Are there any stable Core 2 duo boards?

number41 · 27 Aug 2006 at 15:07

I decided to give up the AM2 idea and go for Core Duo, but the motherboards all seem to have complaints! The ASUS have on-board sound which apparently crackles and seem to be unstable. The rest seem to be unstable, reboot or bluescreen!

Are there any 775 boards that are stable from the offset? Always bought ASUS in the past but their current boards just seem bad!

I have been looking at the Gigabyte DS3 but that seems hit and miss too

Thinking about just going back to the AM2 idea!

What boards are good value and just stable? Given up the SLI idea!

Cheers!

st@rsky · 27 Aug 2006 at 15:10

If your really worried about the so called un-stableness then wait a few months for the next wave of conroe boards to come out. If waiting isn't an option I would still recommend an Asus P5B Deluxe or P5W Deluxe, failing that the DS3.

Digikill · 27 Aug 2006 at 16:13

I agree,
If you are serious about sound or gaming you should opt for a Soundcard instead of on board, as a rule, if you can.

number41 · 27 Aug 2006 at 16:16

I plan to get an X-Fi card too so not too bothered about on-board sound, but just wondering what the most popular board is at the moment with regards to conroe processors?

st@rsky · 27 Aug 2006 at 16:22

number41 said:
I plan to get an X-Fi card too so not too bothered about on-board sound, but just wondering what the most popular board is at the moment with regards to conroe processors?

There are three; Gigabyte DS3, Asus PW5, Asus P5B

Personally, I'm going for the P5B but any of the three are pretty good.

number41 · 27 Aug 2006 at 16:28

The P5W deluxe looks OK judging by the Newegg reviews. Most positive ones ive seen! Why you going for the P5B over the W version? How is the overclocking on the P5W?

Xez · 27 Aug 2006 at 16:36

I think thats a competitor? Id remove it just to be sure anyway

It also depends on what CPU you get by looking around... The DS3/DS4 seem to like the E6300/6400 and the P5W DH likes the E6600 and above for overclocking

snowdog · 27 Aug 2006 at 17:13

p5wdh delx is best if you're not after the gigabytes, the 975x is faster as 965 chipset, wouldn't worry about sound, either get a proper good quality standalone card or a cheap 5 quid replacement for onboard one ( a sweex or q-tec one or something, same quality anyhow as most onboard junk)