Yet another Mobo selection thread

[justaguy_99]

Ok, until now, I had sold myself on an eVGA 680i mobo with the intention of running SLI in the future. The more I think about it, the less likely I am to actually run SLI and just buy a new gfx card. So where does that leave me?

This will be an e6600 system with an 8800gtx, and my price range is about $250.

I should mention that I'm an O/C n00b but I'd like to squeeze the most out of my components and don't mind a slow learning curve. Thanks guys!

Steve

 

[soulman901]

Might I suggest an P5B Motherboard from ASUS then? Also good thing you aren't getting a 680i motherboard from EVGA. They are having issues right now with them.
SoulMan901

 

[Arcygenical]

P5b-deluxe or a p5b-e (stay AWAY from the p5b-vanilla or p5b-vm) for great boards.

My -deluxe takes my E6300 up to 500FSB.

 

[Mansize_tissue]

I'd probably get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, since 975 chipsets seem to compliment higher end core 2 duos.

 

[justaguy_99]

Thanks for the replies so far, I figured it would probably come down to one of these two boards (pw5 or p5b).

I'd probably get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, since 975 chipsets seem to compliment higher end core 2 duos.

I read that as well, can somebody explain why?

Thanks for the responses again!

Steve

 

[BUFF]

965 chipset boards can hit over 500fsb whereas 975X typically is more like 420.
Most C2Ds typically top out ~3.6GHz on air & if you have a CPU with a low multi you want the extra fsb to max your core overclock whereas with an E6600 (9x) or up the 400 or so of the 975X is fine.

OK, so with an E6600 why wouldn't you go 965?
Because most* 965 mobos change to the looser 1333 strap ~400fsb so that their performance @ e.g. 410fsb is lower than on 975X @410fsb.

* at least 1 exception is the abit AB9 QuadGT which can do over 500fsb on the 1067 strap.

 

[divve]

I'd go for a Bad Axe 2 + Xeon 3060