Motherboard suggestions

X

xmeister

New Member
I'm in the process of selecting some upgrades for my current computer and would appreciate any suggestions/experiences on motherboards for 64 bit Vista or XP.

Current Setup
Antec P180 - 4 180mm fans
2xRaptor RAID0
1x500gig
2xDVD - both connected to PATA
media card bay
550 Antec NEO PS
Nvidia 7800GT

Upgrades:
P35 Mobo
6850 3ghz CPU
8 gigs DDR2
Additional 2x Hitachi 1TB - in RAID1 configuration.

My primary use will be .NET Web/Windows development, utilizing a lot of VMWare virtual machines and database access (big databases.. 80-100gigs, hence lots of storage).

I'm essentially looking for the best 64bit Vista/XP supported solution and ideally Windows 2008 64bit in not so distance future (I current run Windows 2003 on the desktop). It sounds like any of the 64bit OSs want signed drivers, so main priority for any motherboards are:
- Lots of 64bit driver compatibility, especially with any onboard RAID solution
- Lots of SATA, minimum 6 but ideally 8
- A couple of eSATA ports
- No fans - heat pipes only for quieter operation
- Crossfire/SLI not an issue but don't care if they're there
- Decent memory for bit of overclocking but nothing to exotic

From research I have narrowed it down to a variation of the ASUS P5K-E WiFi (Deluxe or premium?) or Gigabyte P35-DS4. Thanks ahead of time for any feedback.

Regards,

X
 

My Computer

System One

Hi xmeister,
I use the Biostar P4M890-M7 PCI-E Motherboard and Vista installed every driver for this mobo and have been using this mobo for over 3 months now with Vista x64 Ultimate DVD (Retailupgrade). I have let windows install all Windows Updates it has every prompted me for. Never had a problem.
Raj
 

My Computer

System One

Look at the spec of my rig. I have used this motherboard for 3 months now and have no problems. It comes with an external reset switch on the back for resetting the bios which I found good. It uses heatpipes and a fair size heatsink so has no fans. It has connectors for ide, pcie and pci also sata and pata as well as a host of other connectors. It is the pro version which will give you alot of options on changing the FSB as well as a host of other timings and voltages. It has fan speed control built in as well as the usual thermal monitoring.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
I would definitely get a p38 mb vice p35. A p38 is native 1333 but can handle (oc'ed) 1600 (p48)too. Plus, both pci-e slots run x16 if you ever decide to go crossfire. It handles intel's latest cpu crop. I love my p5e3 deluxe wifi. The only drawback (?) would be ddr3 memory only. But if you are lookin' toward the future, ddr2 and xp aren't there.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!! :>)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    i7 940 @ 4GHz (193 x 21) w/CNPS9900LED
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T Deluxe (BIOS 1604)
    Memory
    6GB (3x2GB) Corsair DDR3-1600 @ 8-8-8-21-1N
    Graphics Card(s)
    Tri-Fire 4870x2 + 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Azun Prelude 7.1 + Inspire T6200 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 3008WFP
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    300GB WD VelicoRaptor
    PSU
    SilverStone DA 1200
    Case
    CM HAF 932
    Cooling
    3x230mm 1x140mm 1x120mm
    Keyboard
    G15 Gaming KB
    Mouse
    MX Revolution
get the Abit IP-35 Pro. One of the best P35 MB's available(especially since SLI is not an issue for you).
If you wanna go for X38 (DDR2) then get the Asus Maximus Extreme SE.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 9650M GT
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus N80VN-X1 Laptop
    Screen Resolution
    1280 X 800
    Hard Drives
    1 X 250GB 5200 RPM
    Internet Speed
    11 MBPS
    Other Info
    XBOX 360 Controller | Vista X64 | Simpledrive 500GB
I use a Q6600 quad with a XFX 680i LT SLI MoBo and so far not one prob to speak of. Tiger Direct had her here in just a week for a fair price too. Very happy with both XFX and TigerDirect.com. Give em' a look. The CPU dictates on your board and I apologize that I missed YOUR specs. Rude I agree!

By the way I also have an Antec 900 case and I LOVE it. Like I want to make love to the thing right now! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600
    Motherboard
    680i LT SLI
    Memory
    4 gigs Corsair DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX 8800GTX OC
    Hard Drives
    320 gig Seafate Cuda'
RyanHell078 said:
By the way I also have an Antec 900 case and I LOVE it. Like I want to make love to the thing right now! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

The antec case rocks.:cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
I've got the following:

Asus Blitz Formula
4 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066 Mhz
LG GDR164 IDE Dvd Rom on pata controller
ASUS DRW-1814 BLT SATA DVD RW
2x 150GB WD Raptor Raid 0
2x Radeon 2600XT in Crossfire mode running at x8 (this board can do it, other P35's are X16 x4)
Adaptec 19160 (Ultra 160) SCSI card running (get this!) A 10 year old HP Scanjet 6100C SCSI Scanner (no WIA driver support but Vuescan drivers work so I'm happy)
Secondary storage 80 GB Maxtor (had it lying around, will get something bigger when funds permit)
OS: Windows Vista x64
PSU: OCZ Gamerxstream 850w
Saved the best till last - this is all running very sexily on an Intel core 2 extreme "Kentsfield" Q6850 @ 3.0 Ghz, 1333FSB.
Case: OLD Chieftec MA-01-WD tower, weighs a ton with all that stuff lol

It has 6 Sata ports, Dual onboard gigabit LAN,and a passive heatsink thats ready for watercooling :)

I know its not the newest chipset, and yes I know the graphics cards aren't the most uber (waiting for the 3870x2!) but heres my slant. From what I've heard the P35 is STILL a very capable chipset, its only DDR2 but the expense of DDR3 isnt worth it at the moment imho. As for the crossfire setup, if you aren't doing multiple graphics cards then dont worry about the reduced speed lanes, and even if you are I doubt the difference in performance between x8 x8 and x16 x16 is particularly jawdropping, for now anyways. As for the CPU, well what can I say, its monstrous, and will do me for quite some time. If you absolutely must have "The best" then by all means go for an X48 chipset, DDR 3, Penryn etc, but if you want to save some cash, downspec a bit and you will still have a more than capable rocksolid P35 based Vista x64 system.

I built this in August 07, just before the P38 boards came out. I would expect it to last a while....

cheers

Andrew
 

My Computer

System One

Se my signatur for Motherboard suggestions
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q6600 2,40 GHz L2 Cache
    Motherboard
    Asus P5E3 Deluxe
    Memory
    4Gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 EAH3870 512Gb in CrossFire
    Hard Drives
    Intern WD 250 Gb.
    Extern WD 500 Gb
1morebogen said:
Se my signatur for Motherboard suggestions
Click to expand...

Your memory score should be 5.9 no sweat. Nice setup you got though.:) Just needs a little bit of fine tuning. I got all 5.9s except a 5.8 in the processor catagory with my rig.

Your hard drive is definately holding down your overall score. It's either a 5400 or needs defragged/disk checked in the worst way.

ReadyBoost is really no benifit unless you have less than 2GB of memory. Just another service running in the background using system resources. I'd disable it in 'Services'.

Double check your strap and memory settings in cmos. Also make sure you have the latest bios (1109) for your motherboard. I know the last few bios updates have been improvements geared at the way memory is controlled plus the handling of the new cpu chips (45nm) that have come out recently.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    i7 940 @ 4GHz (193 x 21) w/CNPS9900LED
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T Deluxe (BIOS 1604)
    Memory
    6GB (3x2GB) Corsair DDR3-1600 @ 8-8-8-21-1N
    Graphics Card(s)
    Tri-Fire 4870x2 + 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Azun Prelude 7.1 + Inspire T6200 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 3008WFP
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    300GB WD VelicoRaptor
    PSU
    SilverStone DA 1200
    Case
    CM HAF 932
    Cooling
    3x230mm 1x140mm 1x120mm
    Keyboard
    G15 Gaming KB
    Mouse
    MX Revolution
I got 5.7 in my rating now. After some new uppdate. Stil waiting for a better bus driver from Intel. then I gues it vil go up yo 5.9 al over.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q6600 2,40 GHz L2 Cache
    Motherboard
    Asus P5E3 Deluxe
    Memory
    4Gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 EAH3870 512Gb in CrossFire
    Hard Drives
    Intern WD 250 Gb.
    Extern WD 500 Gb
EVGA 680i or 780i SLI will do just find, gives you a little edge on overclocking if you want also. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo e8400
    Motherboard
    EVGA 680i SLI
    Memory
    4GB Buffalo Firestix
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 8800 GT - 2x XFX 8600gt
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 300gb 7200 rpm
eVGA just released the new 780i FTW - I am gonna see if I can upgrade mine - it has native support for 1066 RAM speeds, meaning I won't have to manually set my RAM settings anymore - Yay!!!

EVGA | EVGA 780i SLI FTW
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
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