Chipset & MB help pls

colinloves · 17 Nov 2006 at 00:02

Im building myself a new PC. The only thing I know I'm getting is a E6400 CPU.

Im not an overclocker, but I'm getting the chip that can do it, so I will give it a go, just using the stock fan (so Im not expecting top clocks).

I be putting an Nvida graphics card in, not SLI (cant afford it) and I throw a 2 gig of RAM in too (priced under 200 pound).

So with that info, what motherboard should I get. Im also confused about chipsets and what we suit me the most.

pls help this little noob.

It's such a minefield out there and just too many boards to choose from.

w3bbo · 17 Nov 2006 at 00:19

If you're on a budget then I would go for the Gigabyte DS3.

Snapshot · 17 Nov 2006 at 09:42

I went with the GA965P-DS4 as I liked the look of the heatpipe connecting the chipset and PSU components. :rolleyes:

But from what I read on here you can't go far wrong with the DS3 version. You can get boards based round the 945 chipset that support Conroe but I doubt they'll overclock very much.

Jonathan

richardw · 17 Nov 2006 at 10:17

I think the DS4 is the better choice - you get dual bios, firewire and RAID and heatpipe coolers for a little extra.

I did have a AB9 Pro, very feature packed for the price, had a few niggles, but I think i'm happier with the DS4 (and hoping it overclockers a lot better)...If you don't know too much about computers and not planning to overclock loads, the AB9 Pro has a post code display, which could be very useful.

colinloves · 17 Nov 2006 at 19:36

So not much difference in chipsets then?

How about this - looks well sexy Abit AW9D

Is it worth getting, for the extra money?

colinloves · 17 Nov 2006 at 19:38

So not much difference in chipsets then? 965 - 975 - why?

How about this - looks well sexy Abit AW9D

Is it worth getting, for the extra money?

colinloves · 18 Nov 2006 at 07:51

I got a bunch of MB that I got in mind. (including the ones above)

But some have different chipsets. Being:

ip965

i975x

What is the diference?

Or does none of this matter and its more to do with bits on the MB

BUFF · 18 Nov 2006 at 11:17

colinloves said:
How about this - looks well sexy Abit AW9D

Is it worth getting, for the extra money?

Good board but not the best for overclocking an E6400.
The 975X chipset doesn't overclock to as high an fsb as the 965 so with the 8x multi on the 6400 you would have a better chance of going further with the 965.

colinloves · 19 Nov 2006 at 06:50

BUFF said:
Good board but not the best for overclocking an E6400.
The 975X chipset doesn't overclock to as high an fsb as the 965 so with the 8x multi on the 6400 you would have a better chance of going further with the 965.

Thanks for the info.

But other than the overclocking benfits, whats so speical over the 975 chipset to the 965? Whats been added?

If anyone can link me more info on chipset types, then that would be a blinder

Papa Lazarou · 19 Nov 2006 at 18:08

Comparison of the two chipsets (hope this link works) - http://indigo.intel.com/compare_cpu/showchart.aspx?mmID=22754,143&familyID=10&culture=en-US

There is a commonly quoted "fact" that 965 chipsets are better for the Allendale processors and 975 are better for the Conroes. TBH I don't really think there is much evidence of this. This test shows a comparison of an Abit AW9D Max (i975X) and Abit AB9 Pro (i965P) and shows some performance difference, mostly in the AB9 Pro's favour. http://www.*****.net/content/item.php?item=6992&page=7

The main advantage of the 975 is the support for Crossfire.

EDIT I take it the linked to site that rhymes with nexus is banned here?

LoadsaMoney · 19 Nov 2006 at 21:16

Yeah h e x u s gets starred out as they fell out with overclockers or soemthing, you can mention them if you use spaces, just when you try to link to them it stars out.

Id go for the DS3 tbh, will be fine for that chip, running a E6600 on a DS4 here, cracking board, but most ppl go for the DS3 with the 6300/6400, as its a cracking combination.

colinloves · 20 Nov 2006 at 01:45

Ok another related question.

Is there problems with installing a 6400 into the mobo's listed and favored? I heard something about having to put an older chip in to update the bios or something for the conroe to run.

EDIT: Me bad. Cos overclockers listed the 975 chipeset at the top of their list, I guessed that it was the lastest models.

Snapshot · 20 Nov 2006 at 09:50

No, none at all. The boards based on the 975 and 965 chipsets all support C2D out of the box as do some of the 945-based boards.

Jonathan

LoadsaMoney · 20 Nov 2006 at 11:43

Yeah will be fine, your probably confusing that with some ppl having to boot up with a cheapo stick of Ram, as the board sets the Ram voltage to low for the good stuff like the Geil etc..., so you need to get a cheapo stick to put in so you can get it to boot and get into the BIOS so that you can up the Ram voltage a bit to get your Ram working, but as far as i know that was mainly the shipping BIOS and an updated one fixed the Ram problems.

When i got my DS4 a couple of weeks ago it came with the F3 BIOS, and my Ram worked fine straight off, but the DS3 will probably need flashing though if it doesn't work with the Ram, as the BIOS fix for their Ram problem was F5, depends what BIOS its shipping with now.