Need new Motheroard with good OC potential

[Cyclops21]

Hello all,

Looking for a little motherboard advice.
Recently my computer frooze up while playing a game and would not restart or poweroff unless the PS was turned off or the power cord removed.
Now it will not power back up.
I have experienced this problem before and suspect my Motherboard has dies again, likely due to my pro-longed overclock of 1 1/2 years.

Here are my specs.
CPU: E6600 @ 3.375Ghz
Mobo: EVGA680i bus @ 1500Mhz
RAM: OCZ 2GB @ 750Mhz
VC: HD 4870 (CPU: 780Mhz Ram: 990Mhz)
SC: SB X-fi Fatality
HD: Raptor 150MB
Display: Syncmaster 226BW
OS: Vista Home Ultimate
PS: Antec Truepower Trio 650W

I don't want to upgrade anything right now just need a cheap replacement replacement motherboad that may allow me to overclock the CPU to hopefully the same speed. If it dies in a 1 1/2 years again that's ok since I will likely upgrade when the next generation of CPUs comes out and find out what my options are.
Any reccomendations for a stable cheap motherboard with good overclocking potentional?

 

[Cyclops21]

I was looking at this MB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

Anyone have experience with it?

 

[zenmaster]

I would not trust anything with Onboard Graphics to OC well.

You can get a P43 Mobo for as little as $65AR.
That is how I would go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000200280%20107172615%201071740719&bop=And&Order=PRICE

 

[aevm]

GA-EP45-DS3L, $108 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345&Tpk=GA-Ep45-DS3L

P43 is cheaper, normally, but I think P45 overclocks better. You need something with PCI-E 2.0 and fsb 1600.

 

[jamesl]

You need something with PCI-E 2.0 and fsb 1600.

why

 

[aevm]

The HD 4870 needs a lot of bandwidth, and PCI-E 2 offers twice the bandwidth of PCI-E 1. That means you should prefer P43 or P45 to P35, for example.

A bigger native FSB in the MB helps with overclocking.

OK, you don't actually need either of them, but they are useful.

 

[Cyclops21]

Thank you all for the input.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

If you are into doing some extreme overclocking then get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136050

DFI simply kicks ass in the overclocking department. Though if you are into only casual overclocking the DFI is not for you, the amount of options available can be very confusing.

Otherwise I would recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130179

Many of the critics of MSI boards believe this to be one of the best motherboards MSI has produced in awhile.

 

[Cyclops21]

Just a follow up. The motherboard went in and is working fine.
In fact once I figured out how to overclock with this board it seems to overclock better then the EVGA 680i board.
The (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -Ep45-DS3L ) board was an excellent suggestion, thank you.

 

[dagger]

Current oc record holder for $150.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138118
It's more oc performance than you need. The Gigabyte board will do fine. But hey, if you're considering that Lanparty junk, get this instead.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Meh. I find that BIOSTAR/MSI/Foxconn/XFX are lacking the the quality control department.

 

[dagger]

^ Meh. I find that BIOSTAR/MSI/Foxconn/XFX are lacking the the quality control department.

That's a matter of opinion. RMA rate for Biostar is about the same as Gigabyte. Of course, people rma for different reasons, but it's still valid as a vague indicator.

Besides, it held up stable for extended period of time at extreme clock rate in order to qualify for the official oc record. Others "good quality" boards have failed long before that point. Would you really doubt an Olympic gold medal winner's physical conditions?

 

[Shadow703793]

"Would you really doubt an Olympic gold medal winner's physical conditions? "
Yes!

 

[dagger]

"Would you really doubt an Olympic gold medal winner's physical conditions? "
Yes!

How so? And don't say doping. We know they all do it.

 

[Cyclops21]

I would personally prefer to never RMA a product. That's what I would consider a quality product.

I just needed something to get me back to where I was and the earlier recomended board did just that.