Could any recommend me a Motherboard?

[Guest]

Basically, I'm in search of a decent motherboard between a price range of £70 - £150.

I've recently decided to upgrade my computer as its lacking behind a little. I need a motherboard which supports socket 775. I don't really know what I'm talking about, so something which is compatible with the components below.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 6M Cache S775 1333MHZ
XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ Black


Note: I much prefer Gigabyte motherboards to any other, so if you could please only list them.

P.S. Here are two which I found earlyer, but I'm not sure whether there performance is great or not.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+(Intel)/Gigabyte+GA-EP35-DS3+iP35+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=34195

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+(Intel)/Gigabyte+GA-EP45C-DS3R+iP45+Express+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=33329

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[aevm]

I wouldn't buy a P35 board any more, that's an old chipset with PCI-E 1.1.
I wouldn't buy the EP45C either. The MBs with dual DDR2/DDR3 support are usually bad overclockers and cost more. Also, you are looking at Crossfire motherboards with an nVidia card, and that's a bad mix.

This GA-EP45-UD3P is my favorite: £132.24
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-152-GI

Do you already have that 9800GTX+ card? If not, get the UD3P with a HD 4850 card, so you can use the Crossfire later if needed.

If you already have the 9800GTX+, I guess the UD3P is overkill and a MB with a single slot would be enough (GA-EP45-UD3R for example).

 

[Guest]

Thank you for such an informative reply. To answer you question, no I haven't purchased the card yet. I just always prefered nVidia, don't ask me why.

Isn't nVidia able to crossfire? If not, I will consider the HD 4850 card. Is there a big difference between the HD 4850 and the 9800GTX+?

Also, If I do decide to get a HD 4850 card, would it need any extra cooling?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Guest]

I've been reading up about crossfire boards and SLI boards.

Lets me just make sure things are correct.

If I use a nVidia card on a crossfire board, I'm only allowed to run one but unable to use duel, but it will allow duel ATI Cards.

However, If buy a SLI board, it will allow me to run duel nVidia cards?

 

[aevm]

Right.

nVidia cards do not do Crossfire. You can use two of them on a P45 but only if they serve different monitors. No way to make them cooperate to give better fps on a single monitor.

There's no big difference between HD 4850 and 9800GTX+. Maybe the HD 4850 ahead by 2 or 3 fps. It depends on game and settings. Basically, they are both very close to my trusty old 8800GTX.

With any gaming card you should have a case with good cooling. I like the CoolerMaster 690 or Antec 300 for example, for budget builds. With one of those, there's no need for an aftermarket cooler for the gaming card.

Yes, a SLI board can run dual nVidia cards. Look for something based on 750i. Just avoid the P5N-D, that one is junk.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it.

Could tell if this would be okay?

---------------------

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz - £131.44

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - £123.38

CoolerMaster BLACK CM 690 CASE - £66.84

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB - £36.58

(from amazon)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 IceQ 4 Turbo x2 - £251.06

TOTAL - £626.98 inc vat and p&p


P.S. I still need a PSU, any recommendations?

 

[aevm]

Corsair 650TX, 82 pounds
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Pow...7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1231772156&sr=1-7
or
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS
(not sure which is cheaper after shipping)

PC Power & Cooling 750W, 103 pounds
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-001-PP
or Corsair 750W (97 pounds)

The 650W Corsair can easily handle HD 4850 Crossfire and a dual core CPU. If you intend to have lots of hard disks/fans/lights/PCI cards/TV tuners/overclocking then a 750W PSU is better.

 

[r_manic]

Got any recommends for a motherboard that can maximize a GTX (with PCI-e 2.0 capability)? Listed some of my options on this thread, but they all seem too expensive.

 

[aevm]

All P45 motherboards have PCI-E 2.0. If you're thinking about a single GTX 285 or GTX 295 or GTX 280 or GTX 260, they would all work on a P5Q-E or GA-EP45-UD3P. You just wouldn't be able to add a second card, but that one card you can use will work at its best, no worries.

 

[OgreBunny]

Ok this is for a problem of my own but I came to this thread because of you last post aevm

Let me make a long story short, In my Rig I have:

P5Q-E
8800GTX
2 x 1GB Corsair
700Gb Western Digital
850 Watt Toughpower
E6600 Core2 Duo

Alright so the problem started when my PC stopped POSTing it would not "beep" to go into BIOS. I tried everything, even replaced MB but no dice. Out of ideas I sent to a computer repair shop. They got it to boot alright, took the RAM out of dual channel and updated my BIOS. Thus leading to another problem...once the computer boots there is no display, the repair guy said he used a workshop VGA and got in fine then told me that the 8800GTX is not compatible with the P5Q-E MB.

So like a stupid sheep I phoned the shop I bought it from and explained the problem, they said that it should work. Now I am convinced that is the case after reading aevms post. Does this mean my 8800 is bust?

The card gets power (fan spins and so on), and if I unplug its power and switch it on it screams like a drowning cat, which I presume means it works

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thanks again

 

[aevm]

Can you try that 8800 GTX card in a different PC? Then you'll know if it's bust or not.

The P5Q-E is compatible with GTX 260 and GTX 280 and 9800GTX+, at least. I found newegg reviewers using it with these cards and giving it 5 eggs. I can't possibly imagine why the 8800GTX or any other PCI-E card would not work, unless of course the card is bust. Very weird...

 

[OgreBunny]

Damn that’s not the reply I wanted...
Cant budget for a new card now
Well that is of course if it is the card, can’t test it yet.
Just wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas to why it would not be working.

Thanks for the reply aevm, I’m sure more problems will surface so I will be crying here again soon