Which Motherboard? lol

[Matta_88]

Ok sorry to be a pain in the arse but has anyone got any ideas for a motherboard which is ideal for gaming and maybe a bit of overclocking?

I want it to be SLI able for future upgrades.
To support 1066mhz ram.
and be able to support a Q6600 (775 socket)

Atm this is looking favourite: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus

ideally not over £150

Anyhelp would be fantastic!

Cheers
Matt

 

[David]

well i'd look on the asus support forums about that motherboard before you buy it...i bought an asus 780' ooard and it had no support for Q6600 was screwed up all over the place.

in the end i went for an EVGA 680i SLI mobo with 1066hz OCZ ram, works nicely. overclocked it very easily too.

 

[Matta_88]

Sounds like a good choice after reading some reviews matey^
people have been having problems with sound and aparently you need to flash it with updated bios before you run it?

Just a nooby question how do you update a motherboard with new bios before you have the OS up?

also is it worth going towards 750i?

 

[nosluom]

go for this one mate:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

i recently built a system with one, awesome value, suites all your needs and is future proof with ddr3

 

[David]

it's very easy to flash bios mate, most mobos have an onboard utility that will allow you to flash from a floppy, removeable disk, or cdrom even. Worst comes to the worst you can defo do it via floppy disk...if yuo have one that is!

750i seemed to have less features in it for me so i went with the 680.

Problems with sound on the 680i board? not that i know of, although i'm using a xifi now so perhaps i sidestepped the issue. Can't say i've had any issues with it, however all nvidia boards seem to run a bit hot tbh....not a big deal though...

 

[David]

go for this one mate:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

i recently built a system with one, awesome value, suites all your needs and is future proof with ddr3

he wanted sli though...

 

[nosluom]

oops my bad

 

[Darren S]

Not tempted by CrossFire instead of SLi?

D.

 

[Greeny.]

The P35 chipset is old, get a x38 board or wait a little for x48 boards

 

[Matta_88]

thanks guys, i would like to stay with nvidia really darren, never had any problems in the past

so general concensus is either nvidia 6 or x38?

 

[David]

if your'getting any other model of cpu 7 series is good apparently especialyl for dual core...

 

[Matta_88]

ahrite well if i post my current target spec see what you guys think will suit it mobo wise?

4gb 1066mhz crucial ballistix (ddr2)
bfg 8800gt oc (eventually a couple)
Q6600 + Tuniq Tower Cooler
400gb WD HD
Antec P182
600w psu
extra USB slots
Premium Vista 64bit

about the size of it at the moment!

Undecided on soundcard probably stick with onboard untill better choice for vista becomes available.

 

[David]

corasir ballistic??....it's either crucial ballistix or corsair. Either way go for OCZ Sli ready stuff if i were you.

get a 512mb 8800gts not a GT if you can afford the difference.

tuniq tower is good so is everything else.

 

[Matta_88]

Does the ram have to be SLi ready?

i was looking at the BFG 512mb 8800gt OC which has an awesome spec and loads of good reviews

 

[Darren S]

thanks guys, i would like to stay with nvidia really darren, never had any problems in the past

so general concensus is either nvidia 6 or x38?

No worries .

I've got nVidia in mine at the moment (twin 7900GTX cards) but they are way behind the performance of a single ATi 3850 card. And at approx a ton each, those cards have some serious performance-per-pound.

I may go Intel CPU with ATi gfx on my next PC.

D.

 

[Matta_88]

im warming towards ATi now lol im on a bit of a budget you see lol darren what would you say the best card is bang for buck wise? dnt really want to spend any more than £160 on a gfx card so any thing under that would be wicked.

 

[Mike_182]

ATI 3870. By far.

Get an X38 based board with DDR2 - DDR3 isn't worth it yet.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-145-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=416

Top graphics card for the £££.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-253-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=946

Motherboard I'm currently using. Brilliant bit of kit.

 

[Matta_88]

sounds good mate ^ where ever i read it seems to be that 8800gt's are better performance for not much more money! lol

becuase i cant decide on a gfx card i cant settle on a motherboard lol