Question Should I take this motherboard?

[LuKaWin10]

Hello guys, Happy New Year to all, I wish you the best in this new year of 2025. Anyways, I have thought of buying a better socket 775 motherboard for my old retro PC, and I'd like a get an opinion on it. I thought of this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1354661956...xj3v-hirvk&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Aka, the EP35-DS4, certainly a hot and fresh motherboard. Will be listing the specs now:

Mobo (now): P35-DS3 (with added SLIC 2.x mod and Xeon microcodes)

CPU: Intel C2Q Q9550 (OC to 3.67 GHz)

RAM: G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D 4GBPQ 2x2 GB Kit (my 2nd Kit will arrive soon HOPEFULLY!)

PSU: MSI MAG A650BN (I've had it since September of 2024; running well)

GPU: ASUS STRIX GTX 970 DIRECTCUII OC (Requires only 1 8 pin PCI-E)

SSDs and HDDs: Seagate Barracuda ST3250410AS (I think) 250 GB SATA HDD
ADATA SU650 512 GB and SAMSUNG 870 EVO 512 GB

Case: Delux MG760 black color (finally know which one I theoretically have)

DVD drives: ASUS 1814BL and ASUS E616A3 (both are IDE, and I use them to install Windows OEM installations)

Cooler: AIGO ICE200PRO (crap cooler, planning on taking a Thermalright cooler or just keeping the same as it is coolecting dust)

PCI/PCI-E cards: TG-3468 Ethernet card, and some SATA bracket but I removed it.

I think this is it. I want to get that motherboard because of its Dynamic Energy Saving feature, and its great overclocking performance (I think because it has decent VRM cooling, and 8 pin CPU power phase, you know, the 12V, how do you say it, so I can use my PSU's full potential) and Crossfire, and better RAID support. Also some cables are scattered well so they can easily fit inside of my case.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I have thought of buying a better socket 775 motherboard for my old retro PC, and I'd like a get an opinion on it.

I want to get that motherboard because of its Dynamic Energy Saving feature, and its great overclocking performance and Crossfire, and better RAID support.

Is your old motherboard broken and you need a new one because of that?
If it's not broken, then I see no reason to change it.

Are you going to use multiple graphics cards in it?
Are you going to use RAID ?

 

[triplex1]

for 775 best chipsets are 41/43/45

 

[LuKaWin10]

Is your old motherboard broken and you need a new one because of that?
If it's not broken, then I see no reason to change it.

Are you going to use multiple graphics cards in it?
Are you going to use RAID ?

Nope for raid, nope for Crossfire. I only want it so it can overclock better, that's it

 

[SkyNetRising]

Nope for raid, nope for Crossfire. I only want it so it can overclock better, that's it

So ... pointless.

 

[LuKaWin10]

So ... pointless.

Completely understood. Thank you for your opinion. I found it for 20 euros lol.
Edit: I found it on a different site (Njuškalo, aka Croatian eBay lol)

 

[geofelt]

Well. it certainly is pretty.
Do not expect any energy savings, Certainly not enough to pay for the motherboard.

If you want to overclock, a better cooler might be the way to go.
But, your case does not seem to have any worthwhile ventilation to make a cooler work well.

And, if your windows is oem, by changing the motherboard, you will need a new windows.

 

[LuKaWin10]

Well. it certainly is pretty.
Do not expect any energy savings, Certainly not enough to pay for the motherboard.

If you want to overclock, a better cooler might be the way to go.
But, your case does not seem to have any worthwhile ventilation to make a cooler work well.

And, if your windows is oem, by changing the motherboard, you will need a new windows.

Yep ;(. Project MRP from My Digital Life makes it OEM and more.
Yeah, well it is 20 euros (it comes with I think 4 GB of RAM, an E6850, and a HD3450 so yeah)

 

[LuKaWin10]

Yep ;(. Project MRP from My Digital Life makes it OEM and more.
Yeah, well it is 20 euros (it comes with I think 4 GB of RAM, an E6850, and a HD3450 so yeah)

But triplex1 showed me options better than the DS4 so I may (maybe) will buy some ASUS P5Q series board

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'd just retire that almost 20 years old system.
Certainly not worth for any overclocking.

 

[LuKaWin10]

I'd just retire that almost 20 years old system.
Certainly not worth for any overclocking.

Fair enough

 

[logainofhades]

I know you said this is a retro pc, but I kinda agree on the retirement. Is this system for playing older games, that won't run on software newer than Windows XP, or something?

 

[LuKaWin10]

I know you said this is a retro pc, but I kinda agree on the retirement. Is this system for playing older games, that won't run on software newer than Windows XP, or something?

It is just used for light retro gaming, web browsing, and just used as a testing ground

 

[LuKaWin10]

I know you said this is a retro pc, but I kinda agree on the retirement. Is this system for playing older games, that won't run on software newer than Windows XP, or something?

I mean I use XP, Vista 7, 8.1 and 10, so I use it for pretty much retro only stuff

 

[logainofhades]

If you want a system for retro stuff, I would consider something newer like a 4th gen Intel for such a system. It can still run XP, while still being quite usable for a Win 10 machine. You can take advantage of faster storage too, as you get faster SATA ports, and some Z97 boards even had NVME support.

That generation still allowed for Xeons of the same socket to work in consumer boards, which you can often get cheaper than their i7 counterparts. A 1231v3, for instance, is the same as an i7 4770, but without the integrated graphics, and can be found on Ebay for like $20.

 

[LuKaWin10]

If you want a system for retro stuff, I would consider something newer like a 4th gen Intel for such a system. It can still run XP, while still being quite usable for a Win 10 machine. You can take advantage of faster storage too, as you get faster SATA ports, and some Z97 boards even had NVME support.

That generation still allowed for Xeons of the same socket to work in consumer boards, which you can often get cheaper than their i7 counterparts. A 1231v3, for instance, is the same as an i7 4770, but without the integrated graphics, and can be found on Ebay for like $20.

Ok thanks a lot this helps

 

[Syntaximus]

Nope for raid, nope for Crossfire. I only want it so it can overclock better, that's it

If you want to OC on 775 for fun then P45 is the way, those push the FSB further.
The Gigabyte GA-EP45 series was considered one of the best out there, ASUS P5Q was good as well.

 

[logainofhades]

For S775, the Abit P35 pro was one of the best boards you could buy. Had a Xeon X3210 pushed to 3.6ghz, which was a 450 FSB, with that board.

 

[LuKaWin10]

For S775, the Abit P35 pro was one of the best boards you could buy. Had a Xeon X3210 pushed to 3.6ghz, which was a 450 FSB, with that board.

Thanks

 

[LuKaWin10]

If you want to OC on 775 for fun then P45 is the way, those push the FSB further.
The Gigabyte GA-EP45 series was considered one of the best out there, ASUS P5Q was good as well.

Great, thanks for clarification