Socket 775 motherboard advice!

Duke_

Duke_

Duke_

Associate
Joined
23 Feb 2010
Posts
283
Location
Aberdeen
Hi All,

I'm looking for a replacement motherboard to have some fun with while waiting for socket 2011 or Ivybridge to become an upgrade possibility. I'm currently using a Striker II Extreme but have fallen out of love with it for a couple of reasons (listed below). It's a pretty precise specs so any suggestions very welcome!

Socket 775 (using a watercooled Q9550)

Able to take a full watercooling block (similar to those produced by EK)

DDR 3 - able to handle 8GB (4x2GB Corsair XMS3) - the Striker II Extreme won't handle all 8GB and remain stable - lots of BSODs despite bios tweaks.

I'll be using an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD with it so it needs to be an Intel chipset (the Nvidia chipset on the Striker II Extreme I have does not support TRIM). Despite relying on garbage collection it has become pretty sluggish at times. My ageing Althon X2 with Intel X25m beats it on load times...

I'll be using an ATI 5970 (also watercooled) but following upgrade next year I might go back to the dual 8800GTS so SLI is good but I think only the Nvidia chipsets supported SLI at this point in time - if this the case then I'd rather ditch SLI capability for an Intel chipset.

The watercooling system is all copper blocks so ideally any other blocks would be copper but this is a minor point if I can find the right motherboard.

Any questions / suggestions welcome - thanks very much!

I'm hanging on because to my knowledge an upgrade to an i7 isn't going to do me any gaming favours compared to a watercooled quad Q9550 - stop me if I'm wrong and I'll move thread :D
 
For most games i dont think you would see any huge difference. for the most part, its more to do with gfx card. Personally i would keep the single 5970 instead of the sli 8800s just for temperatures. The gigabyte UP45-UD3 is a decent board. only ddr2 though/
 
jameseboy said:
For most games i dont think you would see any huge difference. for the most part, its more to do with gfx card. Personally i would keep the single 5970 instead of the sli 8800s just for temperatures. The gigabyte UP45-UD3 is a decent board. only ddr2 though/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply and reassurance on sticking with my current setup. Unfortunately a DDR2 Mobo is not what I'm after :p
 
Thanks Micky - that's good to see, the i5 is clearly better overall but it if I'm mainly using the PC for gaming I'm not sure I can justify the upgrade to a completely new platform given the relatively close gaming benchmark results. Any suggestions for mobos welcome!
 
ABIT IX38 GT3,X38,PCI-E X16,DDR3,FSB 1066,µGuru,NEW

How about this one. Can be found same place as other one i mentioned.

















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CPU

•Designed for Intel latest 45nm socket 775 processors with 1066 MHz FSB
•Support Intel® Core 2 Extreme edition & Core™ 2 Quad & Core™ 2 Duo & Pentium® Dual Core & Celeron® Dual Core
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Chipset

•Intel® X38 /ICH9R
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Memory

•4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 8GB
•Supports Dual channel DDR3 1333/1066 memory
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LAN

•On board PCI Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/1000M Ethernet
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Audio

•On board 7.1 CH Dolby/DTS HD Audio CODEC
•Supports optical S/PDIF In/Out
•HDMI Audio ready header
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Expansion Slots

•2 x PCI-E X16, 1 x PCI-E X16 (X4 bandwidth), 1 x PCI-E X1, 2 x PCI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Internal I/O

•1 x Floppy Port
•1 x Ultra ATA 133/100/66 IDE connector
•6 x SATA 3Gb/s connector
•1 x IEEE1394, 4 x USB header
•1 x FP-Audio
1 x CD-In connector
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
1 x GURU Header
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Back Panel I/O

•1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
•abit OTES™
•1 x S/P DIF In, 1 x S/P DIF Out, 2 x eSATA
•7.1 CH Audio connector (Front, Line-in, MIC-in, Center/Subwoofer, Surround, Rear Surround)
•4 x USB 2.0, 1 x 1394, 1 x RJ-45 LAN connector
•Clear CMOS Button
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Serial ATA

•6 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by Intel® ICH9R support Intel® Matrix Storage Tech(AHCI & RAID0/1/5/10) Command Based Port Multiplier
•2 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by JMicron® JMB363 support up to 0,1JBOD RAID function
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




IEEE 1394

•PCI controller supports 2 Ports IEEE 1394
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Form Factor

•ATX form factor 305 x 245mm
•PCB Color: Black
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RoHS

•100% lead-free process and RoHS compliant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




abit Engineered

•abit µGuru™ Technology
•abit OTES™ Technology
•100% Low ESR solid capacitor
•Back Blue LED
•Quick Power/Reset button
•Digital PWM
•EZ CCMOS Button
•R-angle SATA connector





Warranty:
This product carries a 12 months warranty. If the product or any component of it has a hardware failure within 12 months period after you receive shipment, we will replace it with the same item
 
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