upgrading to core 2 duo, need mobo

[deadlois]

Its been awhile since I shopped for a mobo and I am at a loss with all the new chipsets and need to upgrade from my old, reliable a7n8x deluxe.

I want to keep the board around $150, give or take some cash isnt an issue. I will overclock, but not too aggressively. SLI, not sure if I need it since I dont game higher than 1280x1024, but the option would be nice. I would consider myself a mainstream gamer, but I do plan on getting a 8800, dunno if that really matters. Oh yeah, gonna get the core 2 duo. Onboard sound is not important.

 

[horseraddish]

I, like you, are in the market for a new mobo for a core 2 duo CPU.

So far I have considered these boards from newegg but I have not made a decision yet. These seem to be good, but I am hoping for more feedback from the posts.

1.) ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard $129.99 Item #: N82E16813131142
2.) MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard $164.99 Item#:N82E16813130081
3.) ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard $178.99 Item#:N82E16813131045

Good luck and happy gaming.

 

[deadlois]

Thanx man, I was actuially looking at the ASUS P5N-E SLI, but I havent heard alot of wonderful things about the Nforce chipset, and I know very little of the Intel chipsets.

 

[hashbrown]

I would recommend forgetting about SLI, a single 8800 will do you great at any resolution. May I recommend the ASUS P5B series and the Gigabyte P965 S3 and DS3 boards. The GA S3 currently has some of the highest and most stable OCing capabilities. All of these boards are great, stable, and only have 1 16X PCIe slot. The GA S3 is only $100 and the DS3 is the same board but with durability upgrades, hence the "D", at $130. You can also find the P5B for around $130. All of these prices are from Newegg

 

[cmangle]

Does the Gigabyte P965 S3 support the Celeron 775 processor?

 

[deadlois]

I may be adjusting my budget, and was considering scaling down on the vid card to a 7900GS since they are so cheap. Should this affect my mobo decision and get an SLI capable board or is it still decent enough where I will probaly wont need to use SLI? I do intend to upgrade to direct X 10 card maybe in a year 1/2 or so. BTW I currently play with a 9800pro, dunno if that helps.

 

[merc14]

Take a look at the Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus Make sure it is the plus. It is a great board and overclocks superbly.

SLI gives you the option of upgrading your video in a year or two when DX10 is the norm and suddenly your 8800 card is no longer so powerful. You don't have to use it but the option is there.

The 6600 is a great CPU and overclocks easily.

I wouldn't waste money on a non-DX-10 card at this time. You will be kicking yourself in 6 months and you won't be saving that much money. Go for the GTS, in either the 320 or 640 flavor, as both outperorm the 7900 series and the 320MB version is around $300.

 

[hashbrown]

The GA P965 S3 is a socket 775 board and supports all 775 chips except for maybe a quad core.

The video card should not change your mobo choice. Unless you are playing really demanding games right now, I'd recommend going with a 7600GT which you can find for like $100 and cheaper until AMD releases the R6xx series. If those cards don't suit you, then atleast Nvidia should have dropped prices a lot by then. Then I'd recommend going for a 8800GTS or maybe the 8600GTS when it comes out. This is what I'm doing, and I currently have an eVGA 7600GT which i got for $99, runs all my games at med-high settings at 1440x900 resolution.

I would still say to stick with a single PCIe mobo. The majority of people buy SLI boards saying they would like to upgrade to SLI later and realize they don't need to, or that the mate of the card they have is no longer for sale. I recommend sticking with the GA P965 S3 or DS3. Spend the money on one good video card, not two mediocre ones.

check out this article on the S3:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/ga-965p-s3.html

A friend of mine needed a replacement board for his system, and after reading this, we decided to get it. It really is quite easy to overclock, and is stable. The software utility for overclocking is not worth it. Only do overclocking through the bios.

Also, if you haven't bought your Core 2 Duo yet, you may want to wait just a little bit. Check this out:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6420.html

The new E4400 looks very promising. These new prices are crazy, make me regret buying C2D so early.

 

[bobak]

i would recommend either the Asus P5B or maybe an Abit P965 motherboard.

The MSI and Asus 650i are very funny about memory, run hot and from my experience with mine, are great at stock, but not a "performance" board as such. If you can afford 2x 8800 cards, then spend some money on an EVGA 680i. Otherwise at 1280x1024, my 8800GTS 320Mb runs beautifully on its own

 

[deadlois]

what kinds of games do you run at those resolutions beautifully with the 8800GTS 320MB? I want to get supreme commander, but I want to play it in better quality than my 9800pro allows me to.

 

[hashbrown]

forget the ABIT P965, the Gigabyte is much better and cheaper. I don't think the 680i is worth the money that it costs, and SLI will not get you the performance you are paying for, and its not even supported in all games. That single 8800GTS will get you great frames in SupCom, I played it smoothly on medium graphics at 1440x900 with my 7600GT. I think your best bet is The Gigabyte P965 S3 or DS3 with a 8800GTS 320mb

 

[deadlois]

I think I am going for the Gigabyte DS3, thanks for all your help in influencing my decision. BTW, looks like I will be jumping on a 8800GTS.