Deciding between Two P965 MB's - ASUS P5B and MSI P965 Plat

Either company makes a good product, I own multiple MB's from both companys. If you go ASUS be sure and get the P5B Deluxe version with the 8 phase voltage regulators. The P5B (Plain) does not have the stronger voltage support when overclocking. I'm using the P5B Deluxe 965 and have great success with it. Easy choice for me. I'd go with ASUS.

What about the P5B-E or the Gigabyte GA-965PDS3? I think the P5B-E has voltage support.

I'm considering one out of those, too.

I'd probably get the E6600 when it goes on sale but I am not planning on overclocking. Out of those three boards, which do you recommend?

are those your sure two picks for a motherboard because if its the 965 series you want then i would pick the dfi p965-s dark.... http://csd.dficlub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1068... its suppose to be faster than the p5b and it oced a qx6700 to 3357 with a 480 fsb i think you should consider this motherboard too

Read the reviews of the MSI board and you'll soon see the choice is clear.

The Plague? VD? SARS? MSI mobos? :roll:

My Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 Rev 3.3 hasnt let me down! Although its a crossfire board, but I'm never going to go SLI anyway, one 8800GTX is enough for me.

ASUS! No doubt! Better support, overclock etc. Unfornately MSI is good only on stock clock and FSB. Anything different it does not work well. I have one MB but with AMD processor and I can say it is only stable with stock setup. Gigabyte does a good job either but Asus is better.

If you're not short on cash and want good support, go with ASUS.
http://stores.tomshardware.com/rating_getprodrev.php/ma...

Otherwise, try Gigabyte GA-965PDS3.

I would go the with the Asus P5B deluxe board, and not with the basic P5B, due to it having a 3 phase regulator, verses a 8 phase one with the deluxe...
This helps achieve higher overclocks from more stable current...

OP has already opened another thread asking which 590 chipset board is better. Maybe that's why he doesn't respond to any reply in this thread. I returned a 590 board because of poor performance.

The 8 Phase voltage regulator system is a great feature well worth the money. P5B plain is missing this feature. I had the P5B-VM without this feature and returned it due to lack of performance.

Per ASUS website p5B-Deluxe

8 Phase Power Design

Cooler and quieter system
Longer components lifespan
More stable and reliable under heavy-loading and overclocking

The ASUS 8-Phase Power Design provides highly efficient operation to generate less heat (at least 15°C (59°F)) than other conventional power solutions. It reduces input ripple current and output ripple voltage, which keeps CPU and power module from suffering the risk of high power stress. It has the advantages of quick transient response and stability, especially beneficial when CPU requires more current immediately under heavy loading or overclocking mode.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... the p965-s is out on newegg which is less than the asus version and alot faster too

OP is not asking about DFI. Yeah, I've used DFI many times and the company's MB are way down on my list.

Maybe the OP has left but some people are still paying close attention to this thread.  

I'm considering:
Asus P5B-E and P5B Deluxe (the P5B-E is cheaper; the P5B-E Plus is not available to me, unfortunately. Is this board only available in Europe or something?)
MSI P965 Platinum
Gigabyte GA-965PDS3
Biostar TFORCE 965P (cheapest mb but few features)

I want an all-purpose motherboard (computer) that would be used as a HTPC, Windows XP and Linux dual boot system.

I doubt I'd be overclocking but it's nice to have as an option if it's between two boards and one advantage is better overclocking. It shows versatility, right?

seems to be, same as the Gigabyte DS4 isn't in the US either.


also consider the abit AB9 series especially for overclock/performance the QuadGT although it's a little dearer - even in basic AB9 form you get a lot of features for your money as uGuru is the best hardware monitor/fan control offered by any mfr.

With the MSI platinum that is exactly my system.
And when my MSI mobo arrived it stated on the box that is was quad core compatible.

Money issue here. If you go with the MSI, you are not going to be able to overclock as much, so save some cash and get the 667MHz XMS2 SDRAM.
If you go for the ASUS, and are serious about overclocking, stick with the 800MHz.

Personally, where overclocking is concerned, I do not intend to "shoot the moon" (to quote the THG review) and went with the MSI for cost reasons.

And I love it!

Is there any chances mbs will reduce in price after the Intel CPU price cuts?

If not, I am looking at some current prices under $200. These are the lowest prices I could find for the following boards:

Abit AB9 Pro $174
Asus P5B-E $170
Asus P5B $134.90
Biostar TForce 965PT $129.99
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 $141.74
MSI P965 Platinum $165
(note: in Cdn funds)

Given that I will use the computer for all-purpose and in particular, as a HTPC and doing a lot of video (encoding) tasks, which of the above boards would anyone recommend? The OS installed would be Windows 2000, XP and a Linux distro in a multi-partition setup. But, I would usually be in 2000 or XP doing video-oriented tasks such as encoding and creating DVDs. I would like the option of overclocking but it's not essential and isn't the main factor in choosing the mb.

Thanks for any responses. As you can see above, the prices are very similar. I'm wondering if I should go for the cheapest mb. I would like 3 PCI slots but I do believe all the boards would be suitable for what purposes I'd like it for.

Comments?

I have te P5B-deluxe Wifi and I love it. I'm only running a moderate OC on my 6600 (3.0Ghz) but I didn't need any voltage bumps at all, I just raised the fsb and boom, rock solid stable in dual prime torture tests. The board was easy to set up and I do all my bios updates from a flash drive (which works great). Anyhow, that's just my $0.02.

I mirror this reply...

So, you're recommending my Asus listings or are you saying to spend more and get the Deluxe? I'm just wondering what would be gained from going to the Deluxe? I have read that it's a good board but it's more expensive ($210) and I was thinking the P5B or P5B-E would be sufficient. I think it's the P5B-E and Deluxe that have the solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors?

the Deluxe models have 8-phase mosfet voltage regulators which insures a stable current is supplied to CPU and chipset, which enable it to run more stable than without, and reach highest overclocks...
The non deluxe P5's, use a 3-phase volt reg and are not as stable or overclocable... That alone to me is worth the difference...

in this kinda situation i would actually probably recommend a 975X chipset board because they have more features, and since the FSB isn't going to be a limiting factor (your probably going to oc to only 3.2 and after that cpu will probably be the limiting factor, so try a XBX, or a 975X platinum PowerUp, they are both great. Also, most 975X board have much faster memory for some reason (i know clock for clock, comparing my system with a DS3 it slaughters it in mem read, write, copy and latency.) so this may help a bit in video encoding and stuff like that.

I'm running a p5b-e and it has performed very well. I have not started to OC too much yet waiting for more stable drivers for vista. ASUS makes a great product.