What motherboard?

[Lucio]

I'm looking for an ATX motherboard for my new PC but I'm torn as to which one is best.

My current plan is as follows

E6400
2GB RAM (PC6400 to give some overclocking space)
GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
Corsair 620w PSU

All put into a Lian Li PC-A05 case, now this is a rather short case (only 381mm tall) and being a Lian-Li the motherboard is fitted upside down with the CPU at the bottom.

Ideally I need to find a motherboard that doesn't have too many connectors on the top edge (they might get blocked with the extra cooling fans I want to fit up there) and gives me some good stability and easy to use overclocking tools.

Any suggestions?

[DecomposingStar]

I know alot of people will say "P5B deluxe wifi".
It's apparently quite... good.

[tommason]

...but then some people also say that Asus quality and service (tech help/support) are pretty poor.
I'm split between these at the mo:
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

[this_is_gav]

If it's an upside down case, just don't bother with heatpipes. They won't work properly. It does rule out the P5B Deluxes, which yes, I would have recommended (best ASUS board I've seen in ages... the only one I've had in the past 4 years or so I could honestly recommend otherwise).

[Lucio]

Hmmm, I keep seeing that idea of heatpipes not working upside down, but I've never seen any tests that confirms it, only tests that go "well actually it doesn't make a big difference"

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions, any other ideas people? What about in SLI flavour boards?

[staffsMike]

Well if you want SLi the new evga 680i LT version is a cheaper version of the original board..featuring small fans to replace the heat sink and pipe..sounds useful to you lol.

[shaithis]

The P5B heatpipes are basically fake. Putting the board upside-down is perfectly fine.

Its a tried and tested board that overclocks like crazy.

[Lucio]

Okies, definately not Asus boards, they all have the connectors along the top edge that I'm keen to avoid as a precaution.

I'm torn between the following, cant' seem to find a non-SLI mobo that doesn't have vast amounts of top connectors.

BFG - LN17410: Purely because it's got a reasonably clean layout + I'm getting a BFG card (for the warrenty more than anything) but concerned by the 800Mhz FSB rating (don't Core 2 Duo's need 1066 FSB to get their rated performance?)

EVGA - LN16492 - Again, same clean layout as the BFG, minimal top connectors.

[staffsMike]

well they're exactly the same board except bfg has 3 years warranty and evga has 10..

[Lucio]

Well that makes my decision a lot easier

Does the EVGA come with the same advertised "link boost" technology or is it a pointless advertising gimic?

[DratUK]

Its a Nvidia stock reference board so the answer is yes. Still reckon its marketing hype

[BUFF]

Does the EVGA come with the same advertised "link boost" technology or is it a pointless advertising gimic?

nVidia have actually withdrawn that so make up your own mind ...

**Note: NVIDIA LinkBoost™ technology has been removed as a feature from NVIDIA nForce® 680i SLI
http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce_600i_tech_specs.html

[StaffsKieran]

I wouldn't recommend the bfg/evga top end boards as the standard heatpipe cooler is known not to work upside down therefore if you want a 680i board I recommend you get the LT version of the evga or go with a board like the gigabyte DS3P and just stick to a single video card.

[DratUK]

nVidia have actually withdrawn that so make up your own mind ...

**Note: NVIDIA LinkBoost™ technology has been removed as a feature from NVIDIA nForce® 680i SLI
http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce_600i_tech_specs.html

I stand corrected. having read so many reviews and the tested LinkBoost, I hadnt seen anywhere that suggested they had withdrawn this.
My suggestion for a mobo especially with regard to the concern on heatpipes is the AW9D eiether standard or Max version. ABITSean tested this and found very minimal changes in temps.

Thread
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=93837

[Clunk]

I would like to point out that the heatpipes on the P5B work just as well upside down, as they do the right way up, and that is not at all.

[BUFF]

Clunk for President