MB / Ram for Q6600

[bsummmit]

I recently got a Q6600 for dirt cheap, but now that the tech is older all the boards people were recommending are hard to find. I'm looking for a solid, stable board to take this 2.4 core2quad to 3.2 stable. I'm also looking for memory to go with it. DDR3 or DDR2. I only need 1 PCI Express slot and I'm looking for 2+ PCI. All help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Brendan

 

[GhislainG]

A GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R with G.Skill PI Black (F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B) or HK (F2-6400CL4D-4GBHK) should meet your requirements. You should set the memory voltage to 1.9V.

 

[bsummmit]

I've heard bad things about that board. I was looking at it. You should read some of the horror stories on newegg's review section. I've had good luck with MSI boards so I was leaning towards this one a little:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130252

My buddy has the PI blacks and says they are sick. He got them for 30 bucks though...sigh for price increases.

What are your thoughts on the Gigabyte board and the new egg horror stories?
What do you think of that MSI board?

 

[Derbixrace]

asus p5q pro should be a good board

 

[bsummmit]

asus p5q pro should be a good board

Your right, that board is nasty. A little more then I wanted to spend to snag one right now, I found them for like 125? I might just have to splurge, but I still have ram to buy.

 

[GhislainG]

I have a Q6600 on a GA-EP45-UD3P with 8GB of G.Skill PI Black and it has been running stable for over one year. It is my Windows Server 2008 64-bit server. Horror stories too often are related to overclocked 1066MHz memory. If you search Newegg.com for P45 and then sort by best rating, the Gigabyte motherboards come up first. If you can live with 2 PCI slots, go for the GA-EP45-UD3P as it now costs the same as the GA-EP45-UD3R.

If you read about ASUS P5Q motherboards, you'll probably find even more negative reviews. Unfortunately MSI usually isn't as well rated as Gigabyte and Asus. I can't comment on P45 MSI motherboards. It looks like they have very good P55 motherboards, but that isn't what you're looking for.

I definitely stand behind my memory recommendations. I have 3 systems (2 with a Q6600) with G.Skill DDR2-800 memory and they all work fine at 4-4-4-12 timings and 1.9V. The Gigabyte works fine at 1.8V, but my P5Q Deluxe requires 1.9V to be very stable. Therefore I always set them at 1.9V, no matter which motherboard I use.

 

[jsc]

I favor Gigabyte boards also.
Summary of current systems:
GA-EP45-UD3P | Q9550 OC'd to 3.6 GHz (425 MHz X 8.5) C3 stepping 🙁
GA-EP45-UD3L | Q6600 OC'd to 3.6 GHz (400 MHz X 9)
GA-EP35-DS3P | E5200 OC'd to 3.78 GHz (315 MHz X 12)
GA-G41m-ES2L| E5200, stock, on loan to sis-in-law
Two have Crucial Ballistixs at 4-4-4-12 at 2.0 volts and two have Patriot at 4-4-4-12. Three Corsair PSU's and one Antec. All are Prime95 stable after 24 hour test runs.

If you look at all the reviews at newegg, almost every brand and model is averaging about 10% returns. I do not believe the failure rate is that high. I think there's a lot of noob "don't have a freakin' clue, doesn't boot, must be the motherboard" builders out there.

I'm really curious about how many of those returned boards really are defective.

Ghislane has a good point about the DDR2-1066 memory.

Actually, there ain't no such thing as DDR2-1066 RAM. Got your attention now, yes? DDR2-1066 RAM is simply DDR2-800 RAM that has been tested to run at the higher speed, usually at an increased voltage and more relaxed timings. Any good DDR2-800 RAM can do that. But if you start with DDR2-1066, well ...

I suspect that it's like expecting to get a significant overclock from a factory overclocked video card.

 

[bsummmit]

Looks like Gigabyte. I was wondering about the ram voltage. I know you set yours to 1.9, but I was looking at a ram kit that runs 2.0-2.1V.
Here is the kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146793

Think that would work nice with the Gigabyte MB?

 

[GhislainG]

Higher voltage is required for lower quality RAM; that's how they can achieve the same 4-4-4-12 timings. If they specify 2.0-2.1V, presume that they require 2.1V. If you ever want to install 4 modules, they might not be stable. Note that I use 1.9V for the G.Skill because I have 4 modules on each system for a total of 8GB.

 

[bsummmit]

I didn't realize that. Newegg wants 107 for that ram, I just found it for 70, so the price was nudging me that way. I'm still a little confused on the higher voltages for 4 modules making the board less stable, but I'm no the Veteran on TomsHardware haha. I was definitely planning on filling all 4 ram slots.

So no mushkin for me I guess.

 

[jonpaul37]

check my sig, the Q6600 i have is one i just bought for a real nice price ($50.00) but the motherboard i have has been serving me well for the last 2+ years... the RAM i have is as old as my motherboard too.

 

[bsummmit]

Where'd you get a Q6600 for 50 bucks? I'd buy another =)

 

[jonpaul37]

Lol, Craigslist, the shadiest place on earth.

 

[bsummmit]

I favor Gigabyte boards also.
Summary of current systems:
GA-EP45-UD3P | Q9550 OC'd to 3.6 GHz (425 MHz X 8.5) C3 stepping 🙁
GA-EP45-UD3L | Q6600 OC'd to 3.6 GHz (400 MHz X 9)
GA-EP35-DS3P | E5200 OC'd to 3.78 GHz (315 MHz X 12)
GA-G41m-ES2L| E5200, stock, on loan to sis-in-law
Two have Crucial Ballistixs at 4-4-4-12 at 2.0 volts and two have Patriot at 4-4-4-12. Three Corsair PSU's and one Antec. All are Prime95 stable after 24 hour test runs.

If you look at all the reviews at newegg, almost every brand and model is averaging about 10% returns. I do not believe the failure rate is that high. I think there's a lot of noob "don't have a freakin' clue, doesn't boot, must be the motherboard" builders out there.

I'm really curious about how many of those returned boards really are defective.

Ghislane has a good point about the DDR2-1066 memory.

Actually, there ain't no such thing as DDR2-1066 RAM. Got your attention now, yes? DDR2-1066 RAM is simply DDR2-800 RAM that has been tested to run at the higher speed, usually at an increased voltage and more relaxed timings. Any good DDR2-800 RAM can do that. But if you start with DDR2-1066, well ...

I suspect that it's like expecting to get a significant overclock from a factory overclocked video card.

I'm interested in hearing about the Crucial Ballistixs at 4-4-4-12 at 2.0 volts. How many modules do you have? As you can see I was thinking of getting 8 gb 2gb x 4, but its mushkin running at 2.0-2.1V. Its only a 60 dollar difference between the Mushkin and the Gskill that runs at 1.8V, but i'm 21 and not really ball'n in dough. Thoughts?

 

[GhislainG]

I didn't realize that. Newegg wants 107 for that ram, I just found it for 70, so the price was nudging me that way. I'm still a little confused on the higher voltages for 4 modules making the board less stable, but I'm no the Veteran on TomsHardware haha. I was definitely planning on filling all 4 ram slots.

So no mushkin for me I guess.

Driving 4 modules is more difficult than 2 modules; that's why modules that run at 1.8V are preferred. Increasing the voltage to 1.9V usually makes them stable. The Mushkin might run fine at 2.1V, but they might require 2.2V. More voltage means more heat.

Edit: I also have a system with OCZ modules that require 2.0V, but I only have 2 modules, not 4.

 

[bsummmit]

I feel as if DDR2 and DDR3 are about the same price right now for the kits I'm looking for. Think I should go DDR3 or DDR2. I may wait a week or two and see if any sales go up, but I can't believe ram got so pricey

 

[GhislainG]

The choice of socket 775 motherboards that support DDR3 memory is more limited, but there should be a few decent motherboards that will meet your requirements, e.g., the GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR or the GA-EP43T-UD3L.

 

[bsummmit]

With DDR2 and DDR3 being about the same price, I think I want to go with DDR3. Sadly, this limits the boards dramatically. Are there many good boards for 775, hopefully p45, that will work nicely for me? Right now its looking like GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR as recommended above, but I was hoping for some firewire ports. Just looking for a few more pointers before I go to buy.

 

[GhislainG]

Will you reuse the DDR3 memory in a future build? Will you sell the motherboard and CPU, but keep the DDR3 memory? The answer to those questions should determine if you get a DDR2 motherboard that fully meets your requirements or a DDR3 motherboard which forces you to make compromises.

 

[bsummmit]

In theory I would keep the ddr3. Its the same price though. look on newegg, its simply worth it to go ddr3 assuming that the board itself won't suffer

 

[GhislainG]

I see it a bit differently. I always buy a very good motherboard and the type of memory that goes with it because I know that I can sell or give the complete kit (motherboard, CPU and memory). By the time I'm ready to build another system with DDR3 RAM, better modules will probably be available, just like happened with DDR2.

 

[bsummmit]

I'm not debating there will be better modules down the road. I'm simply stating that ddr2 modules are the same price or cheaper then ddr3. I realize that there are little or hardly any performance gains from ddr3 on p45 chipsets, but thats not true so much for x48. Still unsure of what i'm going to go with.