Best Quad Core Motherboard for < 80 Quid

Xtremeforce · 28 May 2008 at 18:38

Hi all looking at upgrading and switching sides to intel going for a quad core processor Q6600,

-Looking at which motherboard would be best with 4 sata's a minimum.
-Not looking at Sli at the moment so prob a no no.
-Which is best for overclocking?

Looking at putting it all in an Antec 300, combined with existing ram 4gb ddr2 6400, using current Graphics card.

The budget 80 quid?

Hope you guys can help.

Many thanks

EDIT - Gfx is Nvidia 8600gt pci-e

Cob · 28 May 2008 at 18:57

Abit IP35.

Devil_Spawn · 28 May 2008 at 18:57

The Abit IP35-E is a very nice board, it has the 4 sata's but no raid, so if you need that, go for the IP35.

it overclocks extremely well, and will easily do for your needs. runs great with my q6600

Greebo · 28 May 2008 at 21:04

Abit Ip35 pro - but not on ocuk i'm afraid, look elsewhere

Since they released the new special version (can't remember it's proper name

) prices of the ABit IP35 pro have plummeted by £20-£30. I know ocuk have them on this weeks special but still behind the competition I;m afraid.

dan653 · 28 May 2008 at 21:57

abit ip35 pro now the prices are dropping thanks to the 'pro xe'

Xtremeforce · 28 May 2008 at 22:36

Hi guys thanks a lot,

Think ill go with the Abit seems like the best choice it'll be my first venture from the trusty asus for me thanks a lot guess will have a look for the best prices thanks for the heads up.

Xtremeforce

Ben M · 28 May 2008 at 23:25

the p45 chipset is out soon to replace the p35. i wouldn't buy a p35 chipset now.

optimus · 28 May 2008 at 23:36

Ben M said:
the p45 chipset is out soon to replace the p35. i wouldn't buy a p35 chipset now.

Your not gonna get a p45 chipset board for less than £80. (or are you?)

SlyReaper · 28 May 2008 at 23:52

Ben M said:
the p45 chipset is out soon to replace the p35. i wouldn't buy a p35 chipset now.

p45 chipset boards are fairly expensive and will probably remain so for a fairly long time.

Earlier this week, I bought a second hand Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R for £50 (New will still probably be less than your £80 if you don't want to buy second hand). Very happy with it so far. My old board was only letting me clock my E2160 CPU to 2.34GHz. Now it's running along happily at 3.24GHz. So yes, P35 boards are very nice for overclocking.

Anyway, it has 8 SATA ports, two of which (the purple ones) are RAID enabled. It has the PCI-E x16 slot (only one of them, but since you said you won't be wanting SLI or Crossfire, that shouldn't be an issue) for your graphics card.

HeX · 29 May 2008 at 09:19

optimus said:
Your not gonna get a p45 chipset board for less than £80. (or are you?)

Seen a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 for less than £80.

Greebo · 29 May 2008 at 09:31

optimus said:
Your not gonna get a p45 chipset board for less than £80. (or are you?)

No, not for a while. £100 will be about the cheapest for a no frills one which tbh honest I would rather have a reliable, sound bios, good overclocking p35 with lots of features than a basic vanilla p45 with an unknown track record and buggy bios. Chances are you will get a better overclock out of the good p35 board anyway.

If you want to wait a few months I am sure you will be able to pick up a decent p45 board 2nd hand but the op is on a budget and I am assuming he doesn't want to wait a few months therefore an ABit IP35pro fits the bill right now.

uv · 29 May 2008 at 09:34

A vote for the MSI NEO2-FR here

very nice clocker, has 5 sata ports (4 are raid), heatpipe chipset/pwm cooling, and a clear-CMOS button.

HeX · 29 May 2008 at 09:36

Read above, you can get the Gigabyte P45 DS3 for less than £80, its pretty much the same as the higher models, just no RAID and no heatpiped cooling.

Though I agree, i'd rather have a pimped out P35 for the same price for now.

Ben M · 29 May 2008 at 10:30

optimus said:
Your not gonna get a p45 chipset board for less than £80. (or are you?)

They're a direct replacement for the p35, that includes price I thought.

The ones on pre-order aren't badly priced.

Greebo · 29 May 2008 at 10:59

Ben M said:
They're a direct replacement for the p35, that includes price I thought.

The ones on pre-order aren't badly priced.

I beg to differ. They are too much money for what they are although they are a replacement for the p35 boards.

Take the Asus boards. The range of p45 is from £117.49 to £158.61 but the same range of p35 Asus boards are £70.49 to £117.49 so you are looking at a £40 premium on a like for like basis for going from a p35 to a p45.

Tbh until they come down in price (which they will) they are so closely priced to x48 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard) that I would rather buy a x48 board than a p45 board especially the DFI one for £141 over the http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard for the same money.

All this means is that atm you can grab some hellish good value p35 boards especially compared to what they once cost. I can remember the IP35pro costing over £140 at one point.

clocka · 29 May 2008 at 11:15

the ip35-pro can be had for £80 if you know where to look, get 1 of them, definately best board for that price.

Dark_Angel · 30 May 2008 at 02:06

What are Abit boards like ? I am really thinking of replacing my P5N-E SLI with an IP35 board, as I am hitting a limit well known to my current board with quad CPU's and only able to clock to 3GHZ, what type of speeds (assume for a moment my chip is the best chip ever, in other words that is not a limiting factor) can the board support quads up to ? assuming I have a good fan cooler will 3.6GHZ say be possible on this board ?

I have 1000MHZ DDR2 Ram, and a G0 Q6600 with a Vid of 1.2250.

Greebo · 30 May 2008 at 07:39

Dark_Angel said:
What are Abit boards like ? I am really thinking of replacing my P5N-E SLI with an IP35 board, as I am hitting a limit well known to my current board with quad CPU's and only able to clock to 3GHZ, what type of speeds (assume for a moment my chip is the best chip ever, in other words that is not a limiting factor) can the board support quads up to ? assuming I have a good fan cooler will 3.6GHZ say be possible on this board ?

I have 1000MHZ DDR2 Ram, and a G0 Q6600 with a Vid of 1.2250.

Assuming your cooling is right and your cpu is not your problem with your overclock then 3.6Ghz is no problem.

I can have mine running at 3.8Ghz but it gets very toasty at that speed and I only use it for benchmarks.

Currently leave mine at 3.5Ghz for day to day running. It doesn't need much voltage for that (1.3v if I remember correctly) and runs nice and cool. VID of my chip is 1.25v btw.

Xtremeforce · 30 May 2008 at 17:10

Thanks for the responses fella's

Just ordered the antec 300 case came today waiting till i next get paid till i get the mobo - processor combo.

Totally understanding the views on the p35 & p45 why buggy bio's etc when you can get excellent result for near half the price.

Any one know where you get the pro for under 80 quid feel free to PM me? lol

Many thanks

Greebo · 30 May 2008 at 17:13

Xtremeforce said:
Any one know where you get the pro for under 80 quid feel free to PM me? lol

Many thanks

I would but no PM on this board and you have not set up an email in trust

Anyway, a little googling goes a long, long way and one place rhymes with "way" I have just remembered