Best Core 2 Duo Mobo for OCing/Gaming

D

DaFox

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
393
Simply put if i was to buy a mobo with a Low-Mid end C2D (63, 64, 6600) what would be the best mobo to push at least 3ghz while still being stable.

Moneys not a problem, (Unless were talking the ASUS Striker :p)

DS3?
P5W?
Evga 680i?
 
i don't know about the others, but i can speak for the DS3, I was able to do my first boot with it at 2.8 ghz (lowered it bc some of my cooling is missing right now >.<) and it ran stable and smooth, so it gets my thumbs up (using the F7 BIOS).
 
DS3 competitor is the P5B vanilla or the P5B-E... If money was no object get EVGA board if you were going for SLI or P5W if your going to go crossfire...

DS3 has more memory voltage options and some other tweak settings that isn't all that useful to hit higher FSB... Other than that it's no better than the P5B...

I just got a conroe the other day after using Pentium D 805 for 4 months...

I had pentium D 805 clocked to 3.8ghz... Now I have conroe e6300 clocked at 3ghz... That's 430fsb Rock stable on DDR2 667 running 860mhz... If it wasn't for my ram holding me back I would be hitting higher... No reboots no quorks... Solid board that overclocks with Asus warranty and support...
 
Most stable platform is i975x. Best board(s) for that: ABIT AW9D & AW9D MAX. Best overclockers: ASUS P5Bs.
 
Astrodave said:
My vote is for the bad axe 2. It's what i am getting.
Click to expand...

inel cpu, intel board, intel chipset, intel raid, intel reliability...dunno about intel oc
 
dp0001 said:
inel cpu, intel board, intel chipset, intel raid, intel reliability...dunno about intel oc
Click to expand...

seems from different web reviews, OC is in line with the Bad Axe 2
 
P5b deluxe, as simple as that :)

It will do 500+ out of the box easy, more that any of the mentioned boards here

I had DS3, Intel BX, biostar tforce 965 but p5b deluxe is the best
 
My picks:

abit
AW9D (Crossfire)
AW9D-MAX (Crossfire)

ASUS
Striker Extreme (SLi)
P5N32-E SLi Deluxe (SLi)
P5W DH (Crossfire)
P5W64-WS Professional (Crossfire)
P5WDG2-WS (Crossfire)
P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP (Crossfire)
P5B Deluxe (Crossfire)
P5B-E (Single card use)
P5B (Single card use)

Biostar
Biostar T Force P965 Deluxe (Single card use)
Biostar P965 PT (Single card use)

eVGA
122-CK-NF68

Gigabyte
DS3
DS4
DQ6 (Crossfire)
 
I haven't really been into overclocking since the P3 days and have gone thru a few P4's and 2 AMD64's before getting my current E6700 and P5W-DH Deluxe.

Armed only with a 92mm Zalman HSF, I've got my 2.67Ghz E6700 running at 3.4Ghz and am 100% stable. I've run Orthos and a few 3D Mark runs (I'm not a benchmarker) and it's stable during everyday use and while playing games. I've had a crash, but it was due to NWN2 (the same thing happens at stock). 3.4 is probably not a lot, but for me it's awesome and what's even better is how easy it was to get! :)
 
Hardcore Student said:
I'd go for the eVGA.
Click to expand...

The eVGA is a great overclocker, but it does have some issues. The sound crackling while using SLi is a problem. The BIOS fixes havent resolved this 100% yet. The resistor on the back of the CPU mounting area sucks to deal with. It requires that you modify damn near any aftermarket cooler's mounting hardware in order to fit it to the eVGA 680i. Also, plenty of people have had various RAID issues with the eVGA board.

I made the switch to the ASUS Striker Extreme last night. My RAID problem is gone, at least, plus I could mount my Zalman CNPS9500 AT back on it. I wasn't using it with my eVGA board. As far as the other issues I had with my eVGA board, I haven't checked into them yet.

My ASUS Striker Extreme is running the same install of Windows my eVGA board did. Tonight I'll re-install and start from scratch, and then see how things go.
 
Dan_D said:
I made the switch to the ASUS Striker Extreme last night. My RAID problem is gone, at least, plus I could mount my Zalman CNPS9500 AT back on it. I wasn't using it with my eVGA board. As far as the other issues I had with my eVGA board, I haven't checked into them yet.

My ASUS Striker Extreme is running the same install of Windows my eVGA board did. Tonight I'll re-install and start from scratch, and then see how things go.
Click to expand...

Dan_D you have made some awesome posts so far on your experiences with the new 680i boards.
I hope you will start a new thread about your venture with your Striker Extreme.

Thanks
 
If I were buying an E6300 or E6400 I'd match it with a P5B-Deluxe. You may even consider the lower cost P5B-E if using a single graphics card (No Crossfire). I tried an early revision of the P5B Deluxe that was unmodded that would do a 520 FSB on a 7x multi effortlessly and run the memory in my sig @ up to DDR 1150.

If you want SLi try a 680i board.
 
Blacklash said:
I tried an early revision of the P5B Deluxe that was unmodded that would do a 520 FSB on a 7x multi effortlessly and run the memory in my sig @ up to DDR 1150.
Click to expand...

P5B-E Plus manages higher FSB than that and is cheaper.
 
There is only one choice. Asus Striker Extreme! =)

Dosen't get any better.
 
AppaYipYip said:
There is only one choice. Asus Striker Extreme! =)

Dosen't get any better.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

If you're being sarcastic, that's not even funny.

If you aren't, then it's just sad you're recommending a grossly overpriced underperforming mobo.

IMHO, the P965 chipset is where it's at.

There's not much point in throwing away money when you can get great cheap motherboards like the Asus P5B-E or Gigabyte S3 or Biostar, or on the higher end, but still cheaper, P5B Deluxe.
 
P5B Deluxe here. I'm a pretty serious gamer and have really enjoyed this board. Rock solid and easy OC'ing options.
 
I got lucky and was able to overclock my E6700 to 3.6ghz (reaching 450mhz fsb) on my gigabyte DS3

so for the price, features and overclocks I've seen achieved on it, I must recommend the DS3.
The F7 bios has been phenomenal, and from some posts at the xtremesystems forums, it looks like the F8/F8i bios will make 500fsb + a lot more common.
 
sardonic.n7 said:
:rolleyes:

If you're being sarcastic, that's not even funny.

If you aren't, then it's just sad you're recommending a grossly overpriced underperforming mobo.

IMHO, the P965 chipset is where it's at.

There's not much point in throwing away money when you can get great cheap motherboards like the Asus P5B-E or Gigabyte S3 or Biostar, or on the higher end, but still cheaper, P5B Deluxe.
Click to expand...

no personal experience, but wouldn't the newer 975 chipset be more advantageous? Phrased another way, what do you find to be strength of the 965 over the 975 (or 975 weaknesses over 965)?

I do appreciate.
 
I have Aw9D Max e6600 running at 3.1Ghz...cant seem to go higher
9 x 345 ... 4:5
XMS 6400 @ 4-4-4-10..
am i doing something wrong here?

Would it better if i got faster ram ..XMS 8500 at 5-5-5-15 or would it be slower....i have the option to switch but i dont know what to do..plz help :confused:
 
sardonic.n7 said:
:rolleyes:

If you're being sarcastic, that's not even funny.

If you aren't, then it's just sad you're recommending a grossly overpriced underperforming mobo.

IMHO, the P965 chipset is where it's at.

There's not much point in throwing away money when you can get great cheap motherboards like the Asus P5B-E or Gigabyte S3 or Biostar, or on the higher end, but still cheaper, P5B Deluxe.
Click to expand...
First of all, this is my opinion. To me, it is not overpriced nor is it underperforming. I'm happily running my qx6700 overclocked to 3.4GHz without so much as a hiccup.

Don't let your anger and resentment for not being able to afford something cloud your judgement. Also, lets all be mature about this and respect eachothers opinions, ok?

You prefer cheap stuff, I prefer high end. :) We're all the same yet we are different.
 
ive had the p5w-dh and the evga 680i. both are great boards. the evga can run fsb a little higher, and run ram mu8ch faster (for whateever thats worth) and can run ram at 1t. the p5w has great features, matches just about any board in clockspeed, is very stable and mature, with a million bios revs.
 
I'm in the same horse but I want to stick with Asus mobo, used em before, they are pretty stable, wich model you recommend? I plan to pair it up with a E6600, 2gb ram, and a evga 8800gtx.
I plan to do some o/c but not too aggresively, some fan based air cooling, I will be getting a 8800gtx the question is get a SLI mobo or not? I personally don't think I will use SLI, but you never know, by the time my card slows down i'd probably get another one dirt cheap. I want a good mobo that's not crippled.

I have another question, I have heard of some motherboards conflicting with soundblaster x-fi series, does anyone know if the newer asus suffer from this?
 
There is nothing wrong with the P5B deluxe and yes it is currently 25dollars more than the E.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=141319

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=124251

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=125548

I was using PC 6400 ram on a first|early revision of the P5B deluxe. If you do get the E you best have ram that doesn't require more than 2.1v to perform well.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2851&p=2

Here are the Deluxe's features for comparison. It has up to 2.45v out of the box:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=5

My ram typically needs 2.25v-2.45v to perform well and use tight timings, ie 3-3-3-4 @ DDR 800+.

If you do have a P5B Deluxe here is a great BIOS guide for it:

http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=41
 
Liver said:
no personal experience, but wouldn't the newer 975 chipset be more advantageous? Phrased another way, what do you find to be strength of the 965 over the 975 (or 975 weaknesses over 965)?

I do appreciate.
Click to expand...

975 ain't faster than 965 and it produces more heat. Is there any other difference besides crossfire support?
 
Blacklash said:
I was using PC 6400 ram on a first|early revision of the P5B deluxe. If you do get the E you best have ram that doesn't require more than 2.1v to perform well.
Click to expand...

P5B 1.01 version has this 2.1v problen, not newer ones. And since when had E-version the same problem? Perhaps in some very early bios? Definately doesn't concern E Plus.
 
"P5B 1.01 version has this 2.1v problen, not newer ones. And since when had E-version the same problem? Perhaps in some very early bios? Definately doesn't concern E Plus."

they are still shipping the p5b-E 1.01g version. They as in New egg ...and my local dealer. grr :)

Now i am asking myself why i made my friend get the p5b-e over the p5b deluxe. oops :)

Plus with all the 680i problems ...i am thinking i don't really need sli at all ...and perhaps a 4x (16) slot will be enough for whatever physics solution ati (err, AMD) and Nvidia have in mind. So a p5b-deluxe ...or,

Perhaps i should even get that p5w dh i was considering back in september :) heh
 
you might try gigabytes new version of the DS-3 . it has two pci-e's and some other tweeks that supposedly up it's fsb potential to 570-600+ . and is tuned for the micron 9 chips.

it's not out yet but should be soon. the cost is supposed to be the same as the asus p5b-e :eek:

my gigabyte cheapo-s-3 has done 525fsb with the good ram--with my more average ram it's doing a stable 480 with a e-6300 . which is darned good for a $116 mb. IF i try a nother mb it will be either a new-gigabyte DS-3p or a nvidia if i go nvidia it will likely be a 650 due to the inflated prices--but if i get a deal on a 680i i might try one--but that price is going to have to come way down-- i may get another mb when i pick up a e-4300 come jan and try the old 6300 in the new mb. one thing the 6800i's have is a ddr-2 400 setting and a setting to seperate the ram speed from the fsb . when the nf680i's get a bit more mature you should be able to make some very good overclocks with them .

i would avoid the overpriced gold plated asus striker --at least untill a revision 2.0 comes out . :cool: when the e-4300 and e-4400's come out they will take some of the pressure of the motherboard fsb and the ram making for some rather easy overclocks with most mb's.
 
If you can wait a bit, DFI is planning to release its Lanparty mb based on RD600 on the 15th of Dec. It might be one of the best MBs for enthusiasts :)

annaconda said:
MSI 975X Powerup Edition is the fastest Motherboard for Conroe period!
Click to expand...

At stock? :)

But it can't do 500+fsb :)
 
ellover009 said:
Thanks for the link, I read it earlier but I did a quick pass through, I found this too.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/asus-c2d/index.x?pg=1
Is it me, or am I finding that they make better mobos for the amd systems? I feel they are a little better featured packed for the $$ and the sli support is superb. But I this round core2duo is in the ring and KO'd amd.
Click to expand...

O man thanks a ton for that link, thats exactly the kinda of article I have been looking for!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top