Micro-ATX for Core2Duo
- Thread starter defgn
- Start date
There are a number of good boards now.
If you're not overclocking, save money and take the Asrock Conroe 945G-DVI. Rock solid board and it's very nicely priced too.
However there's no PCIe lock, so don't expect to overclock it very much, if at all.
If you do want to overclock a bit, or even future proof yourself, then the G33M based boards support the new upcoming 45nm C2D chips and are also (on the whole) good overclockers to boot. Something like either the Asus P5K-VM or the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R (with latest BIOS flash) would suit you here.
The Abit F-I90HD sort of falls between both. It's a modest overclocker, reported to hit 350-375FSB, whereas the G33M boards go right up to 500FSB. Personally I think it's the most feature-packed board, but again it really depends what you're after.
If you're not overclocking, save money and take the Asrock Conroe 945G-DVI. Rock solid board and it's very nicely priced too.
However there's no PCIe lock, so don't expect to overclock it very much, if at all.If you do want to overclock a bit, or even future proof yourself, then the G33M based boards support the new upcoming 45nm C2D chips and are also (on the whole) good overclockers to boot. Something like either the Asus P5K-VM or the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R (with latest BIOS flash) would suit you here.
The Abit F-I90HD sort of falls between both. It's a modest overclocker, reported to hit 350-375FSB, whereas the G33M boards go right up to 500FSB. Personally I think it's the most feature-packed board, but again it really depends what you're after.
hey tute!
i'm not looking to overclock really, i'm after something that packs as much as it can for the price and size as well as being future-proof (not a huge requirement but would be useful!)
I've been looking at the Abit F-I90HD and it seems pretty decent, just seeing what the cheapest i can find for it is
i'm not looking to overclock really, i'm after something that packs as much as it can for the price and size as well as being future-proof (not a huge requirement but would be useful!)
I've been looking at the Abit F-I90HD and it seems pretty decent, just seeing what the cheapest i can find for it is
Well as I said, "future-proof" would be the G33M boards, all with full Quad Core and 45nm support.
The F-I90HD has some good features though, like the onboard HDMI. It'll take Quad Core too, but i'm fairly sure there's no 45nm support.
I think price-wise the G33M boards are quite similar in price to the F-I90HD, so i'd go for one of those, unless you really want the HDMI.
The F-I90HD has some good features though, like the onboard HDMI. It'll take Quad Core too, but i'm fairly sure there's no 45nm support.
I think price-wise the G33M boards are quite similar in price to the F-I90HD, so i'd go for one of those, unless you really want the HDMI.
Tute said:Well as I said, "future-proof" would be the G33M boards, all with full Quad Core and 45nm support.
The F-I90HD has some good features though, like the onboard HDMI. It'll take Quad Core too, but i'm fairly sure there's no 45nm support.
I think price-wise the G33M boards are quite similar in price to the F-I90HD, so i'd go for one of those, unless you really want the HDMI.
the main reason why i'm leaning towards the F-I90HD is because it has a pretty good onboard graphics module which would save me splashing out on a new graphics card. can anybody suggest any other boards?
defgn said:the main reason why i'm leaning towards the F-I90HD is because it has a pretty good onboard graphics module which would save me splashing out on a new graphics card. can anybody suggest any other boards?
Well I wouldn't consider any onboard graphics to be much better than any other. They all pretty much suck for any kind of 3D gaming, you'd need a dedicated card to enjoy games.
And i'll tell you now, the onboard chip on the F-I90HD isn't any good for gaming.
oh i see...well in that case, can you recommend the cheapest futureproof motherboard that has a stable bios and software etc?
Edit: im also looking for a motherboard that will support at least DDR2 PC6400 RAM as well , suggestions welcome
Edit: im also looking for a motherboard that will support at least DDR2 PC6400 RAM as well , suggestions welcome
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Okay. Unfortunatly OcUK's range of mATX C2D motherboard is a little small, so you may have to look around.
But you're going to want something like the Asus P5K-VM or the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R. Just look for a board with the "G33M" chipset, I think they're all very good boards.
But you're going to want something like the Asus P5K-VM or the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R. Just look for a board with the "G33M" chipset, I think they're all very good boards.
thanks tute, i've ordered the F-I90HD
can you confirm with me that this RAM http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 is compatible with it?
can you confirm with me that this RAM http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 is compatible with it?
I have that exact memory in my other box which is running an F-I90HD board.
It's got an e2160 @333fsb which puts the memory in sync as well. Max I've pushed the board to was 371fsb but was using the onboard gfx.
Put any of the core2duo range and you'll be able to up the fsb to 333 and your ram would be in sync aswell. Would be nice stable overclock too.
It's got an e2160 @333fsb which puts the memory in sync as well. Max I've pushed the board to was 371fsb but was using the onboard gfx.
Put any of the core2duo range and you'll be able to up the fsb to 333 and your ram would be in sync aswell. Would be nice stable overclock too.
Right. Quick update to this thread.
A couple of days ago, after I posted, I started getting frequent BSODs. After a reboot it all pointed to my CPU, which was running in the 70's when loaded in a game.
So I removed it, reseated the heatsink, and powered up. Blank screen. Tried again. Blank screen.
Turns out that 2 of the 4 RAM slots on the motherboard just packed up. Managed to get it to boot in the 2 remaining slots, however it's far from ideal and was very unstable (BSODs in Vista).
After looking around, googling, etc I found that the problem was actually quite common with these boards, something to do with the RAM voltage, and that a BIOS flash to the latest might well fix it, as well as the problem of the CPU (turns out it might not have been overheating after all).
But the flash killed it. Nothing, not even in the two remaining RAM slots. So it's going back for an RMA.
I still don't think this is a bad board, just MAKE SURE you flash the damn thing to it's latest BIOS from the Abit site, otherwise you might well run into stability problems further down the line.
Just a heads-up.
A couple of days ago, after I posted, I started getting frequent BSODs. After a reboot it all pointed to my CPU, which was running in the 70's when loaded in a game.
So I removed it, reseated the heatsink, and powered up. Blank screen. Tried again. Blank screen.
Turns out that 2 of the 4 RAM slots on the motherboard just packed up. Managed to get it to boot in the 2 remaining slots, however it's far from ideal and was very unstable (BSODs in Vista).
After looking around, googling, etc I found that the problem was actually quite common with these boards, something to do with the RAM voltage, and that a BIOS flash to the latest might well fix it, as well as the problem of the CPU (turns out it might not have been overheating after all).
But the flash killed it. Nothing, not even in the two remaining RAM slots. So it's going back for an RMA.
I still don't think this is a bad board, just MAKE SURE you flash the damn thing to it's latest BIOS from the Abit site, otherwise you might well run into stability problems further down the line.
Just a heads-up.