Recommend a mainboard for an E5200

RevBillyG · 13 Feb 2009 at 15:29

Hi all,

I'm building a new system for a guy and am looking for a decent but well priced mainboard to go with an E5200. At the moment I'm looking at the Asus P5Q SE/2 as it seems the most reasonably priced (€89.50)

The CPU will be overclocked.

Anyone have any other recommendations?

Alas, it won't be bought from Overclockers this time and I don't think my forum membership qualifies for free delivery to the Netherlands

95thrifles · 13 Feb 2009 at 16:12

Look at the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L, thats a solid "budget" board

RevBillyG · 13 Feb 2009 at 16:28

Thanks. I was looking at Gigabyte to begin with as I've used them a couple of times before. The P5Q series seems very popular on these forums however.

Are there any RAM compatibility issues with the Gigabyte that you know of?

moffat · 13 Feb 2009 at 18:39

RevBillyG said:
Thanks. I was looking at Gigabyte to begin with as I've used them a couple of times before. The P5Q series seems very popular on these forums however.

Are there any RAM compatibility issues with the Gigabyte that you know of?

Yes mine keeps locking up because of the RAM

Using this
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)

pieman109 · 13 Feb 2009 at 22:21

I've been using ocz ram with gigabyte mobos for a while now and not once did I have a problem.

Big.Wayne · 14 Feb 2009 at 00:45

Intel® P45 Express Chipset
Premo LGA775 Platform/Crossfire

ASUS P5Q PRO

ASUS P5Q-E

ASUS P5Q Deluxe

Intel® P43 Express Chipset
Economy LGA775 Platform

GIGABYTE GA-EP43-S3L

GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L

GA-EP43-DS3LR

They are the chipsets of choice for ye old LGA775 platform, your choice of manufacturer comes down to a number of personal factors. I choose ASUS myself as I'm a very lucky chap who manages to get a perfect working ASUS board everytime and I am now familiar with their BIOS layouts and functions.

The only negative I can personally see about an ASUS motherboard is they are generally more pricey compared to most other manufacturers but I don't mind paying the premium.

The main positive thing I can say about GIGABYTE is that they do price their products a bit keener than ASUS so on the basis of being cheap n cheerful they have gained quite a lot of popularity. I have been looking at the GIGABYTE-Intel® P43 motherboards for some budget builds and they seem pretty good on paper. GIGABYTE have included more overclocking options on their Intel® P43 range of boards than ASUS have on theirs so if you are really strapped and want the best value possible for a single card machine then GIGABYTE offers more value.