Which Board?

[Lucio]

I'm looking at getting my new system shortly (just waiting on a court case to finish) and whilst I'm settled on aBit as the motherboard company for me (thanks to these forums) I don't know which board to get?

My biggest concern is stability, followed by ease of overclocking (complete novice at this, might not even try) and also it has to run inverted without a massive heat buildup or me having to try and fit aftermarket cooling.

So, which aBit is the right board for me?

[BUFF]

AMD or Intel CPU?
budget?
Any "must have " features (firewire, SLi etc.)?

[Lucio]

Sorry I knew I should have included more detail.

Intel Processor, layout is an issue as the board will be fitted inverted ATX in a PC-A05 case. In terms of what the board can do, I really just want it stable and as headache free as possible.

[BUFF]

If you are happy with a basic mobo (no RAID, no firewire) then the new IP35-E looks like it would fit the bill admirably as it uses conventional heatsinks rather than heatpipes. Having said that the least few abit mobos with heatpipes have also run well inverted - iirc Sean@abit UK found something like 1C difference in temps on an AW9D between normal & inverted use.

Being a brand new mobo there is as yet no feedback on it. I see it as basically an improved P965 so hope that it should be pretty good from day 1.
On the other hand if you want a more mature mobo then an AB9 QuadGT or AW9D series would be my 2 recommendations but neither of those look to support the 45nm Penryn CPUs that Intel will be launching in a few months.
If you aren't a serial upgrader then that isn't a problem though.

[DratUK]

Cant add much more to what Buff has put. AW9D is an excellent board and is very stable in my experience. Still got mine in a box in the attic as I switched to the QuadGT. Both are very good out of the box with very little tweaking needed.

Good luck in your choice.

[gilgamesh]

Cant add much more to what Buff has put. AW9D is an excellent board and is very stable in my experience. Still got mine in a box in the attic as I switched to the QuadGT. Both are very good out of the box with very little tweaking needed.

Good luck in your choice.

My vote again is with the AW9D MAX that board is very stable and overclocks like heck. I have one a few OC awards for overclocking that board and its stability is amazing.

gilgamesh

[Lucio]

Is there a lot of difference between the i965 & i975 chipsets? All I can see looking at the technical specs on Scan's site is a slightly different number of slots and some of the ports.

If there isn't a huge difference between the two in terms of stability, then it looks like the QuadGT is the board for me (as I thought originally). I'm guessing the iP35 option is only any use if I want to spend a small fortune on a new Intel Processor shortly?

[BUFF]

Is there a lot of difference between the i965 & i975 chipsets? All I can see looking at the technical specs on Scan's site is a slightly different number of slots and some of the ports.

yes, there is quite a lot.
975X doesn't oc to as high fsb as 965 but is quicker clock for clock, it also has a different PCI-E lane configuration.
It also has native IDE support rather than using an addon controller (which can be fiddly).

If there isn't a huge difference between the two in terms of stability, then it looks like the QuadGT is the board for me (as I thought originally). I'm guessing the iP35 option is only any use if I want to spend a small fortune on a new Intel Processor shortly?

Advantages of P35 - improved memory controller, runs a bit cooler, it's a slightly better overclocker, a slightly changed southbridge & has 45nm Penryn CPU support for when they appear. To the average person those are nothing to fret about.
If you are on a budget & don't need RAID & firewire the basic abit IP35-E is 2/3rds the price of the QuadGT though.

[gilgamesh]

yes, there is quite a lot.
975X doesn't oc to as high fsb as 965 but is quicker clock for clock, it also has a different PCI-E lane configuration.
It also has native IDE support rather than using an addon controller (which can be fiddly).


Advantages of P35 - improved memory controller, runs a bit cooler, it's a slightly better overclocker, a slightly changed southbridge & has 45nm Penryn CPU support for when they appear. To the average person those are nothing to fret about.
If you are on a budget & don't need RAID & firewire the basic abit IP35-E is 2/3rds the price of the QuadGT though.

grins: Dont forget for the ip35 pro DDR3 Support and also improved Vgtl registers for higher overclocks partically on quadcores

gilgamesh

[gilgamesh]

Is there a lot of difference between the i965 & i975 chipsets? All I can see looking at the technical specs on Scan's site is a slightly different number of slots and some of the ports.

If there isn't a huge difference between the two in terms of stability, then it looks like the QuadGT is the board for me (as I thought originally). I'm guessing the iP35 option is only any use if I want to spend a small fortune on a new Intel Processor shortly?

mate hold your horses, the IP35 pro loooks to be set at around qaudgt price. You could say that IP35 pro is a highly updated quadgt. I am not sure what CPu you have though, trouble is if you have a 'northwood, or canterwood I.E 0.90nm CPU then You should go forthe quad gt. If you have a core 2 duo or quad go for the ip35 pro

gilgamesh

[BUFF]

grins: Dont forget for the ip35 pro DDR3 Support

afaik IP35 Pro only supports DDR2 (I assume that there will probably be a DDR3 version later in the year)?

[Lucio]

Only reason I wouldn't get an iP35 Pro is because I'm worried about picking up a board that doesn't work properly out of the box and having to wait for umpteen BIOS releases before I get a properly working system.

Don't plan on using IDE drives (hate the ribbon cables) so there's definately no reason to get a i975 based board and the extra speed on the 2nd PCI-e slot won't matter as I don't plan on using 2 graphics cards.

[Mutley]

OK, I need some help in this area as well.

I've FINALLY nailed the list of components I want to get to build the new PC. I thought I'd settled on the QuadGT, then along comes the IP35 Pro....what to do? on Scan the price difference is about £20.
Worth the difference?

I'm planning to stick a Core 2 Duo in it (6600).

[BUFF]

Really depends whether you think that you'll want to upgrade to Penryn etc. on the same mobo or if you're the type that tends to do complete platform upgrades.
The QuadGT is an excellent mobo & there is very liitle performance difference between them (indeed it's quite possible that at this stage the QuadGT is the quicker) - what the IP35 Pro does is offer the possibility of future CPU upgrades beyond the QuadGT's abilities.

[gilgamesh]

OK, I need some help in this area as well.

I've FINALLY nailed the list of components I want to get to build the new PC. I thought I'd settled on the QuadGT, then along comes the IP35 Pro....what to do? on Scan the price difference is about £20.
Worth the difference?

I'm planning to stick a Core 2 Duo in it (6600).

I would say GO for the IP-35 PRO. I have BOTH boards, and speaking from a out-of-the-box point of view the IP35-Pro wins hands down. The board is much much more stable than the quadgt and is faster to boot. For over clockers its a god-send via manual adjustment of the GTL rgs

I am at the moment writing and indepth review on this board.

gilgamesh

[Mutley]

Oooh, sounds interesting...can you briefly (bullet point) summarise the benefits of the ip-35 pro over the quadgt? The QuadGT has such a lovely name....;-)