Looking for a New MB for E8500

Helfire · 17 Mar 2008 at 17:39

Looking to build a new system , so far ive got
E8500 cpu
4 Gigs DDR3 memory
Nvidia 7890GX2 graphics
In an antec case

What im afer is a MB i can use all this with, in the near future the graphics card will be replaced, but not realy intrested in SLI. Any suggestions on what board to get looking to OC the proc to around 4Ghz if posible. I was looking at a Maximus Extreme board, Asus P5E3 Intel X38 and Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R. But im open to offers on this, any suggestions.

Thanks

Gunni Parker · 17 Mar 2008 at 23:55

The Asus P5e3 is a good idea. But why do you want to spend the cash on ddr3?

Helfire · 18 Mar 2008 at 09:41

Well always like to upgrade to the latest bits, and no doubt ddr3 will be around for the next gen stuff. But im swaying towards some 1066 ddr2 memory now. And not to fussed about the extra cash just want whats the best for an upgrade in the future.

pastymuncher · 18 Mar 2008 at 11:03

Helfire said:
Well always like to upgrade to the latest bits, and no doubt ddr3 will be around for the next gen stuff. But im swaying towards some 1066 ddr2 memory now. And not to fussed about the extra cash just want whats the best for an upgrade in the future.

In that case the standard DDR2 P5E is an excellent board and got my E8500 to 4.6Ghz before it started to degrade due to me giving it more than 1.45v.

Helfire · 21 Mar 2008 at 12:15

Thanks, went for the e8400, the asus P5E board and 4x1GB ofCrucial balistic 1066ddr2.
Quick question whats the best way to set the memory using the auto feture in the bios seems to set it in cpu-z at 1:1 fsb:dram or use the drop down and sellect closest to 1066. Also do i use the fsb to northbridge on auto or sett it manual.

Thanks

pastymuncher · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:46

Helfire said:
Thanks, went for the e8400, the asus P5E board and 4x1GB ofCrucial balistic 1066ddr2.
Quick question whats the best way to set the memory using the auto feture in the bios seems to set it in cpu-z at 1:1 fsb:dram or use the drop down and sellect closest to 1066. Also do i use the fsb to northbridge on auto or sett it manual.

Thanks

I always leave the FSB Strap to North Bridge set to Auto and use the drop down in Dram Frequency to select the speed closest to 1066.

All the way up to 400mhz you can leave everything (apart from fsb and maybe Vcore plus the ram set to 2.20v) set to Auto. Beyond that is when you have to start tweaking voltages etc. You may need to increase the NB voltage a notch or two anyway as you are running four sticks of ram. You also need to update the bios to ver 502 or above. Just get the latest, 605, as it is very good.