Good 775 boards for a QX6700 to replace a dead GA-N680SLI-DQ6

jamesd

jamesd

jamesd

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My GA-N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard has died :( and I am looking for a replacment socket 775 board. Has anyone got any suggestions? I have a QX6700, 6GB's of DDR2 ram 2x1GB sticks and 2x2GB sticks. So I need 4 ram slots. I was also running 2 GTX550's in SLI so I would like to have SLI on the new board. The CPU and extra 4GB of ram was a recent upgrade so I want to get another board to use that rather than jump to the newer socket CPU's and boards. I was looking at some 780i SLI boards as its the 680SLI chipset in my current board which I was more than happy with. Would this be a good choice or are there better boards? I would also like to do some overclocking as I had the QX6700 clocked at 3.2 in the current board. My current board was expensive at the time so I would like another board around the same sort of level but newer. I am open to any suggestions and would be interested to hear what boards current socket 775 users have.
 
I have a P35C-DS3R it can take DDR2 and DDR3, but only has 1 PCI-E x16 1.0 slot.

On the bay. MSI P7N SLI PLATINUM SOCKET 775 MOTHERBOARD £64+ standard motherboard delivery of about £10. Look's good.

ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS SOCKET 775 MOTHERBOARD also looks good.

I'm so glad I make the jump to a 3570K.

If I were you I would consider that a decent SLI 775 board is going to be second hand, and will cost up to £80. For £80 you can get a very decent Z77 board with long warranty, then sell your chip and pick up a 3570K while it's on offer.

Also DDR2 seems to sell for more than new DDR3 costs.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £306.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).




Everything over 3 year warranty, apart from the DDR3 which is lifetime. Just an example.
 
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An interesting suggestion there. I had considered making the jump to the newer CPU's but I doubt I would be able to get £300 by selling my CPU and memory and I don't have a lot of spare cash going around just now. I would prefer to get a new board for my current components and then upgrade to a whole new PC later on next year.
 
I think auctions are the only easy place to get a reasonably priced 775 board with the features you want. Sucks that your old board died, you should frame it. XD
 
Yeah I think that’s going to be the best option until I can afford a full upgrade. I'm still undecided as to which board/chipset to get though. My old board was going great I was really happy with the PC and its performance. I'm seriously thinking about getting an EVGA 780i SLI I have also seen a cheap Asus striker board but I have read a lot of comments that say that the striker is plagued with problems so was put off that a bit.
 
IF you can find a Gigabyte P35/45 DQ6 then that would be ideal for you. I had the P35 DQ6 and there wasn't a better board for my Q6600@ 3.6Ghz
 
If I can remember correctly P35/P45 only XFire
But intel X38/X48 supports SLI

EDIT:
My bad, seems like SLI is for 780i or much more expensive 790i chipsets
 
Avathar77 said:
If I can remember correctly P35/P45 only XFire
But intel X38/X48 supports SLI

EDIT:
My bad, seems like SLI is for 780i or much more expensive 790i chipsets
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Your edit is correct I'm afraid. Intel only added SLI support on the Core i series motherboards (socket 1156/1366/1155/2011). Your only option for SLI with 775 is the 680/690 or 780/790

Also the ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS was infamous for spontaneously failing. I had to RMA 3 of them before I gave up on SLI and opted for the P35 P5K Deluxe. Best move ever :)
 
Thanks for the replies. I have been thinking about this over the past few days and I don't think its worth spending the money on an old second hand board so I am going to make the jump and upgrade my CPU, memory and motherboard, hopefully!
 
jamesd said:
Thanks for the replies. I have been thinking about this over the past few days and I don't think its worth spending the money on an old second hand board so I am going to make the jump and upgrade my CPU, memory and motherboard, hopefully!
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Some upgrades are more lateral in nature, but this is one that will definitely be a vast improvement over your prior system. See if you can find enough for a SSD as a boot drive if you don't have one already and then your done. ;)
 
mickyflinn said:
You will need about £300 if your gonna get an I-5, motherboard and ram.
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Yeah I know it will be expensive but I was considering a 780i board which is £100 odd second hand.

Or

I am considering £400-£450 on:

ASRock Z77 Fatal1ty Performance Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

Corsair Vengeance RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9R)

In the hope that like my current system did, it will do me for a good few years.

wam7 said:
Some upgrades are more lateral in nature, but this is one that will definitely be a vast improvement over your prior system. See if you can find enough for a SSD as a boot drive if you don't have one already and then your done. ;)
Click to expand...

I already have a 120GB SSD which I was going to use as a boot drive, but unfortunately my PC died before I could fit it. Its only a sata 2 drive but hopefully it will still be usable on a new system?
 
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jamesd said:
I already have a 120GB SSD which I was going to use as a boot drive, but unfortunately my PC died before I could fit it. Its only a sata 2 drive but hopefully it will still be usable on a new system?
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It will work fine. There is very little in real world performance between SATA2 and SATA 3 drives. My main machine was upgraded from a Vertex LE 100GB SATA 2 drive to a Crucial M4 256GB SATA 3 drive, both drives used on the Intel SATA 3 port.

Boot differences between them were 1 or 2 seconds at best and minor (read: not even sure) program load improvements.
 
If you won't have much spare cash til later may i suggest grabbing some ram now?
It's dirt cheap atm and has been as low as £23 for 8GB DDR3.

The P5Q Pro's were very popular, second hand should run you maybe 30-40.
No way would I be spending over £100 on a 2nd hand 775 board
 
Senture said:
It will work fine. There is very little in real world performance between SATA2 and SATA 3 drives. My main machine was upgraded from a Vertex LE 100GB SATA 2 drive to a Crucial M4 256GB SATA 3 drive, both drives used on the Intel SATA 3 port.

Boot differences between them were 1 or 2 seconds at best and minor (read: not even sure) program load improvements.
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Thats good to know that its going to be useful in a new build. I havent had the chance to use it yet its a vertex2 120gb drive I have.


~Divine~Wind~ said:
If you won't have much spare cash til later may i suggest grabbing some ram now?
It's dirt cheap atm and has been as low as £23 for 8GB DDR3.

The P5Q Pro's were very popular, second hand should run you maybe 30-40.
No way would I be spending over £100 on a 2nd hand 775 board
Click to expand...

I am hoping to try and raise some cash around christmas or just after, so thanks for the heads up on the ram. Is ram likley to go up in price around christmas?

The more I think about it the more I think it makes sense to upgrade to a new board cpu and memory rather than replace the 775 board.
 
I can't say if it will go up or not but I can't really see it getting much cheaper.

2x 8GB Kits
3570k
Mobo of choice

Seems to be a very popular combo :)
 
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