Motherboard help

hibeesmad · 18 May 2008 at 02:33

I am either going to buy the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 or the MSI Neo2-FR.

It will be used with either a e7200 or e8200, an 8800GT and 4gb RAM.

Which would you recommend?

Thanks,

Johnny.

Hesky82 · 18 May 2008 at 02:48

There both great boards for the money, pretty tough to choose.

The MSI has the edge when it comes to overclocking so I would probably opt for it for that reason.

sir-les-mp · 18 May 2008 at 02:59

i would go with the gigabyte one espescially if its this one
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913
most gigabytes use a dual bios or did when i last used one
other good feture of this board is when ddr3 comes down to the prices of currnet ddr2 you dont need to change mobo to make use of it

Hesky82 · 18 May 2008 at 03:55

sir-les-mp said:
i would go with the gigabyte one espescially if its this one
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913
most gigabytes use a dual bios or did when i last used one
other good feture of this board is when ddr3 comes down to the prices of currnet ddr2 you dont need to change mobo to make use of it

I’m really not a fan of the P35C range of boards (C suffix stands for combined ddr2 and ddr3 memory slot capability). You can have either two sticks of ddr2 OR two sticks of ddr3, not both. This effectively limits you to 4gb max instead of 8gb. In addition, these P35C boards don’t seem to be half as stable as the native ddr2 boards. If you are going to have a budget gigabite P35 board your best off with the GA-P35-DS3R over the GA-P35C-DS3R or the weedy DS3.

semi-pro waster · 18 May 2008 at 10:09

Hesky82 said:
I’m really not a fan of the P35C range of boards (C suffix stands for combined ddr2 and ddr3 memory slot capability). You can have either two sticks of ddr2 OR two sticks of ddr3, not both.

Just picking up a minor correction, on that motherboard specifically there are actually 4 DDR2 slots and 2 DDR3 slots although I haven't checked for the rest of the range (Gigabyte specification). I'd agree with the rest of your reasoning though and say that by the time DDR3 becomes viable for most people (especially on a budget build) it is likely to be as easy and cheap to simply buy a new motherboard.

hibeesmad · 18 May 2008 at 11:58

Thanks. So Semi-Pro which board would you buy? I am ordering today and it will be my first build so I would appreciate your advice.

semi-pro waster · 18 May 2008 at 12:04

I know a bit more about the Gigabytes so I'd pick the ordinary P35-DS3R as it would overclock far enough for me although the MSI certainly seems impressive given what other people have said. If overclocking is the primary aim then the MSI is probably better overall but I don't think you can lose either way with them.

hibeesmad · 18 May 2008 at 12:15

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo, E7200, Wolfdale Core, S775, 2.53 GHz, 1066MHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
RAM 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
Graphics Point Of View 8800GT 512MB
Hard drive 500GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1
Case NZXT Alpha Black Mid Tower Case
PSU Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-215BK
Operating system Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM

What do you think? Would you change anything? I am ordering today so any additional help would be much appreciated,

Johnny.

semi-pro waster · 18 May 2008 at 12:30

Everything there looks fine to me, I can't see any obvious issues althoguh for overclocking you might find yourself soon limited by the stock Intel cooler. Something like the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro is a decent cheap alternative at ~£15.

hibeesmad · 18 May 2008 at 14:30

Will this case be fine for the 8800GT? Also there is not much space for a 120mm fan at the front so it will have to be low profile. could you recommened me a fan not more than 20mm depth? Will the Arctic Cooler 7 CPU fan also fit? Thanks again.

semi-pro waster · 18 May 2008 at 14:44

The case apparantly fits an 8800GTX in so an 8800GT is easily fine. The Arctic Freezer should be fine, I think some people have fitted Tuniq Towers in and they are bigger coolers.

I'm afraid I don't know about slimline fans though.

hibeesmad · 18 May 2008 at 14:57

Thanks for your help,

Johnny.

lunarwolf · 18 May 2008 at 15:00

why? when I look at your sig, is this really an upgrade?

Hesky82 · 18 May 2008 at 17:28

It’s not tbh, an e6700 clocked at 2.66GHz with 4mb on the whole will probably be faster than the e7200 clocked at 2.53GHz with 3mb cache. If it was me I would go for a faster double cache dual core like the e8400.

The e7200 will run cooler and use less power, thats the only advantage I see over his current cpu really if he keeps it at stock. The e7200 will definitely have the edge with overclocking as his e6700 will no doubt be the old b2 stepping that wasnt all that good at overclocking unless you had great cooling.