compatibility for e6400 C2D

[darkrangr]

im trying to find a good motherboard i can use with my e6400 cou. Im looking for upgradeability in the future so i was looking at ones that support quad core and higher fsb speeds.

my question is since the e6400 is 1066 fsb, can i get a mobo that runs 1600/1333 and work? is it backwards compatible?

 

[customisbetter]

Yup. Almost all 775 boards support fsb 800 and 1066. They usually only advertise the maximum fsb of the board, which in most cases in 1333 and 1600.

good luck!

 

[BeakerUK]

I've heard a few people recently saying this for the Nehalem upgrade path. A lot of folks seem to think they'll be able to same MB, and some will resist correction on the issue as well. TBH if the 6400 is doing all you need it to now, then you may be better off waiting until the i7 processors come out to upgrade.

 

[customisbetter]

I wouldn't wait. Nehelem will cost tons of cash to get started. Plus im sure there will be incompatibility or other issues that you wouldn't want to deal with.

 

[BeakerUK]

Possibly, but If the 478>775 transition is anything to go by, and the 370>478 before that, then the Forced Obsolescence will be a pain in the arse. I remember trying to get a CPU to replace my blown Prescott a few months after the swap, and I had the option of Seriously Overpriced, Celeron or upgrade. Might not be so bad in other countries, but I know in the UK things vanish from stock, and those things left are invariably the bottom of the range.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Possibly, but If the 478>775 transition is anything to go by, and the 370>478 before that, then the Forced Obsolescence will be a pain in the arse. I remember trying to get a CPU to replace my blown Prescott a few months after the swap, and I had the option of Seriously Overpriced, Celeron or upgrade. Might not be so bad in other countries, but I know in the UK things vanish from stock, and those things left are invariably the bottom of the range.

Wow. They vanish that fast huh? The UK seems like a not so friendly tech place considering I hear they charge and tax tech up the wazoo.

I got a 478 Pentium 4 EE 3.4GHz for $150 off Eaby 2 yars after S775 was released. But I in the US so the stock was still pretty high up until recently.

As for the OP, if you want a good reliable mobo get the Asus P5K-E. I have it and it supports every Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad up to the most recent Penryn based ones so it will have plenty to upgrade to. But as said before you may want to wait till Core i7. Its price wont be as bad as it may seem. Its $300 for the Core i7 920 @ 2.66GHz and the mobos will start at about $300 also but you will then see ones at lower price points come and DDR3 should come down.

But as I said. If you can't wait and want a mobo now get the Asus P5K-E or the P5Q Pro. They are both great. The P5Q Pro is basically the P5K-E only with the P45 chipset and PCIe 2.0 support so really I would go with that one as it supports the same chips as the P5K-E.