Roundup: Six Core 2 Motherboards Under $100

[blppt]

I have the Biostar board in this review with a Q6600. Only a mild overlock @ stock voltage (2.8/400 from 2.4/266 stock), but I have zero complaints with this board. Rock stable.

 

[eddieroolz]

Somebody is really angry with multiple hard drives...

 

[spearhead]

[citation][nom]rjcorrin[/nom]Yes - everyone has money shooting out of their pantless ass to buy more expensive motherboards. I use a gigabyte Ep35 DS3L and am very happy with it. What is a >$100 board going to give me? Is it just that you want to waste money? I'm guessing you are one of those people who carry a balance on your credit card and lease a Lexus - you debt-carrying phag.[/citation]

a more expansive board usualy delivers better stability and more durability due to the fact better matherials have been used such as solid capacitors who aren't going to leak afther a year or 2 of use and alot more features such as better overclocking more sound channels 7.1 support more sata ports etc. if you truly want to have a very fast and stable system the motherboard is the second thing you want to look at afther the cpu

 

[one-shot]

Wow, this rjcorrin guy does not stop. He just keeps going and going. He has to have at least -30 rating just from this section alone.

 

[itadakimasu]

IMO, ECS boards are in the sub $50 range because of howe they're bundled w\ cpu's for a low price... they're terrible boards and most people that get the combos get another board and sell the ecs boards via ebay or craigslist for cheap.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]itadakimasu[/nom]IMO, ECS boards are in the sub $50 range because of howe they're bundled w\ cpu's for a low price... they're terrible boards and most people that get the combos get another board and sell the ecs boards via ebay or craigslist for cheap.[/citation]

ECS motherboards are low-cost, but they're not terrible. Consider the build quality of the board in this article, then compare it to other G45 motherboards and see that it's actually a fairly decent value.

 

[lucubrator]

It is time to remove floppy from motherbords.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]lucubrator[/nom]It is time to remove floppy from motherbords.[/citation]

Abit tried to go "legacy free" three years ago and you see what happened to them. The problem is that many people want to run Windows XP even today, and will continue to buy remaining licenses long after MS quits issuing them. XP requires a floppy to load AHCI drivers, and AHCI has one benefit that only ASRock took advantage of in this comparison: It is able to support the "Safely Remove Hardware" function of Windows.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]gwolfman[/nom]lol @ rjcorrin's 1st comment.In reply: Maybe he already had HDDs laying around of smaller size and thought it best to save money by spending a few more dollars on more SATA ports than hundreds on new 3 x 1TB HDDs. You're reasoning is asinine and self contradicting.[/citation]

That's one of the reasons I find 6 sata ports too little on a modern motherboard. I've got 7x500gb drives and a 300gb drive, so on something that doesn't carry the jmicron chip I couldn't even use all drives. And if I were to follow the rj dude's suggestion I'd have to spend money on 3x1,5tb drives and sell my old ones - just to save the 20$ it'd cost me more to get a properly equipped board.... I just can't see anyone being able to make that decision look sensible.

 

[thearm]

There is also an issue, and has been for a looong time, with the table of contents drop down's. If you click on it, and move the cursor anywhere but the drop down, it will go back up.

 

[Guest]

what about this -------> Biostar tp45
ASRock P45XE VS Biostar tp45.... who won??

 

[neiroatopelcc]

who cares? asrock boards are wierd, and biostar's support is nonexistent ... so nobody'd be silly enough to buy either of them

 

[Gabkicks]

how do i get over 420mhz w/ this board ? I want to hit 4ghz w/ my e8400

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Gabkicks[/nom]how do i get over 420mhz w/ this board ? I want to hit 4ghz w/ my e8400[/citation]


Some E8400s won't run at 4.0 GHz without extreme voltge and elaborate cooling.

 

[Gabkicks]

I just bought a xigmatek Dark knight

 

[Gabkicks]

i can run low voltages, and the board will run okay at 3.78ghz. but if i raise the FSB 1 click higher, it won't post.

 

[Crashman]

i can run low voltages, and the board will run okay at 3.78ghz. but if i raise the FSB 1 click higher, it won't post.

Try increasing northbridge voltage slightly.