Spec Me a Mobo

mysticsniper · 9 May 2007 at 21:07

I have these so far, and I just need a decent mobo to complete what I need, as I have everything else.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB)

So far its comes to £320.

I would like the total to be under £500 or as nr as possible

So that gives you £180 to spec me a decent enough mobo.

TIA

Jonny L · 9 May 2007 at 21:09

You could try one of the new P5K mobos from asus or you could go for something tried and tested like a 680i.

mysticsniper · 10 May 2007 at 09:13

Jonny L said:
You could try one of the new P5K mobos from asus or you could go for something tried and tested like a 680i.

PK5??? Not heard about those, what are they like. TBH I have no clue about mobo's now a days, as there are soo many to choose from

semi-pro waster · 10 May 2007 at 10:02

When you say decent, what do you expect it to do? For that price you can get an Nforce 680 SLi motherboard but unless you are actually intending to go for full 16x SLi they are overpriced and don't offer much benefit over an Nforce 650 SLi (which operates at 8x when both slots are used which works absolutely fine). Otherwise the choice of 965P and 975X chipset based motherboards is also an option, 965P is the cheaper of the two chipsets but tends to reach higher FSB speeds.

That is a very very basic potted summary so if you could clarify what you mean that would help in giving further advice.

mysticsniper · 10 May 2007 at 17:44

semi-pro waster said:
When you say decent, what do you expect it to do? For that price you can get an Nforce 680 SLi motherboard but unless you are actually intending to go for full 16x SLi they are overpriced and don't offer much benefit over an Nforce 650 SLi (which operates at 8x when both slots are used which works absolutely fine). Otherwise the choice of 965P and 975X chipset based motherboards is also an option, 965P is the cheaper of the two chipsets but tends to reach higher FSB speeds.

That is a very very basic potted summary so if you could clarify what you mean that would help in giving further advice.

Sure, I am looking for reliability first and foremost. I am not bothered about SLI or Xfire. I am not into overclocking, but if I do decide to start having a go, then there is an option open to me. I have already decided on the prozzer and the Memory, and I am hoping that now a days there is no compatability issues with the Memory; I know in the past some Memory works better with different mobo's etc...

It must have at least 6 Sata Ports, and more than 5 USB slots as well.

I think that is about it for now

TIA

semi-pro waster · 10 May 2007 at 17:59

The Gigabyte DS3P meets every requirement, has 8x SATA ports, 1x IDE, 4x USB ports on back panel and supports up to 6 more and as far as I am aware is compatible with any memory now. There are probably others but it is popular and a good solid motherboard.

mysticsniper · 10 May 2007 at 18:17

semi-pro waster said:
The Gigabyte DS3P meets every requirement, has 8x SATA ports, 1x IDE, 4x USB ports on back panel and supports up to 6 more and as far as I am aware is compatible with any memory now. There are probably others but it is popular and a good solid motherboard.

Cheers for that, what is the difference between the chips sets on offer now a days?

semi-pro waster · 10 May 2007 at 19:23

Basics are that the Nforce 680 SLi is the top end Nvidia chipset for Intel so supports SLi at 16x for both lanes and has a few higher end features but aside from the SLi, very little to justify the price increase over the 650 SLi since most of the features can be added by the motherboard manufacturer anyway aside from the SLi at 16x for both lanes, it is 8x on the 650 SLi although that is still more than enough for the current 8800GTX cards.

The 975X is the top Intel chipset supporting Crossfire and again a few higher end features but as before the 965P can have most of the features added (Crossfire available on the DS3P, DS4 and DQ6 for instance) and the 965P hits higher FSB speeds so works much better than the 975X based motherboards for CPUs with comparatively low multipliers.

This is just an abridged version but since many of the motherboards have features added that the original chipset wouldn't have it comes down to pick one in your price range that has the features you want.