budget p45 board vs biostar tpower

ArchAnGeL · 4 Feb 2009 at 07:51

I am considering buying a biostar tpower due to it's oc potential @ £110 but times are hard so the cash puts me off.

Are there any budget boards that offer good overclocks (500fsb with 45nm chips)

I just need a basic board and fancy heatpipe sinks aren't an issue as I will watercool the cpu and northbridge

also, are p45 boards locked to 1:1 or higher memory dividers?

cheers

95thrifles · 4 Feb 2009 at 09:34

If you're after budget Id recomend looking at the P43, almost as good as P45, they just dont support crossfire, the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L is around £80, a saving of £30, and should clock just as well

steve258 · 4 Feb 2009 at 09:52

yes intel chipsets only offer 1:1 or higher ram divider AFAIK so decent ram is needed for high fsb oc.

ArchAnGeL · 4 Feb 2009 at 12:03

95thrifles said:
If you're after budget Id recomend looking at the P43, almost as good as P45, they just dont support crossfire, the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L is around £80, a saving of £30, and should clock just as well

Cheers, I hadn't considered other chip sets as i thought, well, P45 seem to be the best for oc'ing

I definately don't need crossfire or sli so the board you mentioned is a good shout.

metamorphpwner · 4 Feb 2009 at 12:34

95thrifles said:
If you're after budget Id recomend looking at the P43, almost as good as P45, they just dont support crossfire, the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L is around £80, a saving of £30, and should clock just as well

with that board what should you achieve from a Q6600?

ArchAnGeL · 4 Feb 2009 at 12:49

What's the difference between the DS3L and the S3L?

95thrifles · 4 Feb 2009 at 13:26

The DS3 you mean I think, it has different expansion slots

DS3L Graphics Interface:
- PCI-Express 2.0 (1x16)
- 4x PCI-Express x1
- 2x PCI

DS3 Graphics Interface:
- PCI-Express 2.0 (1x16)
- 1x PCI-Express x4
- 1x PCI-Express x1
- 4x PCI

reflux · 4 Feb 2009 at 13:28

Bear in mind, the cheaper boards tend to have carpy heatsinks, specifically no VRM cooling. I wouldn't want to run a chip heavily overclocked without proper motherboard cooling.

ArchAnGeL · 4 Feb 2009 at 15:28

my p5n-e has certainly took some hammering

chipset will be on water but good point on vrm's. I'll see what the airflow is like there.

If that's the only difference between the two gigabytes, I'll probably go for the cheaper one.

or, i'll get all excited in the shop and get the biostar!

metamorphpwner · 4 Feb 2009 at 16:18

ArchAnGeL said:
my p5n-e has certainly took some hammering
chipset will be on water but good point on vrm's. I'll see what the airflow is like there.
If that's the only difference between the two gigabytes, I'll probably go for the cheaper one.
or, i'll get all excited in the shop and get the biostar!

Get the biostar, my choice was P5Q-pro or biostar T Powoer. choice was made easier by the fact that P5Q-Pro is out of stock and i'm ordering tonight