Trying to chose a motherboard... please help.

[atp777]

Hey guys. I've been going back and forth over building a new system for a while and even posted a few samples of what I would do. But, budget constraints and needs were not to allow it until now. My current mother board has a short in it somewhere and the LED's flicker and the AGP slot doesn't always have power. So, the time has come.

I know that I'm going with an e4300 until I can drop in a Q6600 later in the fall, but what I'm mainly concerned about is the motherboard. Originally I was going to go with the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, since have wondered about the Intel DP35DPM for a possible upgrade to Penryn later on.

I know it still uses DDR2 and I'm not really worried about that. Just wondering what the consensus is on the Intel Board. The other ones are out of my budget currently, otherwise I'd go with the GA-P35-DS3R.

Thanks!

 

[skyguy]

Go from a crappy AGP to a P35/Q6600, then a Penryn :?: :!: Wow, you win the lottery or something? That's a helluva bunch of upgrades in a short time. Not to mention a new PSU, graphics card, RAM, amazing cooling, etc, etc. I hope you have the coin to build a brand new system as well, plus upgrades. If so, kudos to you!

For the pricing you're talking about upgrading TO, why fret about a motherboard? It's peanuts compared to the cash you'll need to drop on the upgrades you're talking about. So why not get the 965-DS3 now, then just get a P35/Penryn later and sell the 965/Q6600? By then, the BIOS will be mature, DDR3 prices will be dropping, DDR2 won't slow you down, and so on.

Quite frankly, I fail to see the logic of your upgrade path, sorry. It seems a bit........counterproductive.

 

[atp777]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, your way does seem to be more logical. I guess I just didn't want to buy a new motherboard quite so soon. But since quads will work on the 965s, yeah I think I'll go that way.

Anyone else have any other ideas, opinions?

 

[haywood]

DS3 is a great board but there is a good selection of P35 boards out there right now. That is what I would go for!!