6400 Core 2 Duo

[Oliveraba]

Hi there, I'm trying to build myself a new pc. I know pretty much what to do as far as RAM, gfx, PSU goes but I'm struggling where it comes to finding a motherboard, there just seems to be quite a lot of choice.

I'm looking for something that will give me reasonable performance and still support IDE rather than just SATA.

The main criteria is that it's within the £50-£70 price range.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I need to get this construction on the road

 

[techgeek]

Well IDE for C2D is a pretty tall order. I did some looking, and the most I could come up with is motherboards with only one IDE channel (2 devices) that were Intel chipsets. If you want two channels of IDE nVidia is your best bet. Pretty much anything in the 945 and the 965 should fit your budget, but again only one channel of IDE so if you got more than 2 IDE devices your SOL. I am from Canada so I did a rough exchange rate with a computer shop that I use (ie you may get better prices natively), and here are some suggestions:

GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 (obviously P965)
GigaByte GA-945P-S3 (obviously 945)
ASUS P5B (P965)
P5N SLI Acually has 2 IDE channels according to the webpage (nVidia 570i)
P5N-E SLI Again had 2 IDE channels according to the webpage (nVidia 650i)

So if you have more than 2 IDE devices the only choices I can see are the two last with nVidia chipsets. I don't have any experience with any of these, so I can only say read some reviews. Maybe someone else with experience with these motherboards will post replies. There's a possibility that I have missed listing a better alternative that fits your budget. Hopefully this gives you a starting place.

 

[Fustian_777]

Why worry about a mobo having an IDE channel? The only thing it's useful for right now is CD drives and that will switch over if the manf's get their collective heads out of their arse.

If there si no IDE channel available consider adding a controller card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816115008

Many times a controller card will handle drives better than onboard controllers and it can add RAID capability for hard drives.

 

[Oliveraba]

The ASUS P5B seems like the motherboard I'll be going for, all round performance suits me and it's a good price at £80.

I have another question, I was looking at this E6400 on http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=24851840406&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=112708

and I was wondering whether the fan was included? Is it normal for them to be included as I remember my current P4 2.8 ghz HT prescott didn't and it was a bit of a pain getting hold of one.

Thanks a lot for all the help so far techgeek and Fustian_777

 

[techgeek]

That is a boxed CPU (retail), so it will come with a stock fan and heatsink. If you plan to do any overclocking, it's worth looking into an aftermarket cooler though. If you are going to run stock, then stock HSF will do fine, you could even get a mild overclock with it. I will warn you that the retention system Intel uses (push pins) sucks. Many users find that they are difficult to get them in properly, and they have a tendancy to back out over time. Just thought you should know.