Intel DH67CL Motherboard - good buy for non-gamer

[ferretmania]

Gracias for reading my post!!!

Thanks to the Intel SB chipset fiasco, I like many others am sitting on parts deciding whether to build now and RMA later in April or send in the whole shebang to newegg for a refund and then wait for the new/improved mobos.


On hand:
Asus P8p67 Pro mobo + Core i2400s (the "green" cpu)

I bought this combination with a goal of doing a quiet, relatively low power consumption build.

After making the purchase, I did more research and learned that the H67 boards -- even when running with a discrete graphics card -- consume less energy than the P67 boards (which, I now know, have all kinds of cool features that I will never use).

I have never bought an Intel board before and realize that the enthusiast community generally shuns Intel boards because they lack overclocking options.

But if overclocking and crossfire/sli aren't important, I'm wondering how the Intel DH67CL mobo (full atx) stacks up against the H67 boards from AUSUS and Gigabyte.

BTW, in a hypocritical act of succumbing to the appeal of a faster chip, I'm thinking about RMA'ing now so I can upgrade the cpu from a 2400s to a 2500.

Your thoughts and advice are most appreciated!

 

[o1die]

I would rma the board, especially if newegg waives the restocking fee. If you have a backup pc, use it for awhile or build a low end system with amd or 775 cpu. The e5700 is priced at about $60 right now, and numerous used cpus should be on craigslist, where I found two recently for half price.

 

[geofelt]

Count yourself lucky that you have sandy bridge parts. They have been withdrawn from the market untill the issue is fixed.

Unless you need the 4 suspect sata 3 ports, go ahead and build using the 4 6gb ports. In time, you will be offered an exchange with a fully functional motherboard.

The sandy chips are outstanding, and are much better than anything previous. The 2400 will perform well in any normal task.

I can't imagine that the value of power savings is very high. The usual reason will be to build a quiet system that does not need much cooling.

Nothing wrong with Intel boards. They do OC well. OC on sandy bridge is supported only on K processors.
For a quiet system, you do not want to OC because you will need noisier active cooling.

 

[jaquith]

I would not recommend ANY Intel MOBO, and instead keep with ASUS. As far as which ASUS see the chart below. Since you do not have a 'K' CPU there no 'waste' going to an H67. If the PC's use is for non-gaming or non-rendering e.g. 'everyday' use then there's not going to be an OMG factor with any LGA 1155.

The problem I have with Intel MOBOs is that they are overly problematic and poor quality; Intel makes great CPUs but horrible MOBOs. Go figure!? Further, if you're concerned about power the best performance + low wattage is the SSD.

If you RMA the MOBO then you're stuck until March~April if you want P67/H67. By then hopefully the new Z68's might b released effectively killing the H67.

 

[geekapproved]

I'm kinda confused, I mean you bought a low power chip (s) and now you want to change to a "greener" board so that you can upgrade to a non low power chip (2500)??

What sense does that make?