Intel motherboard recomendation.

[Glorfindel]

I am considering undergoing the upgrade to an E6600 now that Intel has dropped prices on it... and whatever most cost effective ddr2 800 ram I can find with a good name. My concern is that I'm seeing many people recommending $200-300 motherboards. I don't really need a crazy super board of doom... I just want something to run my stuff, and maybe overclock decently in the future. I have no desire to run SLI... ever. I couldn't care less about the on board sound because I have a Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum. I'm running a Foxcon GeForce 7950gt currently and I don't plan on upgrading that for good while.

ASUS P5B Deluxe (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131028)

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3) (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128042)

The main difference seems to be the SLI capability... since I never plan on touching that overpriced technology, is the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 a good choice? Is the SLI the only reason people recommend the p5b so much and are willing to pay nearly twice as much?

Thanks in advance,
Glorfindel

 

[apt403]

If you dont care about wifi save $50 and get the regular P5B Deluxe, it's the same board, the only difference is the little wifi receiver on the mobo. Then the price difference is alot less. SLI capability is far from the only reason people choose the P5B over the DS3. Oc'ing ability, BIOS options, onboard fetures, the extra PCI-E slot, all reasons people choose the P5B. And some people just like Asus.

 

[techgeek]

Neither of those boards support SLI. Some of the 965 boards support a workaround for CrossFire, but it's not a proper implementation. So if your not into multi-GPU, either of those boards will work fine. The 965's are decent overclockers (if your into that). Pick either depending on the features you need.