A Mobo dilemma

[Azrael]

hey,
A week or so ago I posted my planned future purchases. Although I'm still iffy on the Video card, I can live with that.. I'm pretty good for deciding those. Now I've been involved with computers since my dad let me help him build my first computer (a 486-DX66... pure power in that one). So I've always had a say in computer parts and I've read much and keep on top of news and info on computers, but there is one section that I never fully trust my self in; Mobo's. Not that I don't understand them or something... there just a dilemma between price, quality and features.

So after this little background I'll explain my dilemma and shall await your plethora of insight .

Now I don't have the means yet to buy the system so if the advice is to wait, I will as the purchase is going to be a late summer/before school starts purchase.

I have been looking at motherboards lately because I want to do as every body wants, to pay for what I need and only what I need. So even though I kinda fell in love with the 680I series, it has features that I wont be using.
Now to make it easier for you guys to understand what I want I'll make a list of things I don't need and then things I think are critical.

Not needed:
1) The dual lan-connection; I don't need this, I'll accept the limitations of a single cable.
2) The third PCI-e slot; I don't see mysewlf buying a third card for physics anytime soon, and when I do I'll probably get a whole new system, so no worries.
3) Millions of sata 2 connectors; I don't plan to have more then 2 hard drives (just something I don't do... :P)

Critical:
1) socket 775LGA compatible; As I plan to get the e6420 and I think if I ever need a newer CPU it'll be either this socket or a newer one so no worries
2) SLI*** Now these stars are because I'm not dead set on SLI, if the X2xxx prove a better buy then the 88xx then I will buy accordingly (I don't have any loyalty.. I used to lika ATI over nvidia, then it was the other way around and now I'm just happy to be able to buy mid-high end card). I know that SLI is silly unless you buy two top-end cards and have a 30" display... and so I'll probably always stay with one card... but it's that 'just-in-case' that bothers me.
3) DDR2; well it's the newer form and it's faster... plus goes well with the core 2 duos
4) 5.1 On-board sound (or better), yes yes, and audiophile would smack me till the cows come home, and I do have a sound card in my current build so it's not a nightmare if it doesn't (and yes performance decreases as it uses resources.. but I may be able to live with it.)
5) Decent overclockability; Now I don't mean I plan to use phase change cooling or anything (I'll probably stick with stock cooler), but I plan to buy a 6420 over a 6600 for price and that I could get better then stock 6600 speeds with about 75$ less price... again more for less :P.

Lastly my price range is 100-300 Canadian dollars. (for approx prices, and where i'm getting the rest of my stuff from go to NCIX
Thank you in advance,
Azrael

[Tefra]

So you just want a simple mobo with
- overclocking capabilities
- sli, crossfire isn't top priority
- extra deluxe features are not necessary
- lga 775 socket


You kinda love 680I series but still i would go with for an intel chip for various reasons.

I will add one more dilemma for you:

Intel 975x: Abit AW9D ATX LGA775 975X Crossfire

Nforce 680I: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 SLI


If i were you i would prefer the intel 975x, for various reasons.

The 680i it is said that it has some serious design problems. It's cheaper to get an Intel 975x based board and in most of the cases it performs better than the nforce 680i. In the end it's your choice.

[Azrael]

Thanks Tefra, after some research, I'll go with the Abit AW9D ATX LGA775 975X, It posts better numbers and seems to have better stability (althoguh the overclock isn't as great, but I'll take my chances with a system that has a greater chance of working stock :P) The other reassuring thing is that apperantly a bios upgrade my come to allow SLI.. so maybe if I ever do decide to go that rout it may be available...

Hahah, thanks man. I'm quite happy, for less money and in my opinion a better product (well it's not in stock, but I'm sure there may be some by the time I buy, or I'll just wait.)

~Azrael

[Tefra]

Seriously if i had enough money right now for a mobo+cpu upgrade i would select that mobo with E6600.

I am glad i could help

[weasel]

no i would wait t'ill the quad core drop in price wich won't take that long considering quadcore based E6600 is allready at the 500€ price tag here

[Azrael]

Ok Small update, I've decided that I'll forsake dual card systems, as through some past experience and some insight from users on other boards, you guys and some research It seems that if my single card gets weak, I'll just buy the equivalent level card of the next generation. It is always at least (so far) equal or a bit better then then 2 old cards.

Edit: Ok So I've changed again... man I can't make up my damn mind. I think I picked a good one this time... the DFI Infinity P965-S. Now this is a beats of an overclocker, and it has everything I need and apparently stable too. Sure it has crossfire with the x8 and x4 pci-e slots.. but who says you need to use them.. the x4 may come in handy for something else :P.

About the quad cores, I don't think I'll need those, as the cores will not be used to full potential, and the E6420 will give me exactly what I wanted. Although it would be a good feeling having a quad core beast under the hood :P.

Thanks again for the input guys, this forum gets better and better every day. Great community .

[weasel]

no problem allways there to help
and the dfi board really looks promising.Dfi is known for its overclockability

[Azrael]

Ok, I thought I had something with the DFI Dark... but apparently it's great and all, but has an annoying squeal due to an electric component, although it's off an on and some people don't report getting it, it just goes to show you that motherboards are so crucial, and yet they all have their mini cons.

So now I've got two contenders, I was looking back over the Gigabyte DS3 (rev. 3.3) and saw that the problems it has are only with a few people and most have had great success with it. The other one is also from gigabyte and it's the GA-N650SLI-DS4, the initial review by VR-Zone looks crazy promising, and it has the added bonus of SLI (not that important, but for similar price and good stability I'd take it). Now, this board seems good, but with only one review, and a few other forums with people having problems of low overclockability I'm a little worried. (I don't want to overclock that much as I'l stick with the stock heatsink & fan, but a nice 3Ghz would be perfect[I'm planning to pair with E6420, so the cpu should be fine).

Then there are the new p35 boards coming out (Non in the current Canadian retailer I plan to buy from) the early test are all over the place, some just as good if not better then x965 & 680I/650I, and some are reporting worse...

When if first decided to get a new rig, I thought the mobo would be easy to find, nothing super expensive, with room to overclock and upgrade, and solid. At first I had the ECS 680I, and although it's good and most 680I's problems are over and it performs with par to other such 680I... it was too expensive.

The mobo budget is around 200, so anything saved from their might help towards a 8800gts 640, instead of a 320, but I want to have a good mobo.. so a little over 200 isn't too bad.


So there we have it... again, another mobo dilemma. Again any help would be appreciated... and other mobos would be nice (go to NCIX for choices and reference prices.. or if you have a great mobo that's not listed, I can always try to track it down)

[weasel]

maybe this one ? ASUS P5B-PLUS ATX LGA775 Conroe 965P PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard

[Azrael]

Hmm... so it's pretty much a better lokking, all solid capacitor, with a little better voltage regulation version of the P5b-E... looks very promising, although the lack of reviews is annoying (saw two small in-forum reviews, very promising). This one is now at the top of my list.

Any other candidates, if not this is probably the one (I love the black PCB and the all solid capacitors )