What Mobo for this spec?

GodMac · 16 Sep 2007 at 10:26

Can you recommend a mobo for the below spec please. I'm looking to do gaming and video editing/rendering but only looking to spend upto £100.

I've always gone for Asus as they've been pretty reliable and lots of USB or SATA ports and Nvidia chipset.

Would I be OK with the below spec as I'm going Q6600 or what?

Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2

Antec Ninehundred Gaming Case
Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU Cooler
Antec Truepower NEO 650W
Optiarc NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
3 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Intel Quad Core 2 Duo Q6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - GO

Teaf · 16 Sep 2007 at 10:29

I'd rather have a P35 board for that price.

If you want an Asus get the P5K, or a Gigabyte get the P35C-DS3R or alternatively Abit with the IP35. All of them are great boards and will do you nicely (and all £20 - £30 under budget). Just for note however if you went with the P35C-DS3R, it has minor issues with the cooler you have... you have to either remove the backplate from the underside of the motherboard or get slightly longer (3mm - 5mm) screws so you can fix the backplate on properly.

GodMac · 16 Sep 2007 at 11:22

Thanks for the advice flippy. I think I'll go for the:
ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

Its feature rich and the P5KC also supports DDR2 and DDR3 so I can upgrade easily next year when DDR3 prices come down.

Teaf · 16 Sep 2007 at 11:51

Great choice, it's an excellent board from what I've read from reviews

GodMac · 16 Sep 2007 at 12:03

I think I've changed my mind again. The P5KC looks a great board but its ATI onboard chipset which I don't want to mix ATI and Nvidia on the Gfx card (unless there's no problem in doing this?).

So the alternative is go for a lesser board such as the P5N-E 650i. Its feature rich also and at £70 quite well priced. However, doesn't support DDR2 and DDR3.

This is driving me up the wall!!!!!

Do you know if there is a P5KC equivalent with an Nvidia chipset onboard that isn't like £150?

Teaf · 16 Sep 2007 at 12:19

GodMac said:
I think I've changed my mind again. The P5KC looks a great board but its ATI onboard chipset which I don't want to mix ATI and Nvidia on the Gfx card (unless there's no problem in doing this?).

Won't be a problem mixing, but note that you won't have SLI - because P35's don't come with SLI (Nvidia cards) and only Crossfire (ATI cards) because Nvidia suck and only allow SLI on 650i / 680i boards.

Do you know if there is a P5KC equivalent with an Nvidia chipset onboard that isn't like £150?

None, see above

GodMac · 16 Sep 2007 at 13:29

Thanks Flibby, think I'll stay with the P5N-E and upgrade my mobo in 18 months time to DDR3.

WJA96 · 16 Sep 2007 at 17:03

Can I suggest you don't buy the P5N-E SLi as it's a poor overclocker with Quads. The Gigabyte P35-DS4 is what you're after, I think. Heavy on the features, excellent overclocking and it runs very, very, cool.

No DDR3, but I reckon the chances of anyone actually having a motherboard long enough for DDR3 to become price competitive against DDR2 is prettyu unlikely as DDR3 prices are not set to fall substantially for at least another 18 months.

GodMac · 16 Sep 2007 at 17:21

Thanks WJA96, but this board has onboard ATI chipset rather than Nvidia. Do you know of the same type and spec but with Nvidia chipset?

And is the Gigabyte site any good for support and downloads?

WJA96 · 16 Sep 2007 at 18:56

GodMac said:
Thanks WJA96, but this board has onboard ATI chipset rather than Nvidia. Do you know of the same type and spec but with Nvidia chipset?

And is the Gigabyte site any good for support and downloads?

It's not an ATI chipset - it's an Intel chipset. Gigabyte do make an NVidia Board - the N650i-DS4, but again, it's not great with quads. Unless you want SLi, you don't need an NVidia chipset to match the NVidia graphics card.

If you are going to overclock a quad - you really want at least a P965 board, and preferably a P35 board.

Gigabyte's download speed isn't great, but it's much quicker than ASUS.

Bikerz · 16 Sep 2007 at 22:04

flibby said:
I'd rather have a P35 board for that price.

If you want an Asus get the P5K, or a Gigabyte get the P35C-DS3R or alternatively Abit with the IP35. All of them are great boards and will do you nicely (and all £20 - £30 under budget). Just for note however if you went with the P35C-DS3R, it has minor issues with the cooler you have... you have to either remove the backplate from the underside of the motherboard or get slightly longer (3mm - 5mm) screws so you can fix the backplate on properly.

Does this mobo also have problems with any other coolers?

Teaf · 16 Sep 2007 at 22:57

Bikerz said:
Does this mobo also have problems with any other coolers?

It will with some. I originally got the backplate cooling wrong with this board, and I don't think the P35C-DS3R comes with "Crazy Cooling" on the back of the motherboard, which the DQ6 has. If that is the case then coolers that fit with a backplate on the board will fit fine in that respect, but it depends on the actual coolers size and dimensions of what the actual heatsink will fit onto the board properly. For instance apparantly the Tuniq Tower 120 will only fit in one direction and only just. For other coolers I'm not sure.