What Mobo?

[tommason]

Ok, can't make up my mind - posted earlier about my system and now can't decide - optical drives on IDE / Hard Drives on SATA - any help appreciated!


Abit AB9 Pro i965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX LN14988
£90.46 Inc VAT

Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3P, iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, ATX LN17758
£83.41 Inc VAT

Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX LN15070
£71.36 Inc VAT

Asus P5N-E SLI NF650i SLi, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX LN17232
£76.13 Inc VAT

[Sprite]

DS3 if you're going to OC, P5N-E if you REALLY want SLi and AB9 Pro if you want lots of features and a little OC headroom.

[tommason]

Don't want SLi - might overclock, have never done it before, was going to get a 6400 - what features are on the AB9 Pro?

[Clunk]

P5B, rock solid and oveclocks well if needed.

[BUFF]

you can get a WiFi version of the AB9 Pro for only £3 more.
The AB9 series has better chipset cooling & uGuru which imo is the best hardware/fan monitoring & control on any mobo.

the DS3P imo is worth the extra 310 over the DS3 as you gain Firewire, Intel RAID & Crossfire capability.

P5N-E obviously has SLI but also is the least hassle to use with IDE devices as it has native support (on 965 it's by an addon controller).
It's obviously built to a cost though.

[tommason]

how do you mean -'built to a cost'?

[BUFF]

it's a cut down PCB using only 6 mobo screws so that the rhs of the PCB (the bit with the DIMM slots, ATXPWR connector etc.) is unsupported, it's got a soldered rather than socketed BIOS chip & there's no hs on the southbridge or cooling on the PWM.

[StaffsKieran]

Go with the DS3 or the DS3P if you need firewire. especially if you want to oc. Even if not itll be a rock in terms of stability.

[abeacock]

I'd go for the DS3/DS3P or the P5B - clunk swears by the P5B and I believe he had a faulty DS3.

I've not had any problems with my DS3 but that might just be luck!

[Mossy]

P5B

Simple but Sweet

[tigerboyce]

Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX LN15070
£71.36 Inc VAT

[Agent]

Dont forget the QuadGT
That seems to be doing very well when overclocking at the moment (Take a look at XS and a few other forums )

[tommason]

well - i'm pretty convinced on the ds3 - what are the issues with it and IDE/ATA connections as i have two optical drives that are IDE/ATA.....?

[abeacock]

There is one IDE connector on the side so it will support up to two drives.

There are 6 SATA ports although only 2 of them support RAID/AHCI/etc.

Some early BIOS versions have been problematic for some people esp. when overclocking. The BIOS is now quite stable (I've been lead to believe).

If you really overclock your CPU the passively cooled chipsets can get pretty hot.

[mosherben]

wasn't there a problem with memory too?

Would defo recommend the AB9 Pro I got one myself which I'm using in this system to type this uGuru FTW, nice and simple as you will see in 15 mins when I take some pics of the BIOS

[tommason]

..........a problem with memory?