Motherboard Help

[ingame]

I am looking to build a new system and would like some advice on what motherboard I should purchase. I plan on purchasing the following components.

Intel Q6600 Quad core cpu and EVGA 512-P3-N808-AR

GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO SuperClocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Memory - Whatever is compatabile with the motherboard, DDR2 should suffice, but ddr3 would also be fine.

I am not looking to overclock anything, but would like the capability to upgrade to a better cpu sometime down the road. I guess my real delema is finding a good motherboard the will support PCI 2.0 x16. I would really like to purchase a cost effective motherboard, somewhere under $200, I just don't know enough about motherboards to know which one would be best. I am also not sure if I want to SLI the videocard I am purchasing down the road or just purchase a better card with a newer GPU in a year. I am using this machine for gaming.

Thank you for your adivice and any constructive critisism.

 

[Andrius]

If you don't care about SLI get a P35 board (doesn't have PCIE 2.0).
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L/R/P models
Asus P5K PRO/E/PREMIUM models
If you still want PCIE 2.0 wait for P45(comes out in two to three weeks).
If you want SLI within this pricerange 750i is the only available option (that still makes sense).
ASUS P5N-D
EVGA 750iFTW
MSI P7N Platinum
There are however some issues with these boards (read the low rated reviews on newegg.com for each board to see what I mean).

For now not having PCIE 2.0 is not really a handicap. If you plan on keeping this board for a while (say 2-3 years) you might want to get PCIE 2.0. The benefits of getting such a board will be slim until late in it's lifetime. At that point it will likely limit the graphic card's performance anyhow.

 

[aevm]

I would pick between GA-P35-DS3L and GA-EP35-DS3R. Get the DS3R if you need RAID or more than 4 SATA ports.

Get a 8800GTS G92 512MB if you can, it's faster and better cooled and it overclocks better. It works fine on these P35 MBs even though they have PCI-E 1.

There are CPUs better than the Q6600 already, e.g. the Q6700, QX9770, etc. but they are expensive and not that much better than a Q6600, especially when the Q6600 is overclocked. That is, an upgrade from Q6600 would not be justified now. I'm guessing it won't be really worth it in 6 months either. After that, Intel's new CPUs will require a new socket type, so you'd need a new motherboard anyway. Get the cheapest motherboard that still has the features you need, and don't worry about upgrading the CPU on it ever.

Get a good cooler (e.g. HDT-S1283) and overclock that Q6600 whenever you feel the need to upgrade the CPU. That should give you a 50% boost (from 2.4 GHz to 3.6 GHz) and it's only $40 or so.

RAM: for best results something like 2x2GB DDR2-800.

 

[ingame]

If wanna oc the q6600 do i need to oc my motherboard also, or anything else? One of the articles on Toms stated that your cpu needs to be atleast 2.6 or higher to take full advantage of 3d imaging with g92 cards.

 

[Andrius]

Q6600 uses a stock FSB of 266MHz.
P35 runs upto 333MHz FSB stock. So does nForce 750i.
That puts your Q6600 at 3.0GHz. Above that you have to overclock your motherboard.

The exception would be X38/X48 that run 400MHz stock and that puts a Q6600 at 3.6GHz.