Which P35 should I choose?

[saltshaker]

I am building a system with a e6700. I would like to overclock it a bit (nothing crazy, just using stock fan and artic thermal grease) and heard the P35 chipsets do the job quite well. I am trying to do this on the cheap so I think I have narrowed my selection down to to 3 motherboards. Essentially they have the same specs, but I know that does't mean they'll OC the same.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 $86.15
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059R

Intel BOXDP35DPM LGA 775 Intel P35 $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121314R

ASUS P5K SE LGA 775 Intel P35 $67.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131189R

Remember I won't be going for the highest OC possible. I just want to get a little more out of my system. I am really strapped for cash so if I can go with one of the cheaper motherboards I'd love it. In case it matters I'll be pairing this setup with 2x1GB sticks of Patriot 4-4-4-12 PC6400.

If someone would like to recommend another motherboard thats a better choice than any of these it would be much appreciated.

 

[chookman]

You do release they are open boxes?
If its outta those the P35-DS3L - brand new would be better.
you know the e6750 is better and cheaper right?

 

[saltshaker]

What is the difference between open box and retail?

The reason I am getting a e6700 is because I am buying it from a guy I know for well under the price of a e6750.

 

[saltshaker]

Also what kind of difference would I expect between the mobos?

 

[Zorg]

Open box is just that, an open box. Returned after someone has had their sticky fingers all over it.

 

[bazza]

i always prefer to buy a decent motherboard and psu
the rest is up to you

currently using a p5ke + q6600

 

[randomizer]

I was happy with cheap boards until mine all of a sudden failed to POST. I still need to replace it, rebranded chaintech rubbish.

 

[saltshaker]

I think I am going to go with a retail Gigabye DS3L P35. Heard really good things about it and its a nice one to OC with, especially for the price.

The lack of raid, SLI, firewire don't bother me as I have no need for any except for firewire. Which I have a PCI card already to remedy that situation.

 

[Maziar]

P35 DS3L is a good choice

 

[Zorg]

Second Maziar on that.

 

[dspear]

What is the difference between open box and retail?

Newegg open-box return policy says "you will receive an OEM BAREBONE item, meaning you will only receive the item itself. Accessories are NOT INCLUDED with Open-Box products, even if the missing accessory is required for the item to function properly."

Does this mean you will generally not receive the IO back plate? It would seem that this is pretty essential to plug in safely, and to keep dust out. And every mobo back plate is different, so you can't use an old one.

To me, this is a very serious disadvantage to open-box. Comments?

 

[rubix_1011]

Now, I know I am going to get some heated responses to this, but please, be patient. I wanted to know if anyone out there knew of 'altered' (read: hacked) nVidia drivers for SLI for P35 and X38 chipsets. I have seen some things that nVidia is teetering on the fence back and forth about whether to support these chipsets, and would just have to incorporate it into the driver package; (aka, Intel pay $$$ to nVidia). Does anyone currently know of a place to pick up 'fixed' drivers for SLI'ing these chipsets at this point? I just wanted to see what functionality they provided and if its worth upgrading (downgrading?) to a 680i chipset just for SLI. Thanks!

 

[swifty_morgan]

What you are going to get is the motherboard ONLY..... that somebody else put in their machine and decided it wasn't working right and returned it to the shipper.

On rare occasions you will get the "extras", but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Some of these half wits don't know what they are doing, sometimes they do harm, sometimes the products are still good. It's a crap shoot.


Buy new........ you know what you are getting.

 

[aevm]

Another vote for GA-P35-DS3L.

Don't buy the open box. It may be damaged (from the factory or by the previous owner), or it may come without SATA cables. Also, the return policy for Open box items at newegg is not the same as the one for normal items.
http://www.newegg.com/Info/ReturnPolicy.aspx#8