Which Motherboard for Q6600

airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
edited January 2008 in Hardware
Ok, I'm fixing to order my new system and motherboard choice has always been hard for me.

Right now I'm looking at:

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Which one, if either, would you choose? I'm looking for a budget of somewhere between $100-$150. I plan on overclocking a little bit. The reason I like the asus is I heard it gets good reviews and it has a wireless ap built in. But I'm not sure I like that. I may just buy a netgear ap and foresake that.

Suggestions?


Also, which heatsink?

Comments

  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2008
    I dont think you can go wrong with either. Nothing better than the Thermalright Ultra extreme 120. There is a recent review on Anandtech with it and a ton of others.
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    Well I should have some info for you on the BloodIron by the weekend.:wink:

    I think you're better off getting the DFI. Having lots of doo dads can be nice to have on one central piece of equipment, unless the whole thing breaks and your up a creek. If the DFI is cheaper I would go with that.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    How hard core are you wanting to overclock?

    Both boards are only 4 phase power at best, so don't get expect 450 FSB out of them with a quad.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    Yeh it is. I'm almost ready to push the button. My only worry is about the processor.

    Will the DFI support the new 45nm processors, and are they coming out soon? If they are I really would rather wait. I heard mid-February, is this true?
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    I read somewhere that early BIOS versions were a little finicky with the 45nm processors. Not sure though, could have been someone dumb's opinion.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    RyderOCZ wrote:
    How hard core are you wanting to overclock?

    Both boards are only 4 phase power at best, so don't get expect 450 FSB out of them with a quad.

    What motherboard would you recommend for them then? I don't want something that will push the chip to its extremes, just to get a decent amount of performance out of it. Also keep in mind I'm on a budget. I just want the best board in my pricerange. If another board was like $20 more to get better performance then so be it, but I'm wanting to stay under 150
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    I don't want something that will push the chip to its extremes
    Boards don't do that, the user does. OK, you meant that you don't need top of line the overclocking capability, right?

    The big boys in the Q6600 overclocking arena are:

    DFI Blood Iron (where do they come up with those stupid names?)
    P5K-E
    Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 and DS4 series
    Abit IP35-Pro

    You can also look for the budget models of these boards, which are usually designated with an "E." They are usually the same board, just with not all of the frills, such as SLI, second Gigabit LAN, and Firewire. They usually have the same PCB quality and layers, same voltage regulation, and so forth. One example is the Abit IP35-E, of which I am a huge fan. Prices can be as low as $59. (No, it's not a 500MHz FSB board...so what).

    As far as 'deluxe' versus 'E,' it's mainly what features you want. You can spend anywhere from $60 to $300 for Core 2 Duo/Quad overclocking boards, with ultimate overclocking potential varying by as little as 100 - 200MHz. Believe me, when you have 1.0 or 1.1GHz overclock, 100MHz really doesn't much, if any noticeable difference. If you are interested in extreme FSB overclocking, then yes, look for a board that has a good reputation in that area, but keep in mind you'll need RAM with the necessary capabilities to scale that high.

    Heatsinks: The TR U120Ex is the bad boy on the block. It will give you the headroom for the highest on-air overclocks. If you are only looking for moderate CPU overclocks, then you might want to consider a less expensive sink. Here's a decent list of very good Socket 775 heatsinks (other good ones are also available):


    disregard links - they don't work, this is a cut and paste job


    Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
    Thermaright Ultra-120A
    Thermaright SI-128 SE
    Thermaright SI-120
    Thermaright XP-120
    Thermaright Ultima-90
    Thermaright XP-90C

    Noctua NH-U12F

    Tuniq Tower 120 Blue LED CPU Cooler
    Tuniq Tower 120

    Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX (CL-P0310)
    Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 (CL-P0114)

    Enzotech Ultra-X

    Zalman CNPS9700 LED Aero Flower
    Zalman CNPS9700 NT Aero Flower

    To give you an idea of heatsink capabilities, look at systems 1, 4, and 5 in my signature. You'll see overclocking boards in combination with the Tuniq Tower 120 and CNPS 9700NT heatsinks. Based on what I've read at overclocking forums and knowing my hardware quite will, I probably could squeeze out another stable 100-150MHz on each quad system with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme or Thermalright FX-14 (the 120 Extreme's big brother).
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2008
    High FSB isnt always the best for overall memory latency/performance...so a board that can do it isnt always needed. Besides buying parts for high FSB requires more money to be put into other parts like PSU, RAM, motherboard....when most likely none of us will be able to tell the difference besides numbers.
    http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited January 2008
    Well if you not going to push the limit so to speak then I would recommend the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3. It's cheap, it's very easy to overclock and it's very stable.

    I recently got rid of mine and got an Abit IP-35. It was a big mistake, I should have remembered that Abit haven't built a really good board since the NF7-S.

    The Abit board doesn't have all solid state capacitors like the the DS3 had, it's unstable at moderately high fsb's, i.e. 400 and above, it runs a lot hotter and I don't think the layout is as good. The only thing I feel that's better on the Abit is the bios overclocking features.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    Jim, check out the Abit forums. It might be a problem with an easy fix (setting), or it might be a lemon board. My first Abit IP35-E was unstable no matter what. I RMAed it. My next two IP35-Es have been rockets. They are also rock solid stable.

    I would also recommend the GA-P35-DS3. It has a very positive user base. I've got the better dressed brother, which is essentially the same board with heatpipe cooling. It's a great motherboard. 3.3GHz on Q6600 B3 stepping - not too shabby.
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