Q6600 - Looking For Motherboard Suggestions

[A Decoy]

Hi Guys, this is my first post in Toms Hardware.

I just read the Mother board suggestion guide (Here and anandtech)
on what Mobo to get but to no avail 🙁 Im still trying to work out
what would be the best Board to get at a low price (without losing Performance).

I was looking at the:
-GA-965P-DS3, and
-GA-N650SLI-DS4L

I was planing on Running at least:
-Q6600
-2Gig(2x1) of 800Mhz DDR2 RAM (more hopefully in the future)
-8800GT (PCI-e 2.0 desired on mobo)
-Vista Ultimate
-1 IDE (at least)

As can be seen by the 8800GT I am intending on running this system
for Gaming 😛
Sorry If I seem a bit n00bish but Mobos seem to be relatively
indistinguishable (apart from obvious AMD/Intel Differences).

 

[akhilles]

If you plan to sli, get an 680i board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127020

Otherwise, get the P35. DS3L/P/R. Stock performance between mobos is exaggerated. A few % difference here & there. The only big performance difference is overclockability. P35 is still king.

 

[aevm]

PCI-E 2.0 is only available on X38 mobos, and those are the most expensive on the market. The 8800GT is just as fast in PCI-E 1 slots anyway, so don't worry about PCI-E 2.0.

I would avoid both 965 and 650i chipsets because they are old.

Totally agreed with Akhilles. Nice find, that huge rebate, by the way

If you intend to use only one video card, get this:
GA-P35-DS3P - if you need FireWire
GA-P35-DS3R - if you don't need FireWire, but you need more than 3 hard disks or RAID
GA-P35-DS3L - if you don't need FireWire or RAID or lots of disks

 

[A Decoy]

Thanks for your help guys 😀

 

[ingeborgdot]

Why don't you look at the Abit IP35 pro. Read all the reviews online. Go to newegg and look at the price and owners reviews. Best buy for the money right now.