

 

[jaQa]

Hi,

so your suggesting that its a better choice to get a 945 chipset mobo for Conroe processor, due to price (against the 965 chipset)?
coz i bn waiting for a 965G chipset, but if i can go for 945G that supports Conroe CPU's would be good choice.

With G965-G945 it's another story, since G965 has a new integrated graphics too which is supposed to outperform G945 in terms of performance and feature set.

If you just need a integrated graphics for business use and watching a DVD's , G945 is fine.

But future G965 boards will have (depending on the board):
-video acceleration for HD video
-enough power to run Vista's Aeroglass interface
and dependant on the board
-maybe a DVI port instead of VGA D-Sub
-HDMI capability

So they differentiate much more than P965-P945 do.
The problem with G965 is that you'll have to wait for the boards themselves and for a finished driver for G965, since without a finished driver the G965 is not really useable expect for normal desktop use.

G965 - G945 bench
!!This bench is made with preproduction drivers, so it is highly "unfair" and by no means shows the real performance of G965. One can expect that with a finished driver G965 outperforms G945 clearly.!!

Depending on your budget it makes more sense to get a P945 board:

i would rather pick a
P945 board - 80€
Core2Duo E6600 - 330€
instead of
P965 board - 150€
Core2Duo E6400 - 240€

or rather investing the money saved on the board into the next higher graphics card. A better graphics card or CPU will raise performance much more than you'll loose through the chipset which is negligible.

P965 is more overclocking friendly, but these very cheap P965 boards lack overclocking bios features. I would rather get a E6600 with a 945P board and don't overclock it at all than a E6400 with a pricy board to push it beyond E6600 levels. Get real guys! There is not a present application that can push a E6600 to it's limits anyway... and in games you're limited by the graphics card.

This should give you enough considerations to decide on your own what is best for your specific needs.

Christian

 

[Generals]

thanks that was very helpful.

what about G945 vs P945? im considering a G945, so that just in case i lose my Videocard, i still can run my computer.

Any suggestion on a P945 board that supports Conroe?

thanks

 

[jaQa]

Hi,

what about G945 vs P945? im considering a G945, so that just in case i lose my Videocard, i still can run my computer.

it's very unlikely that a working videocard just dies ..., and even if it does you can just walk to the next shop and get a cheap card for $30 to replace it.

Some 945 boards to consider:
Asus P945 boards
be aware of the "* comments", on some boards you have to make sure you get a Revision 2 to be Core2Duo compatible

Gigabyte P945

Biostar TForce 945

Christian

 

[Vile]

I heard there's another version of the 965 chipset that does include onboard video. I think it's called G965.

Edit: I found it. Link

 

[cptblackeye]

I like this Intel P965 for a good budget board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035