Sick of Sh***y hardware - My kingdom for a motherboard

[Terabyte]

Sick of shoddy hardware, I have a striker extreme motherboard, and frankly the only thing extreme about it are its faults, and perhaps its price.

Given the following hardware, could somebody please recommend a stable motherboard, one that doesn't do ridiculous overclocking, but rather does what it is meant to do, i.e. be a stable piece of electronic equipment.

Again, not interested in overclocking.

E6600 Core 2.
4gb 800mhz matched pair (4 sticks).
Geforce 8800GTS
4 SATA drives. (1 Raptor, 3 WD500)
Antec 650W truepower trio

Again, needs to be stable and allow the above components to perform to their maximum ability (at normal clockspeeds)

Thank you very much.

 

[Mondoman]

Intel-chipset-based MBs are the most stable and robust. These days, Gigabyte seems to be making arguably the best quality P35-based MBs. I'd go for a GA-EP35-DS3R or -DS3P, depending on your budget and port needs. I chose the -DS3P myself.

 

[Zorg]

Agreed.

 

[Horhe]

+1 for Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3

 

[xringx]

agree with Gigabyte, or you can also go Abit IP35, quality also.....

 

[RetiredChief]

I have to concur - Gigabyte. My Last two builds (Switched from Asus) have used gigabyte and I have had no problems.

With 4 sticks of RAM you may need to raise your FSB voltage by +0.1 volts. I have 4 sticks DDR2 800 and had mem errors (would have translated to stability problems) at stock FSB voltage. There has been several post concerning stability using 4 sticks of ram.

 

[Mondoman]

RC - that's a good point (you probably meant memory controller voltage rather than FSB voltage).

 

[thomasz1]

I am not sure. I think you pay through internet.

 

[chuckm]

abit IP35 Pro.

 

[RetiredChief]

Mondoman
Thanks for the plus, But I did mean FSB voltage.
My system was running stable with 2 1 gig DDR2 800 sticks. I had raised the DDR2 votage +0.3 V to bring it to 2.1 volts (Manf specs)

When I added two more sticks (4 gigs total) I had mem errors running memtest86+. I solved the mem errors by upping the FSB by 0.1 V Leaving DDR2 V at manf specs. The added load on the Bus clock generater drops it's amplitude slightly creating mem errors. Note do not remeber if I tried +.05, but left it at the +0.1 level.

Terabyte
I assume your are running your DDR2 at rated voltage. Do not know if you boosted your FSB voltage. See Above for explanation. Not a fan of Asus MB, prefer Gigabye; However some gigabye boards also have a memory problem when 4 sticks are used. There have been several threads along this line. Some Motherboards, Not manf. specific, seam to have a problem running 4 sticks even at the rated DDR2 Voltage.

 

[Shadow703793]

P35-DS3x boards get my vote. Do be aware how ever even the Gigabyte boards have problems. Notably the EP series of motherboards. The most common issue was CPU voltages weren't sticking. This won't happen on all EP boards but has happened in some boards.

@OP: What exactly was the problem with the ASUS board?

 

[Mondoman]

... I did mean FSB voltage.
My system was running stable with 2 1 gig DDR2 800 sticks. I had raised the DDR2 votage +0.3 V to bring it to 2.1 volts (Manf specs)

When I added two more sticks (4 gigs total) I had mem errors running memtest86+. I solved the mem errors by upping the FSB by 0.1 V Leaving DDR2 V at manf specs. The added load on the Bus clock generater drops it's amplitude slightly creating mem errors. ...

So exactly what voltage is being changed by the "FSB voltage" setting? Since the FSB is separate from the memory bus, I would think that the number of modules installed on the memory bus would have no effect on the FSB. That's why I thought you meant MCH or northbridge voltage.

 

[RetiredChief]

Mondoman
You have a point. orignally I thought you were refering to the DDR2 Voltage. But you have a point in that I raised both FSB voltage and (G)MCH voltage by 0.1. when that solved the mem errors I did not back off one or the other, just left well enough alone. I thought the Bus clock feeds both the CPU (quad pumped) and the Memory controller/Dimms. My understaning was that the added load on the clock generator reduced its amplitude (Just slightly). If I'm wrong I stand corrected. Will have to verify by resetting one or the other and check for mem errors to see if both, or only one of them need to be increased.

Thanks

 

[RetiredChief]

Update
Got around to testing to see which one (FSB Voltage or (g)MCH voltage I needed to increase for stability with 4 sticks.

Turns out that I need both increased by 0.1 V for stability.
With either one set to normal and the other left at =0.1 V ortho prime would only run for between 7 and 13 minutes befor locking up. No problem with ortho with BOTH FSB and (G)MCH increased by 0.1. This probably is system specific.
However if one has a problem running 4 sticks and the DDR2 voltate is at manuf specs, I would recommend increaseing these too voltages as a posible fix.

 

[BUFF]

+1 for abit IP35 Pro

 

[shadowthor]

Don't want to add fuel to the fire, but I have build countless asus mobos, and they are fine. It might just be a bad mobo, but then again it could be because of the nvidia chipset (not a particular fan of nvidia chipsets, always have some problems). But the gigabyte board gets my vote as well.

 

[SpinachEater]

I hear good things about DFI but I have never owned one before.