Q6600 Motherboard Help

[futurism]

Recently Purchased a Q6600 processor, now i have the money for the motherboard, but do not know which would be my best purchase. Want it for overclocking and gaming, and spengin between 80 - 120 pounds. Any suggestions?

 

[deranged]

I would get an x38/48 chipset board by Asus or Gigabyte personally.
The reason for the x38/48, is for support of pci express 2.0. Other than that, the p35 chipset would do just fine. For sli, you need a 680 chipset, or the more expansive 780 chipset.

 

[zenmaster]

The P35-DS3L is a great board.

It does not cost much but is still quite nice for the needs of most.
You could upgrade to the DS3R if you need raid.

 

[Gravemind123]

Go with a good P35 board if you don't need Crossfire or SLI support(both really aren't worth it). An Abit IP35-E/Pro, Asus P5K-E or Gigabyte P35-DS3L/R are all great boards for overclocking.

 

[futurism]

cheers, well a good p35 sounds like a plan to me,

just weather to choose, Abit, Asus or Gigabyte

 

[Shadow703793]

The P35-DS3L is a great board.

It does not cost much but is still quite nice for the needs of most.
You could upgrade to the DS3R if you need raid.

Agreed. And also remember that Nehalm will be out by the end of next year making all current motherboard non-Upgradeable

 

[Shadow703793]

.............. pci express 2.0. Other than that, the p35 chipset would do just fine. For sli, you need a 680 chipset, or the more expansive 780 chipset.

No point in getting PCIe2.0 because the current PCIe1.0 has more than enough bandwidth. And also PCIe 2.0 is backward compatible.

 

[rockyjohn]

The P35-DS3L is a great board.

It does not cost much but is still quite nice for the needs of most.
You could upgrade to the DS3R if you need raid.

One other condsideration in deciding between the two is that the DS3L has only 4 SATA connectors on the MB but the DS3R has 8. This is often not mentioned but could be important depending on the number of drives - optical, HDD, and other - that you want to connect. You might also want an extra one to run eSATA out the front and/or back.

 

[deranged]

I know what your saying about the 1.0 pci express not being fully utilized, however I heard of problems with backward compatibility with new cards, maybe I was miss informed.

 

[aevm]

The P35-DS3L is a great board.

It does not cost much but is still quite nice for the needs of most.
You could upgrade to the DS3R if you need raid.

Seconded.
DS3R allows more hard disks and opticals and has a newer onboard audio chip.

 

[rockyjohn]

I know what your saying about the 1.0 pci express not being fully utilized, however I heard of problems with backward compatibility with new cards, maybe I was miss informed.

Do you mean the compatibility of PCIe 2.0 cards with a 1.0 mobo?
I am not aware of any 2.0 cards out yet so don't know how this could be.

The standards were written so that new 2.0 cards work in 1.0 mobos and new 2.0 mobos can use 1.0 cards - backwards and forwards compatibility. However do not confuse compatibility with performance. 2.0 cards in a 1.0 mobo will be limited by the mobo's slower 1.0 bus. This is not a practical issue right now as only the very top end cards come close to using the full 1.0 bus - but it could be with faster cards. Similarly 1.0 cards in a 2.0 mobo won't work any faster than in a 1.0 mobo as they are not fast enough to use even the full bandwidth of the 1.0 mobo.

 

[aevm]

Do you mean the compatibility of PCIe 2.0 cards with a 1.0 mobo?
I am not aware of any 2.0 cards out yet so don't know how this could be.

The standards were written so that new 2.0 cards work in 1.0 mobos and new 2.0 mobos can use 1.0 cards - backwards and forwards compatibility. However do not confuse compatibility with performance. 2.0 cards in a 1.0 mobo will be limited by the mobo's slower 1.0 bus. This is not a practical issue right now as only the very top end cards come close to using the full 1.0 bus - but it could be with faster cards. Similarly 1.0 cards in a 2.0 mobo won't work any faster than in a 1.0 mobo as they are not fast enough to use even the full bandwidth of the 1.0 mobo.

The 8800GT is PCI-E 2.0, for example. But who cares - it works just fine in motherboards with PCI-E 1.

 

[Shadow703793]

I know what your saying about the 1.0 pci express not being fully utilized, however I heard of problems with backward compatibility with new cards, maybe I was miss informed.

Rarely some people have problems with PCIe 2.0 cards, but those are in older motherboards.

 

[night_wolf_in]

The P35-DS3L is a great board.

It does not cost much but is still quite nice for the needs of most.
You could upgrade to the DS3R if you need raid.

thats damn right. ull get the best price/value with this board. (the best according to me, LMAO)

 

[DrMaV]

P35 chipset, from either Abit, Asus or Gibabyte.

This chipset is great, regardless of maker.

Next would be X38, then 680i for me.

I opted for the X38 Asus Maximus Formual SE, and have not been disappointed.

 

[apesoccer]

My 8800gt worked alright in my dfi nf4 board...for what its worth...I have a 6600, and am in the same boat, need to pick one up, think i'm going with the ga R over the L since L isn't available anyway (from newegg sold out).

 

[Vindicoth]

I would get a P35 motherboard. I think the Asus P5k-E is a good choice. Thats the one I was gonna get (w/ wifi) but it was out of stock so I spent a little more for overclocking ability and got a GA-P35-DS4 rev 2. Make sure you get a revision 2 though it has more USB ports and something else I don't recall.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1164&pageID=3917 heres a good review on it.