recommend me a motherboard

I

IRML

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
96
Core 2 Q9550
4GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400
BFG 8800GTX OC

looking for a motherboard that'll go nicely with that, nforce 780i chipset I think, ASUS P5N-T Deluxe crossed my mind, how does that sound?

also will the zalman 8700NT be good enough to cool that processor?

thanks
 
If you don't need SLI support stay away from Nvidia chipsets.

If you do, the only board I would even begin to consider is the MSI P7N Diamond. The reference boards are hardly an improvement over the reference 680is, and the ASUS boards are crazy expensive and flaky, much like the original Striker. The MSI seems to somehow sidestep most if not all the issues with the 780i.

Still, if you're running a single card setup the P35 is still where it's at. Without question.

Look to the DFI P35 Dark P35-TR2S or the UT variant if you're really [h]ardcore, and the Gigabyte P35-DS3R or DQ6 if you aren't in to lots of BIOS tweaking. The MSI P35-Neo2-FR is a great deal as well.
 
The Abit IP35 Pro is a great board too...can't go wrong with any of the boards listed above though.
 
i agree with silent on DFI dark p35, only go nvidia if you want SLI. DFI dark x38/LT x38 if you want crossfire. With quad, getting better HSF combo; ie 120xtreme, ultima90, tower120, etc.
 
It would help if you told use what features you want in a motherboard. Like RAID, Firewire, high overclocks, etc.
 
I'm assuming that you owned the 8800gtx already. Otherwise I would recommend you going with the 8800gts G92 or 9800gtx (coming out soon..) instead.

according to this non-english review of the zalman 8700nt, they were able to oc the qx6700 2.66ghz stock to 3.3ghz (42degrees idle; 89degrees full load).

ever considered this cheaper hsf, zerotherm nirvana nv120? for a little more than the zalman 8700nt you can get the thermalright 120 extreme w/ scythe s-flex combo. these two, zerotherm/thermalright hsf, are really good choices when it comes to overclocking on air.
 
DO NOT get a ddr3 board. no x38/x48 crap. not worth price/performance. plus nehalem will require nwe mobo completely anyway. for that setup, you need 1 pci-e 16x slot. grab an Abit IP-35 Pro.. great for oc'ing, check my sig.
 
yeah I'm not going SLI, never really saw the point in it, also I don't plan on overclocking

I just figured an nvidia card would match up well with an nvidia chipset, but I'll take a look at these boards you're mentioning - I'm glad you're recommending me some stuff that isn't Asus, after my 5 month customer service ordeal with an A8N-SLI I'd rather go with someone else this time

unfortunately I don't think I can wait for the 9800 unless it's comming out in the next few days, I've been out of the game for a while and I'm wondering why recommend the 8800GTS over the GTX, is the GTS better?
 
The G92 GTS can compete with the GTX... the GTX is still the better card, but we're recommending GTS because it offers similar performance at a lower price.

The GTS also offers something the GTX does not: the ability to offload video encoding/decoding from the CPU to the GPU. The 8800GT, the GeForce 9-series, and the Radeon HD 3-series also offer this ability.
 
the last ATI card I had was a rage pro, it was fantastic but I think I'm an nvidia man now

I'll probably still go with the GTX because the higher memory would suit my graphics apps better, but it's nice to know I have the option of the GTS if my budget gets tight

I've taken a look at the boards you guys mentioned and I think I'll go with the DFI DKP35 - it seems quite cheap, it takes DDR2 and had a FSB speed to match the processor, and it looks like my ram is compatible with it too

thanks guys
 
IRML said:
yeah I'm not going SLI, never really saw the point in it, also I don't plan on overclocking
Click to expand...

If you aren't running 1920x1200 or higher resolution SLI and CrossfireX are pointless.

IRML said:
I just figured an nvidia card would match up well with an nvidia chipset, but I'll take a look at these boards you're mentioning - I'm glad you're recommending me some stuff that isn't Asus, after my 5 month customer service ordeal with an A8N-SLI I'd rather go with someone else this time
Click to expand...

Glad it's not just me. I've been writing "ASUS is the devil" and getting funny looks for a couple of years now. ;) Sorry to hear about that, though.

IRML said:
unfortunately I don't think I can wait for the 9800 unless it's comming out in the next few days, I've been out of the game for a while and I'm wondering why recommend the 8800GTS over the GTX, is the GTS better?
Click to expand...

The 8800 GTS 512MB is based on the G92 architecture... which is pretty much a revision of G80, used in the 8800 GTX and the earlier 8800 GTSs (320MB and 640MB - avoid these, they are slower). It is smaller, runs cooler, and is a bit more power efficient than the 8800 GTX, but it's almost as fast. The only place it is weaker is memory bandwidth, and this comes in to play at very high resolutions, which means the 8800 GTX / Ultra is still the better card at 1920x1200+ in most titles. If you're running ~1600x1200, 1680x1050 or below, the 8800 GTS 512MB will be just as fast in most titles and slightly faster in some than the GTX, so considering you can save $100+ going with it, it makes sense.

Another 256MB of video memory isn't going to do a thing in any app. Photoshop CS3 does like to have 512MB to work with... but it won't magically get faster cause it has 768MB.
 
Which graphic apps? The GTX is well over a year old while the G92 GTS is a few months old. Don't buy old tech if newer tech is cheaper and performs the same or better, regardless of physical specs. So, which apps and, as s-c mentioned, what size monitor?
 
it's a 17inch TFT so max/native res is 1280x1024, which is probably a bit small these days but I wouldn't change that monitor for the world, so yeah I've never needed to worry about SLI, which saves me some cash

lightwave 3D, after effects and photoshop are the main apps I run, working at resolutions of up to 10k in photoshop, and usually needing to display around 400k - 800k polys (sometimes a lot more) at a time in the lightwave viewports, so I figured more memory on the GTX would serve me better, but if you guys really think the GTS would then I'll go with that
 
guys just to make sure, there's no bottlenecks with the ram and processor is there?

I remember when I was specking up an AM2 machine a while back people were telling me certain ram and processor combinations wouldn't work well, is there anything similar with intel?
 
IRML said:
I remember when I was specking up an AM2 machine a while back people were telling me certain ram and processor combinations wouldn't work well, is there anything similar with intel?
Click to expand...

Not really. Intel C2D systems perform best when the RAM and FSB is at a 1:1 ratio. So if you're not planning on overclocking AT ALL, all you really need is DDR2 667 RAM with the Q9550.

Wait Q9550? I recommend dropping it and go with the Q9450 instead. The Q9550 is only 200Mhz faster than the Q9450 yet it costs $216 more. That extra 200Mhz is NOT worth the extra $216. So the Q9550 is a waste of money since the Q9450 is $200 cheaper and is only 200Mhz slower.
 
ok cool GTS over GTX....

although I just spotted a 9800GX2 on newegg, I could have sworn it wasn't there earlier lol - very expensive though
 
I like my MSI P35 Platinum. Very stable, overclocks well, plenty of options and features. And the circus-pipe cooling, I'm a sucker for good cooling.
 
ok sorted then

that's left me with a bit of extra cash to spend on the machine, can't think of any more things to get though lol, perhaps a raptor hard drive or something
 
I think maybe I'll use the extra cash to get 8GB of ram instead of 4GB
 
512MB BFG Tech 8800GTS OC, PCI-E 2.0, Mem 1940 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 675MHz, Streams 128
4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Pro DDR2 PC2-6400 CAS 4
DFI LANPARTY DKP35 T2RS, iP35 Express, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID
2x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11, SATA II, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.83 GHz, 1333MHz, 12MB L2 Cache

I'll need to find a wireless card to go with that too
 
I've been looking at components all day now and it's making my head spin lol

btw were you guys recommending me the P35 chipset because of overclocking capabilities or because nvidia is rubbish, like if I said I wasn't going to overclock any of this stuff would you recommend me different stuff?
 
We're recommending the P35 boards because of their stability (compared to other chipsets), their price, and because you don't really need SLI or CrossFire.

Choose a P35-based motherboard that has the features you want on it. For example:

Danny Bui said:
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $112
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $122
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $151
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $180

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports or legacy ports, then the IP35-E is a good choice. If you like the IP35-E but need legacy ports, check out the DS3L. If you need 5 SATA ports, 2 eSATA ports, and a second PCI-E x16 port, then get the Neo2-Fr. If you want heavy overclocking abilities and six SATA ports, check out the Blood Iron. If you like the BloodIron but want significantly better overclock stability, go for the LanParty. If you want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports and high overclocks, than the DS3R is a good choice. If you want the DS3R but need Firewire and a second PCI-E x16 port, then go for the DS3P. If you want something that can overclock pretty damn high along with eSATA ports and firewire connections, than the IP35 Pro. Note that the IP35-Pro seems to have problems with the Wolfdales CPUs
Click to expand...
 
IRML said:
512MB BFG Tech 8800GTS OC, PCI-E 2.0, Mem 1940 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 675MHz, Streams 128
4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Pro DDR2 PC2-6400 CAS 4
DFI LANPARTY DKP35 T2RS, iP35 Express, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID
2x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11, SATA II, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.83 GHz, 1333MHz, 12MB L2 Cache

I'll need to find a wireless card to go with that too
Click to expand...

I still agree with Danny...

Danny Bui said:
...
Wait Q9550? I recommend dropping it and go with the Q9450 instead. The Q9550 is only 200Mhz faster than the Q9450 yet it costs $216 more. That extra 200Mhz is NOT worth the extra $216. So the Q9550 is a waste of money since the Q9450 is $200 cheaper and is only 200Mhz slower.
Click to expand...

You seriously won't notice the difference of 200Mhz, and it really isn't worth $216.
 
haha this board seriously thinks as one. Pretty awesome stuff here.

On topic, IRML, coming in under budget is never a bad thing. Objectives accomplished + saving money = win²
 
hey silent-circuit, you have the DFI DKP35?

can I plug an IDE hard disk and DVD-RW into that board? or will I have to go sata for those

I ask this because I'd rather not have to spent money on a new DVD drive, and I have backup IDE hard drive that I want to keep
 
Don't have it, but I've worked with it.

It has only one IDE channel, so that supports 2 drives on one cable, but mixing HDDs and opticals on the same channel is rarely if ever a good idea. I'd recommend you pick up a cheap enclosure for your HDD if all you're using it for is backup, and just hook it up via USB 2.0 or FireWire.
 
ok I think what I'll do is get a new backup drive instead, I've almost filled up the old one so I need something a bit bigger, I can get one for about £25 so that's fine
 
Really, so long as you never burn anything that's stored on the backup drive, or install anything to it (just use it as a backup, only) you should be fine. It's when you try to read and write to both drives on the same channel that problems can arise.
 
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