C2D Best Motherboard ??!!!!

[FireBlade954]

Hi,
I'm going to buy a new system based on the Conroe E6600 and I realy can't decide which mobo I should buy...I'm found a few that IMO are good but I realy can't pick one up...
the mobo's I found are:
Gigabyte DQ6
Gigabyte DS4
Abit AW9D Max
Asus P5W DH DELUXE
Can anyone PLEASE help me out here ?!!
Some of them (or maybe all of them...) Supports quad core which I think is important, but I also want it to support dual graphics, and some websites says that the Intel P965 chipset doesn't support CrossFire and some says they does !!! Well...Does It ?!
Plus can someone tell me the different between the P965 and the G965?
Should I go with Intel 965 Chipset or the 975X, or maybe Nvidia or ATI ?
I'm so confussed 8O !!!!!
Thanks a lot for helping me out guys...
P.S
I'm not going to OC as I know I'm going to completly destroy my system so I will probably stay with stock speed...Just thought you should know...Ohh and sorry about my English...

 

[shata]

I dont know alot about c2d stuff, im a amd person. But i was told the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 is the best in general and for overclocking.

 

[BUFF]

join the club! :lol:
I've been trying to decide between the DS4 & AW9D for ages.
I've waited this long though that I'm going to wait & see how RD600 & nVidia's 680 turn out.

 

[FireBlade954]

Kinda happy to hear I'm not the only one having problems....but I realy need to decide as I'm selling my PC in 2 days !!!!
I'm doing a lot of multitasking....photoshop and burning stuff all the time so I want a fast Mobo !!! Ohh and I want to play some games again so...
I think the Abit is not available in my country yet...so I'm down to 3 mobo's now....Can someone PLEASE atlist tell me what the pros and cons of these 3 mobo's and whats the different between them ?? I want to order it tomorrow so PLEASE try to help me out here !!
Thanks a lot guys.

 

[dtechlogic]

same here still looking at those motherboard.

 

[sillywabbit]

Plus can someone tell me the different between the P965 and the G965?"
I can help you out here at least. G965 has onboard video, P965 does not

 

[diselement]

you guys should also look at the MSI 975x platinum, toms rated the best mobo overall currently available for C2D and it is pretty fairly priced

 

[rwaritsdario]

FSB champ = Asus P5B Deluxe
voltages champ = Gigabyte DQ6
975X champs (ideal for crossfire and OCing 4MB cache) = Foxconn 975X7AB and Abit AW9D-MAX.

Now go spread to the world like the gospel!

 

[rwaritsdario]

you guys should also look at the MSI 975x platinum, toms rated the best mobo overall currently available for C2D and it is pretty fairly priced

that mobo = shitte

 

[_TOMO_]

if your not going to overclock then the only things that should matter to you are-

1.price

2.features

3.board layout

intels 975 and 965 both offer crossfire.but 965 does'nt perform as good as the 975 in crossfire mode and some boards are not equiped with twin x16 slots for example the well known DS3 someone mentioned.

read reviews on which is going to best suit your needs and wants.

NOTE- you missed probably the best mobo of them all the P5B deluxe on your list.

 

[sillywabbit]

975X champs (ideal for crossfire and OCing 4MB cache) = Foxconn 975X7AB and Abit AW9D-MAX

That Foxconn didn't get such a favorable review.

http://pro-clockers.com/reviews.php?id=169&page=10

Have any good reviews on it Rwar?

 

[rwaritsdario]

SysOpt.com
I hope a BIOS revision is in what the reviews and differing. Otherwise well have a bit of a problem in our hands since both sites are really reliable.

 

[sillywabbit]

Well, one good thing. Your article has foxconn up to 387Mhz 100% stable and the article i quoted has the Asus up to 390Mhz so once the differences are sorted out, the Foxconn seems like a great contender. Hopefully, like you mentioned, just BIOS differences.

 

[Newf]

The BEST motherboard is always hard to define since there are so many high-end boards out there.
Two things that help me here are:
No need for overclock excellence AND you want good XFire/SLI performance.

OK...
For SLI consider the Asus P5N32-SLI Premium (NVidia 590)
3 PCI-E 16 slots that run 16x16x8 lanes.

For XFire consider the Intel BOXD975XBX (Intel 975/ICH7)
3 PCI-E 16 slots that run 8x8x4 or 16x0x4 lanes.

These boards allow you to run 2 fast videocards + a physics card.
The boards you listed either run their 2 PCI-E slots at 8x8 (975 chips) for Asus/Abit, or run 16x4 (965 chips) Gigabyte. 16x4 is a real kludge.

As was also mentioned above, other features and board layout should also drive your decision.

 

[asa_riey0000]

well I have Gigabyte 965P-DS4 and C2D 6400 runs at 450 fsb solid stable...afaik 965 board have 2 PCI express lanes run at 16x primary and 4x secondary so not the best to run dual graphics..DS4 and DQ6 almost has same setup only differs onboard audio,CPU power regulator,"stack cool" thing and quad bios..

if you really want dual GPU,go with either 975x as they offer same pci express speed(8x8) or nVidia 590sli(16x16)..
or if you can wait little more,get new nVidia 600-series mobo that will out in mid-november..that mobo is the upgrade version of 500-series...

 

[rwaritsdario]

These boards allow you to run 2 fast videocards + a physics card.

You wouldnt need a third PCI x16 to run a current physics card.

If youre going that high end on pure gfx you might as well wait for th new chipset from ATI and Nvidia that are coming up. Rumor has it that this will ready for assymetrical setups and such.

 

[Newf]

Afaik, the main advantage that NVidia's 680i chipset has over the 590 for Intel is in overclocking. The 590 just does not OC well.

 

[FireBlade954]

I see...so let me ask you this, for upcoming games, do I need SLI\CrossFire or will a single 512mb card will do?
I read that the C2D perform best with Intel chipsets so I think I'll go with the 965...I think the ATI X1900XT is 512mb...as I mentioned before, I don't think I'll OC the system because first I don't know anything about OC and I think when you OC your system you're damaging it lifetime, right?! I'm from Israel and that kind of PC cost A LOT !!! the E6600 cost 390USD, DQ6 for example is around 280USD, X1900XT will probably cost around 350USD so buying it with GOOD money and then destroy it with a stupid OC attemp...I guess I'll kill myself like 3 second after i'll smell the system fry
Look, let me tell you again my needs, I'm doing multitasking like Virtual Machine, Photoshop, Nero etc. I also want it to support the latest games and upcoming games because I figure if I'm gonna spend 1600USD it better do everything the best right??
So again, after reading this reply, tell me which Mobo I should get (you can scrap the list I made earlier ) and I won't mind getti'n help with the memory as well...I'm thinking of 2GB G.Skill 800mhz CL4 (4-4-4-12) but can also get Kingston or Geil for a little more money (both 800mhz CL4)
Thanks so much guys !!! You're the best !!!

 

[rwaritsdario]

I see...so let me ask you this, for upcoming games, do I need SLI\CrossFire or will a single 512mb card will do?
I read that the C2D perform best with Intel chipsets so I think I'll go with the 965...I think the ATI X1900XT is 512mb...as I mentioned before, I don't think I'll OC the system because first I don't know anything about OC and I think when you OC your system you're damaging it lifetime, right?! I'm from Israel and that kind of PC cost A LOT !!! the E6600 cost 390USD, DQ6 for example is around 280USD, X1900XT will probably cost around 350USD so buying it with GOOD money and then destroy it with a stupid OC attemp...I guess I'll kill myself like 3 second after i'll smell the system fry
Look, let me tell you again my needs, I'm doing multitasking like Virtual Machine, Photoshop, Nero etc. I also want it to support the latest games and upcoming games because I figure if I'm gonna spend 1600USD it better do everything the best right??
So again, after reading this reply, tell me which Mobo I should get (you can scrap the list I made earlier ) and I won't mind getti'n help with the memory as well...I'm thinking of 2GB G.Skill 800mhz CL4 (4-4-4-12) but can also get Kingston or Geil for a little more money (both 800mhz CL4)
Thanks so much guys !!! You're the best !!!

Im sorry if you already know this. But in case you dont, I need to say it: The amount of memory has NOTHING to do with performance. Its been proven that 512mb over 256mb only gives you a top of 4% increase in performance.

The secret to safe OCing are low voltages and cool temps. At 2.2v vDIMM and 1.4v vCORE (whats wusys guide suggests) the system will still last 8+ years (alot more for the processor) using it 24/7.

The DQ6 might not be the best choice since you wont be using its extreme voltages capabilities. The Gigabyte DS3 uses all solid capacitors and will last long enough to sit at a museum. The Asus P5B Deluxe will flyyy in FSB.

The type of memory depends only on how far you want to OC. 667 with 4-4-4-12 timings will give you 400+Mhz CL5 = 3.6Ghz on that E6600.

Youll need a HSF, Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is the best bang for buck ive seen around.

 

[FireBlade954]

Thanks for your answer but I think you wrote a lot on something I'm NOT going to do
It'll be great if you could just read my last reply and help me with the Mobo and Memory for my needs...not OC.
Thanks...

 

[rwaritsdario]

Thanks for your answer but I think you wrote a lot on something I'm NOT going to do
It'll be great if you could just read my last reply and help me with the Mobo and Memory for my needs...not OC.
Thanks...

If you arent going to OC at all then the cheapest quad-core capable motherboard paired with DDR2 533 will do. OCing is the only reason to get one of this high end motherboards and youll notice no real world performance going with expensive RAM without OCing.

 

[Newf]

I see...so let me ask you this, for upcoming games, do I need SLI\CrossFire or will a single 512mb card will do?
I read that the C2D perform best with Intel chipsets so I think I'll go with the 965...I think the ATI X1900XT is 512mb...as I mentioned before, I don't think I'll OC the system because first I don't know anything about OC and I think when you OC your system you're damaging it lifetime, right?! I'm from Israel and that kind of PC cost A LOT !!! the E6600 cost 390USD, DQ6 for example is around 280USD, X1900XT will probably cost around 350USD so buying it with GOOD money and then destroy it with a stupid OC attemp...I guess I'll kill myself like 3 second after i'll smell the system fry
Look, let me tell you again my needs, I'm doing multitasking like Virtual Machine, Photoshop, Nero etc. I also want it to support the latest games and upcoming games because I figure if I'm gonna spend 1600USD it better do everything the best right??
So again, after reading this reply, tell me which Mobo I should get (you can scrap the list I made earlier ) and I won't mind getti'n help with the memory as well...I'm thinking of 2GB G.Skill 800mhz CL4 (4-4-4-12) but can also get Kingston or Geil for a little more money (both 800mhz CL4)
Thanks so much guys !!! You're the best !!!

OK, many things have now changed.
The 965 chipset is indeed just as "fast" at stock speeds as the 975.
Motherboards using the 965 chipset tend to be "mainstream", i.e. mid-priced with fewer features than 975 offerings.
SLI/XFire is IMO not needed for excellent gaming performance, but does offer high performance at very high resolutions that single cards cannot match.
Memory rated above 533 is not needed (or even helpful) unless you overclock. Since you will not, then value ram using 1.8v will ensure a valid initial post without BIOS tweaking, run cooler and give 100% performance.
Consider the components listed below:
MSI P965 Neo-F LGA775 965 ATX Conroe $93+6 10/21/06
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130052
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=P965_Neo-F&class=mb
Hardwarezone Review MSI P965 7/21/06
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=1987&cid=6&pg=1
OR, if you prefer Intel:
Intel BOXDP965LTCK LGA775 P965 ATX Conroe $107+6 10/21/2006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

Ram:
Kingston value DDR2 2G 533 KVR533D2N4K2/2G $224+5 10/21/06
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144157
IMO you WILL WANT 2GB, not to increase benchmark performance but to prevent multitask hard disk page swaps. This will be faster and smoother in real world usage.

The Conroe 6600 + ATI card will give you excellent performance.

Buy a quality power supply.

 

[NitroXpress]

SLi/Crossfire is, IMO, a waste of money - especially if you don´t have a screen thats able to support high resolutions. A single highend card is often the most costeffective way to get sufficient frames and quality when gaming.

 

[Sefk]

if i go with the TH review:

crossfire: MSI 975X Platinum Power Up Edition

nvidia(not on TH, but the choise is very limited: asus p5n32 sli deluxe

 

[FireBlade954]

:? I realy don't know what to do !!! I'm going to give (sell) my current PC on Thursday and I thought I'll have at least a board already...OK look, after reading all of your replies I think I'll might try to read some more about OC...maybe I'll do it but just a little...I'm thinking of buying the E6600 as it has 4mb L2 and it'll do things faster then E6400 2mb L2 right?
I saw the new upcoming nForce 680i board and it amazing but I don't know when they are going to release it and it'll probably cost around $300 so it is to much for me anyway so, do you think I shoud go with Intel chipsets or nVidia ??
BTW, Why running 2 PCI-E in different speed isn't ok ? I mean, like the P965 running at 16 and 4 ?
Is it worth buying the DQ6 over the DS4 or does the Asus (just pick one) is better ?
H E L P ! ! ! ! !