New MOBO, Q6600

[mrmark27]

I was thinking about upgrading my system within the next few months from an AMD 6000+ to an Intel Q6600 and upgrading to Vista. Trying to find a good motherboard to go with the Q6600. The rest of my system is a Raptor 150gb, 3 seagate 500gb hd, 2 gb mushkin ddr 2 pc6400 ram, evga 8800 640mb OC, Zalman 9700 fan, Antec 900 case with a couple extra fans thrown in.

Looking for something reliable that will fit everything that I have. 1 of the seagate HD's is IDE and other 2 are SATA so prefer something that can still handle an IDE HD. Something with some space to upgrade in the future(maybe go SLI for the vid cards once they come down in price)

 

[mrmark27]

And if it helps, I mostly will be using this system for gaming, video's(use it to watch my dvd's as well as downloaded stuff), internet, and might in the future throw in a tv tuner card.

Thanks

 

[g-paw]

Something like this would be good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

 

[BUFF]

In doing in a few months probably an X38 chipset mobo if you have the funds.

 

[Guest]

To be honest your current system still looks rock solid. Perhaps wait a year or so to upgrade when games/apps begin to take advantage of the cores.

 

[Maziar]

X2 6000 is a very good CPU , if i were u i wouldnt upgrade

 

[mrmark27]

thanks, mostly something i was thinking about for about 6 months down the line but having some issues with my cpu/mobo right now so if they dont get worked out may just upgrade now. RMA'd the mobo and should be getting it back within the next couple days so hopefully that makes it all work better, would be very slow when I left it on overnight

 

[mrmark27]

Just got word from the shop that either ASUS sent me a DOA mobo or my cpu is already dead. If it is the cpu, do you guys have any recomendations for a good mobo to go with my setup for the Q6600?

Thanks!

 

[Maziar]

dont make 2 topics plz , u already have asked here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245297-31-advice-mobo#t1745907

and i have answered

 

[rorus]

Do you plan on using a lot of features that some higher end mobos provide? IE: Firewire, Built in Audio, RAID, etc.?

Also do you intend to overclock your Q6600?

I also noted that you said maybe on the SLI issue.

The FIRST one I would answer is SLi. Are you serious about doing it once the price comes down and do you run a resolution that actually requires (or will require once DX10 games start coming) it?

If yes (which is what my decision was), you will be limited to certain chip sets (680i being an example).

If no, your options for mobos is greatly expanded.

The second question you need to answer is will you OC? Some boards are OC friendly while others simply do not overclock very well.

Add these two together and you can see the question of which mobo is a good solution becomes a bit more complicate.

The third is features on the mobo. As I primarily use my box for gaming, I found that I really don't use a lot of the features that more expensive motherboards provide (listed a few above). For now I'll use this assumption for you until you state otherwise.

While you will need to pay a certain amount to get a good board to OC that will handle SLi (if you are serious about it), don't think you need to buy a $250-$300 board to get something that works for you. There are several boards in the 100-150 range that will handle your needs just fine.

Get back to me with the answers to these questions and we'll move from there.

 

[mrmark27]

Maziar, sorry, posted the other one and then rememberd that I had started this thread like early last week so figured i'd update it as well.

rorus,
dont think i'll be going SLI, if there are better/more cost effective boards and the only difference is SLI then i'll probably pass.

as for OC, it something that i'd like the option of but dont think i'd do because thats how I got into my current mess.

i use the computer as my primary gaming machine, just finally picked up a ps2 for some of the sports games that they dont put on pc(ncaa basketball/football and the baseball games primarily). the computer i use for the madden/nba lines as well as fps and other games. i also use it as my primary source for watching dvd's, as well as other general computer uses.

hope this helps

 

[Maziar]

P35 boards:

ASUS P5K
ASUS P5K-E
GIGABYTE P35 DS3R
GIGABYTE P35 DQ6
ABIT IP35PRO

SLI boards: ( i know u dont want , i just post them for INFO)

ASUS P5N-E
ASUS P5N32-E SLI
ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS

 

[mrmark27]

Thanks. I have also read that some motherboards have trouble fitting a large cpu fan like the Zalman 9700, do you know how it fits on those mobo's?

 

[BUFF]

You can also add the abit IP35-E & IP35 to the IP35 Pro.
All good mobos but features (& price) vary.

afaik the 9700 fits.

 

[rorus]

My suggestion: Gigabyte P35 boards. Of the ones listed here, I would go with DS3R. If you choose to overclock, it does a decent job and the Zalman will fit fine.

 

[mrmark27]

Thanks for the pointer guys. I ended up going with the Gigabyte P35 DS3R, the Q6600, and 2x1gb Crucial Ballistix 800 gb ram(they didn't list much on the Gigabyte website for 1066 ram)

 

[Maziar]

awesome , enjoy it