Stable LGA775 Board with 6+ SATA Ports, RAID 0 and 1 and 3 PCI slots?

O

oneils

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
475
Hi everyone, I've been reading tons of motherboard reviews and forum discussions lately.

I'm looking to replace my almost three year old s754 system (sniff...old yeller! don't go!) with a Core 2 duo system. I have pretty much figured out what all my components are going to be, except for the motherboard.

I've been thinking of getting a P965 board (primarily because they usually have 3 pci slots instead of two). But some don't have more than 5 sata ports, and some only support RAID through 1 internal SATA drive and 1 external SATA Drive.

Also, the more I read about these boards, the more issues I see regarding onboard raid (some problems dealing with the IDE controller, and others with the SATA controller - I plan on only using SATA drives).

Can any one here point me in the direction of a board that has 3 PCI slots, 6 SATA ports and supports RAID through two internal drives? I've been looking at the ASUS P5B-E, Gigabyte DS3 and Abit AB9 Pro (edit - damn, just realised the ABIT has only 2 PCI slots....nonetheless its tempting as it has so many SATA ports) . Would either of these boards fit the bill?

I don't plan to overclock.

My components would be

Windows Vista
Two Pioneer SATA dvd writers (212D).
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-5400C4 (2 x 1gb)
Two or Three Seagate Barrucuda 7200.10 drives (either 320gb or 500gb)
Corsair 520HX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Evga 8800gts (640mb)
Case, still undecided...was leaning towards a lian-li A05B...but I think I will eventually need more 3.5 inch bays down the road.

Any help you guys could give would be greatly appreciated.
 
i think the commando has 4 pci slots and the sata you want. also the p5b deluxe and premium have 3 slots and 6 or 7 internal sata ports.
 
Cool, thanks vanilla_guerilla. Never thought of the Commando or the deluxe and premium. Problem with those is their price in Canada...they run for over $250 bucks plus tax...(I'm in Canada). The others are kind of in my price range...but I guess I might have to shell-out the dough to get everything I want.
 
How important is that 3rd PCI slot though?
Do you need it now or is it a case of that you need 2 now & would like a 3rd for possible future use?
More & more PCI-E products are coming out & PCI will die like ISA before it.

If 2 is sufficient for now then the AB9 Pro/MSI 965 Platinum level of board will do you fine at considerably less cost than a Commando/ P5B DeLuxe.
 
Hey Buff, I have two tv tuners (bought them one at a time a while back) and a sound card that I want to migrate over to the new system. The old system is probably going to someone in the family...and they won't be needing that stuff.

Just didin't feel like shelling out 150 bucks for the only pci-x dual tv tuner I can find. It might be worth it to pay the extra 70-80 bucks for one of the other mobos, instead of buying new tv tuners.

From what I understand though, the x-fi's (that's the sound card I have) main features aren't compatible with vista anyway...so maybe I'll just leave it in the old system and go for the MSI. Had a look at it and it looks good.
 
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