Best M/Board for a Intel Duo 2 6600?

[Brucelles]

I have the Asus P5B Deluxe (also with unnecessary Wi-Fi) and it is very, very good. It really is noticebly quieter than my previous board, which is nice for the atmosphere when playing RPGs, it seems very stable and it comes with cool overclocking tools to take away the pain. It runs very well with a GEforce 8800 GTX, though there's not much room in the box for expansion cards, still, you don't need them with all the on-board stuff.

[BUFF]

for a 6600 at stock I would probably go with a 975X mobo if you can afford it - DFI's is ~£90.
Afaik 975X is still the fastest chipset clock for clock.

[poindextermatic]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=475264

This is a bit more than I would like to pay, but ticks all the right boxes... has the i975X chip too - so it will be faster, right?

[BUFF]

yup, it's a good mobo.
Only has 1 real layout issue in that if you use dual gfx cards with dual slot coolers you won't have a usable PCI slot.
If you wait a few days (or request it) there's every chance that it will come on Scan Today Only offer.

MSI also do a 975X for ~£115

[Gibbo]

Asus P5W DH here - works a treat

[poindextermatic]

yup, it's a good mobo.
Only has 1 real layout issue in that if you use dual gfx cards with dual slot coolers you won't have a usable PCI slot.
If you wait a few days (or request it) there's every chance that it will come on Scan Today Only offer.

MSI also do a 975X for ~£115

Sorry haven't used SCAN before - what do you mean by 'request it'? You can request they do an offer?


Cheers for help btw

[poindextermatic]

Have just been reading up on the NF6XXi chipsets, this looks the business - 1333MHz FSB!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=551602

'drools'

this looks like a bargain! £83

OR

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...imilarProducts

this is even cheaper and 1333FSB

I'm on the verge of buying at last!

Any last thoughts?

[BUFF]

this looks the business - 1333MHz FSB!

it's really 333fsb quad-pumped - any of the aforementioned mobos will do that ...

[poindextermatic]

Oh, just when I thought I had narrowed it down...

With the above Asus P5N-E, 2 Questions: Do I have to have 2 cards or can I run a single card, and, can I see no IDE for my optical in this??

Think I may go with the Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3P, iP965 - I can't see any downers to it?

Thanks.

[IntaCepta]

Except the NB heatsink is quite poor, and get very hot. Claims that it hinders performance, but I don't know the truth behind that. Might be better to point a fan to it if you think it's too hot for your liking.

I'd still go with the ds3 board though for definate.

[poindextermatic]

Except the NB heatsink is quite poor, and get very hot. Claims that it hinders performance, but I don't know the truth behind that. Might be better to point a fan to it if you think it's too hot for your liking.

I'd still go with the ds3 board though for definate.

What the Asus P5N-E gets a hot NB chip?? I'll google that one, but I think its out anyway... no IDE!

[poindextermatic]

Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3P it is then... done, finally decided!!

Just need a 6600 Duo, some RAM, two HDD, PSU and a 1 x GFX card!! (crossfire worth doing? w/e that is?)

Thanks for help guys, its much appreciated!!

[IAmATeaf]

What the Asus P5N-E gets a hot NB chip?? I'll google that one, but I think its out anyway... no IDE!

Think he means the NB on the DS3P gets very hot, I have this board and the cooler on the NB gets very toasty hot, so much that I've now ordered a fan to put on it.

[poindextermatic]

Think he means the NB on the DS3P gets very hot, I have this board and the cooler on the NB gets very toasty hot, so much that I've now ordered a fan to put on it.

I don't see why thats a problem, isn't the h/sink supposed to get hot? Isn't that the point? Is this at stock speed?

My Maxtor HDD gets too hot to touch - I've had that for 2 years with no probs, I'm not worried about a h/sink getting too hot...

[IAmATeaf]

I don't see why thats a problem, isn't the h/sink supposed to get hot? Isn't that the point? Is this at stock speed?

My Maxtor HDD gets too hot to touch - I've had that for 2 years with no probs, I'm not worried about a h/sink getting too hot...

All at stock with P4 651 so things can only get much much hotter when I get a C2D and overclock hence the reason for the fan right now.

[BUFF]

What the Asus P5N-E gets a hot NB chip?? I'll google that one, but I think its out anyway... no IDE!

650i is a very hot running chipset.
& it has 2 native IDE channels (4 IDE devices) whereas the 965s only usually have 1 via an addon controller.