best gaming chipset for core 2?

[Charliegrs]

this should be an easy one for guys
i was an AMD guy all the way until the core 2 came out. im in the process of building a system and i decided to go with the core2 instead of an athlon x2 4200 i originally planned for. my only problem is i know nothing about intels anymore! ive decided on a 6400 core 2, as it is pretty afforable. now i just need to get a motherboard, but i dont know what the best chipset is for gaming. i plan on also getting a 7950 series geforce, and i dont plan on doing any overclocking right away but i definitly want to have the option for the future when i learn more about it and my system starts to become slow. so whats my best option? a 965 chipset? or maybe one of the new nforce 6 series? ive been real out of the loop with intel the past few years so please excuse my noobishness

 

[Valtiel]

I was planning on getting a similar a similar setup (e6600/7950GT) and I was leaning towards the eVGA 680i sli board because i have read a lot of good reviews for it and it is less as expensive as the ASUS striker.

Also I like the color.

 

[cb62fcni]

Yep, at this point I'd definately have to go with the 680i. The eVGA is a good choice, as are the biostar and ecs versions (They're exactly the same). These are fairly expensive though, if you never plan on SLI, than the cheaper 965 is more than adequate for gaming. The Gigabyte DS3 is an excellent board.

 

[Charliegrs]

so this may sound like a dumb question but which is better, a 965 or a 975? and isnt there two versions of a 965?

 

[cb62fcni]

The 975 and 965 are pretty darned close in performance. The 975 offers slightly more features, but the 965 performs better in overclocking and generally costs less. There are 2 versions of the 965, the G and the P. The G includes an integrated graphics solution, but if you're getting a video card steer well clear of it, it'll only slow you down.

 

[cb62fcni]

Thanks, I try.

 

[Charliegrs]

yeah seriously thanks for straightforward info people i had no idea what the difference was between a g and a p but now that i know im gonna run from that g lol integrated graphics for gaming

 

[fjohn5068]

I have the abit ab9 pro (p965) board and a e6600. and so far the p965 is awesome for overclocking. I have it running with a fsb of 302 (2718 mhz) constantly without any issues. the p965's seem to use less power then the 975's and the sli's.

You might want to stay away from the sli if you dont plan on using SLI they seem to use the most power of all the boards