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Motherboard Recommendation - for the system builders!



David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
Hey Guys,

Have to get a motherboard for my current setup. Has to be ATX standard.

Currently I have an Intel E6600 CPU and a BFG 8800 GTS 512mb OC PCiE which it will need to accomodate. I will be purchasing a Zalman aftermarket cooler for it too.

Doesn't need to be SLi...would be good if i could get one. Want to be able to overclock the CPU in the future so bios options will be a must. A reliable brand is preferable. Not sure what the best chipset to go for is...? Nvidia nForce 6/7? / Intel P31/35 or X38/48 ??

I have a load pc 600hz (5300) ram which ican use, or i can just buy some faster stuffm, doesn't matter.

Advice/Links would be much appreciated!!! Budget in or around £100. Cheers for everyone who helps!
 
Adam

Adam

  Tesla MP3 2021
I have used Gigabyte boards for years now and have had no problems at all and wouldnt use anything else to be honest.

Have a look on www.microdirect.co.uk or www.ebuyer.com you will find loads in your budget there.

Also I would recommend Intel P35 chipset.
 
Darren S

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Don't cut corners on the mobo, Dave. One of the core things I will happily pump money into with every system build. The amount of times when I've been impressed with a motherboard maybe 12+ months down the line, because it supports I feature that I initially didn't need!

Add a bit more wedge and look at the following. SLi support too, for when those 8800GTS's drop in price. ;)

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productInfo.aspx?ProductID=28341&Spec=1#ShowReview

D.
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
yeh £160 is a bit higher than i wanted but looks ok. i need to fit in a sound card though so that'll be it for expansioon eh :/
 
Darren S

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
David said:
yeh £160 is a bit higher than i wanted but looks ok. i need to fit in a sound card though so that'll be it for expansioon eh :/
Click to expand...

Heh! I know what you mean. I've got two 7900GTX's on my M2N32-SLi and an X-Fi Fata1ity. Space is on that mobo is at an absolute premium! ;)

D.
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
of course! no amd for me, you thinking nforce 7 then eh. hmm i am keen on opting for sli actually.
 
M

Munson

I'm going for nForce 780i for SLI support. SLI support is a must for me, and if you want it, then P35/X38/X48 is out of the question so it's a no-brainer? :)
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
yeh but is the one i suggested good enough u think? it's a new board and pretty cheap at that!
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
yeah had a look but it's only coming out on friday so not much info around on it :)
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
I've just had my hands burned by eVGA so won't be recommending them any time soon - however I'm replacing my 680i with an ASUS X38-based board. SLi isn't alllll that, while it's good the temps the nForce MCPs get to is rediculous.
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
well the new nforce have massive heatpipes on them, hopefully shud improve that issue
 
W

wozzaa

  Monaro VXR
My Extreme striker 680i board is good but has a somewhat iffy bios...but then again I think all the new nforce boards do.

Even with its massive heatsink setup it still gets toasty but I am putting a bit more voltage than standard through it all.
 
W

wozzaa

  Monaro VXR
Fine unless you are overclocking and a few of them have bad areas in the FSB. Like I cant get mine to boot at 1333mhz FSB but it will at 1340mhz. And the same thing happens lower and higher. You have to find an area that works basically which can make overclocking a little annoying.

Otherwise at stock speeds it is perfect.
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
Don't like nForce chipsets at the moment but if you're intent on SLI then you'll need one... I'm just going to wait for the GX2.
 
David

David

  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
be reading up on it, not any negative reviews so far. looks and sounds the business, pics to follow when i've finished building it with vista 64 which is a worry on it's own :/
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
Remove the 4 heatsinks and replace the heat material at a minimum, but I'd go either with a set of waterblocks or uprated air blocks depending on your rig. It really is a major weakness on the nForce chipsets, I've shaved 20 degrees off my old boards temps.
 
M

Mikey23

  Porsche Boxster
If you don't need SLI, defo go for an asus P5KC. one of the best overclocking boards out there, supports DDR3 and 1333 FSB, so should be easy to drop a new cpu and ram in the future. Based on an intel P35 chipset, I've never heard a bad word against it. All the reviews I've read can't rate it highly enough

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productInfo.aspx?ProductID=18216&Spec=1&Spec=1#ShowReview

......plus, half the price of an sli board.

To be honest, I think SLI is overrated. I hear of quite a lot of crashes, and other little bugs with SLI that put me off, not too mention the cost.

By the time you need something with sli performace (except for say crysis at the mo) there is already a better slot card out there. ATI have just released the new ATI 3870x2, which effictively is 2 GPU's on one board, but you don't need crossfire support. If ATI are doing this, then no reason why nvidia can't aswell.......... however If you want ultimate performance right now, then sli is the only way to go.

Mike
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
P35 is an old chipset - if you go Intel get an X48 if you're going DDR3 or X38 if you want DDR2. I'm running an X38 on mine and it is absolutely brilliant - however no SLI support. Running a single 8800GTX at the moment and getting 14500 3DMarks so happy with that.
 
M

Munson

Mikey23, nVidia have already done it with the 7950GX2, about 2 years ago :) I have one and it's a great card. Well it was back then.

RE SLI: I'm currently running 2x 8800GTS 512 in SLI and so far it's been 100% painless. Touch wood! :D
 
M

Mikey23

  Porsche Boxster
Agreed - P35 is an older chipset, but I wouldnt classify it as out of date just yet. Its a very stable platform and seems to be a firm favourite with overclocking heroes out there......... At the end of the day, if you want the best/fastest you'll have to pay for it. P35 is a much cheaper option than buying a decent x38 board. Personally, I don't buy the latest stuff as I don't feel the price is worth the premium, but as they say, you pays ur money and you takes your choice :)

Roy - totally forgot about that nvidia chip..... I think i saw talks of them coming out with a new one soon? I don't really see what's stopping them stick 2 x 8800GT's onto one card? Glad to hear someone's SLI is working properly. A person at work has the latest bad ass machine with 2 x 8800GTX. Works fine most of the time, but gets random crashes, and it gets "stuck" in SLI mode and means he needs to reboot to fix it...... only becuase he is running 2 screens and sli only supports 1.
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
The 7950GX2 is and was a POS and is incomparable to the 3870x2 - look at the boards! The GX2 is two boards stuck together, the 3870x2 is a proper all-on-one card that if you watercooled would go in a single slot.

And I'd say the X38 is a bit of an overclocking heroes board too... Single 8800 and a Q6600 and I've got 14500 06's, and I've not finished clocking yet.
 
M

Munson

^^ooh sorry, I didn't realise it was a pissing competition :D

I merely pointed out that dual GPU in one PCI-E slot has been done. Two years ago. Also, clearly you've never owned a 7950GX2, as if you had, you'd know it isn't a "POS". More mature Cliosport attitude? I think so ;)
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
Roy Munson said:
^^ooh sorry, I didn't realise it was a pissing competition :D

I merely pointed out that dual GPU in one PCI-E slot has been done. Two years ago. Also, clearly you've never owned a 7950GX2, as if you had, you'd know it isn't a "POS". More mature Cliosport attitude? I think so ;)
Click to expand...

Meh, it's purely a 'get rid of one of the PCI-E connections' attempt at making Quad-SLI. The board was technically capable - I never said it wasn't - but it was as half-assed as the rest of nVidia's line at the time (and their present line) rather than a full on "Let's make a 2-GPU board" like ATI have done.

I just feel there's a huge room for improvement, whereas the 3870x2 is a fairly good board in terms of layout and design.

*edit - and 15,500 and I'm about to start clocking the GPU - got 4.2ghz stable (8hrs Everest).
 
M

Munson

So, nVidias line up was half-assed, and still is? Are you on crack? No doubt the 3870x2 is a great card, but that doesn't mean everything else that you don't have, or never have had, is a "POS".
 
Mike_182

Mike_182

  Better than yours. C*nt.
Roy Munson said:
So, nVidias line up was half-assed, and still is? Are you on crack? No doubt the 3870x2 is a great card, but that doesn't mean everything else that you don't have, or never have had, is a "POS".
Click to expand...

I run an 8800GTX thanks, and again it's very technically able but badly finished. The stock cooler does nothing more than 'suffice', and the drivers are very poor. Similar with the old TNT series back in the day, they were very capable cards finished with bad support.

nVidia very much need to modernise their production processes. The processes they're using to manufacture their dies is archaeic and not even used by AMD any more, and as such they generate a significant amount more heat than they need to.

As far as features is concerned, I'd say nVidia has ATI pegged at every level, but they deliver some of them so badly that on occasion they'd be better off not delivering them at all.

Anyway, stop assuming, keyboard warrior. I go through more hardware than you care to imagine, and until you get to the level where you're returning a different graphics card every other week, then you never will do. Just because you spent your small fortune on your kit, doesn't make it the best in the world. If I read rightly you've only just scored in SLI what I did with a single GPU, and that's not even clocked...

And for reference, I have benched a pair of 7950GX2s. They performed much like SLI'd 7950s, and take up the same room just in adjacent slots. That is why I believe the 3870x2 is a step ahead of that, as do a lot of other reviewers, unlike the masses of OMFG FTW nVidia for life fanbois that appear to frequent alot of overclocking forums.
 
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