Help me choose a Motherboard
I am looking for an Intel Mb, preferably with the P35 chip.
I will be running an E6550 off it and an 8800GTS graphics card.
I need at least 6 sata connectors and a minimum of 6 USB ports.
I will not be running two graphics cards so crossfire and SLI are not important.
The problem I am having though is the lack of PCI slots (the white ones)
The best layout I could find was on this board, however it's not a P35 chip and they are no longer available in South Africa anyway. My price range is around $200. Any help or feedback is appreciated.
I will be running an E6550 off it and an 8800GTS graphics card.
I need at least 6 sata connectors and a minimum of 6 USB ports.
I will not be running two graphics cards so crossfire and SLI are not important.
The problem I am having though is the lack of PCI slots (the white ones)
The best layout I could find was on this board, however it's not a P35 chip and they are no longer available in South Africa anyway. My price range is around $200. Any help or feedback is appreciated.
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Otherwise it's for my sound card, wireless card and the cooling fans for the 8800 . The cooling fan mounting clips over a PCI slot.
However the 8800 runs incredibly hot and I need to dissipate that heat. The cooler I have is very effective but it hogs a PCI slot. There is no other way to mount it and it will not fit over any other slot on the board.
I have looked at many boards, some with the correct amount of slots but that fall short of my other specs. I am also hoping to get a board with heatpipe cooling but that's not a must. If only 2 slots were needed the choice of board would be very easy and I would have bought one by now.
I will be overclocking but am not looking to squeeze every ounce out of it.
I would take rock solid stability over huge OC capabilities when choosing my board.
Nice choice
I had a very close look at that board. Apart from the fact that it doesn't have all 6 SATA connectors on the board it would have suited my application perfectly.
Unfortunately the board is out of stock with all the main South African online retailers and no hope of them getting their hands on any more.
What I may do at the end of the day is get a board with really good onboard sound and lay my aged Audigy 2ZS card to rest. That should free up a slot.
I'm open to suggestions on that front. I have no idea what goes for good sound these days.
I believe it does have six SATA ports on the board plus one ESATA. I'll have to double tonight. I believe two are colored black, and four red--all should be functional.
I can't really speak to the onboard sound as its only been used on the Icrontic test bench.
It's the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R IP35.
It seems like a pretty solid board and is available in SA.
Can anyone recommend good compatible memory for the board. I'm looking at DDR2 800. I can get OCZ for a good price. If you think that will work, which in the range should I go for?
* I had some compatibility problems A-Data DDR2 800 - I can't remember if it was with the DS4 or one of my Abit IP35-Es. I'm thinking it was the Abits.
On a side note, I'm using the P35-DS3R right now and would (and have) recommended it to friends looking for a cheap and powerful solution. Great board.
I have (Un)officially decided on this Corsair RAM (pdf)
Otherwise if I go the "Official" route I was looking at THESE (pdf)
Will the PC8500 work OK with my board. I would hate to lay out the $$$ for something that isn't compatible. Also the 6400 is designed for 64-Bit Operating systems. I assume it will still work fine on 32-bit with no hit to performance?
If I go the PC8500 route I will only get 2Gigs. If I go the PC6400 I will get the 4Gigs as shown. I would also like to know if it is better to have more RAM and lower speeds or less RAM at higher speeds. There is very little difference in price between the two options I have shown above.
Will Vista 32 bit be able to handle all 4?
Clash of the Titan's
So which one is it?
Any 64bit Windows, any flavor of Linux (32 or 64), Windows XP32 SP0 or SP1, Windows 2003 32bit, Windows 2000 Advanced Server 32bit.
ALL other flavors of Windows (<i>Especially</i> Windows Vista 32 and Windows XP-32 SP2) will give you 2.8 - 3.4GB.
Sorry, Winga.