Q9300 Motherboard match-up!

[calvinmun]

Hey Tom's Hardware! I am new and this place looks like a great place to learn and teach some things that i know! But right now I need YOUR help!

I'm looking to purchase a Q9300 Intel QC Processor and I need to find a motherboard that fits it BEST. I don't need a good onboard sound card/video card/etc. I need a motherboard that does the job right!

I've been checking up on the Asus p5k series, but they're so many of them I dont know where to start. Any help/suggestions would be awesome, also how powerful of a PSU should I look to purchase? 750W is good?

Pretty much looking for a motherboard that is the best at it's job in handling quad cores and also the best for it's price

THANKS IN ADVANCED! PLEASE DROP ANY SUGGESTIONS THOUGHTS

 

[cal8949]

i would just use this board
ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275
i cant say its the best fit for your processor but it will run great with it

you can go cheaper but i would want to know what your doing? gaming,over clocking, just surfing the web, htpc

again on the power supply, what are you doing with the computer and what kind of hardware do you plan on using like video cards,

 

[calvinmun]

I would be gaming and doing design/photoshop, I'm really getting into that for webdesign and just graphic design now. I tend to have a lot of things open, so I plan on getting dual displays and all that but, really just gaming/graphic design I would say are the main things.

 

[cal8949]

ok here are 2 motherboards

ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard $225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336

both are good boards you will get better performance from the gigabyte for gaming and graphic if you plan on using crossfire(2 graphic cards). i think this is the overall better board.

the asus is not as high end for gaming and you'll will lose performance in crossfire. but still can do crossfire just fine and is cheaper.

the big difference is if you want to do crossfire and have the best performance go with the gigabyte board

for video card i would pick from these 2

SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB $189.99-$30 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747

SAPPHIRE 100243L Radeon HD 4870 512MB $300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102748

these cards will work fine for crossfire as well and 2 4850 cards will outperform a 4870 greatly

these 2 cards are some of the best on the market right now and will last you a while

for power supply you can always use this wattage calculator if your unsure
http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 $110-20 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

use the 500 watt if you don't do crossfire and use the 650 watt if you do

you should always get a bigger powersupply then you need, incase you upgrade or if the capacitors age

 

[jthorn]

If you are not going to sli or crossfire, and if 1066 memory is more than enough, then for $80:

BIOSTAR TForce TP43D2A7 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
PCI Express 2.0 and Record Breaking OC Performance

Good overclock, stable, pciE 2.0, and intel chipset. Better than P35.

 

[shadowthor]

I don't know how well the biostar can overclock quads, but its set a record for duals. If it is possible I would consider getting the Q9450 instead of the Q9300 (as the Q9300 is handicapped with half the cache of the Q9450 and a lower multiplier). I would go with the Rampage Formula (X48 chipset, so in the future if you decide to crossfire, there will be no problems, plus its known to overclock quads past 450fsb.

 

[cal8949]

yes the rampage is one of the best overclockers but it is another 60 more then the gigabyte board i suggested that supports crossfire at full 16x speed

 

[slick2982]

i would just use this board
ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275
i cant say its the best fit for your processor but it will run great with it

you can go cheaper but i would want to know what your doing? gaming,over clocking, just surfing the web, htpc

again on the power supply, what are you doing with the computer and what kind of hardware do you plan on using like video cards,

What micro ATX board for the q9300 would you suggest that overclocks well