So many mobos...So little time....Please help me choose

[Rails]

I'm having a hard time figuring out which mobo I should go with and could use some advice. I'm looking for a P35 that OC's well, has at least 4GB DDR2 and can be upgraded to DDR3. Maybe something that supports DDR2 1200 or would I better off just sticking with DDR2 800? I'll be using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 that I may OC a bit. I'm assuming most mobos that accept Core 2 Duo's also accept the Quads if not I'd like it to have that option so I can upgrade at a later date. Video card will either be either a GeForce 7900 GS KO (if I can find it for less than $200) or a GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB which again I may OC a bit. I'm told both those cards are bulky so I guess I'd be looking for a "roomy" mobo if that makes any sense

Thanks in advance for any advice you can throw my way!!

 

[Maziar]

If u want a Motherboard that supports DDR2 and DDR3 , then u shall get ASUS P5KC or GIGABYTE P35C DS3R, however the DDR3 option is limited to 4GB and also these boards dont OC as well as ASUS P5K , GIGAYBTE P35 DS3R (which support only DDR2)

 

[BUFF]

There is no official spec. for DDR2 1200 - in fact anything over DDR2 800. That's why the Intel specs for P35 have DDR2 800 but DDR3 1066.

Don't MSI also have a combo mobo?

 

[geofelt]

Please reconsider your desire for DDR3 upgradeability. 4gb of ddr3 will currently set you back $700, compared to $200 for ddr2. For the difference, you could buy three new motherboards. And, the ddr2 you bought will be useless in a ddr3 motherboard. The combo ddr2 +ddr3 motherboards allow you to use one type or the other, but not both at the same time.
What about performance? The C2D processors are not very sensitive to memory speed. The difference in application performance(as compared to synthetic memory benchmarks) Is perhaps 2-4%. Is the difference worth it? I think only if you are into the bragging rights of extreme overclocking. I suspect that you would get more application performance out of 8gb than you would from faster memory than ddr2-800.

If you play games, the limiting factor for you with a E6850 will be the vga card. Get the best you feel comfortable buying. Use tha savings from ddr3 to get a 8800gts at least.

---good luck---

 

[Rails]

Thanks everyone for the responses!! After reading what you all had to say I think I'm going to reconsider my desire to upgrade to DDR3 and I won't concern myself with DDR2 1200.

I'll check out the two motherboards Maziar listed above but if anyone wants to throw a recommendation my way I'm all ears.

Thanks Again!

 

[mpkonig]

MSI p35 Platinum seems to overclock well...and has gotten good reviews all over the place....except for the bios problems they are having...and also....not alot of people like MSI on this forum it seems just a suggestion to look into....good luck

 

[ryanthesav]

are u a gamer?? Then ASUS Striker Extreme for sure!!! OCs' well and has everything u will ever need...if not i would still look at other asus options. I heard the asus P5K was ok...