motherboard recommendations

[badger]

I'm planning on getting an E6850 after July 22nd, but not sure about the motherboard. I need something with at least eight SATA ports and at least two PCI slots accessible after an 8800GTX has been installed. Someone on here recommended the Gigabyte GA N680SLI-DQ6, which seems to have everything I'm looking for, but will it be compatible with these new processors? Would I be better off going for a P35-based mobo?

[Mad-Max]

You could look at the Asus P5K deluxe board or if you want DDR3 look at the P5K3 board ?

[badger]

I looked at that but it's only got 6 SATA ports, 2 of them are eSATA. Also, the position of the expansion slots may make it difficult for me to squeeze in two PCI cards next to an 8800GTX.

[Supershanks]

The deluxe has 6 ports + 2 e-sata on jmicron. tyhink you might be looking at the vanilla

[Queelis]

Gigabyte's P35-DS4 and DQ6 have 8 sata ports, and by the looks of it, they shouldn't be blocked even by a GTX. And the PCI ports are far far away from the PCI-e x16.

[StaffsKieran]

The Gigabyte GA N680SLI-DQ6 should be compatable with a bios update as all of the NForce 680 boards are. Some people trash 680 boards on here but ive got two of them and not had any problems. if not the gigabyte P-35 boards will be fine.

[badger]

Thanks for your replies. The P35 DQ6 looks good, I'm just concerned about all that copper, planning on getting a big air cooler and it might interfere.

Is there a difference in performance between the P35 and 680i?


edit: actually, those Gigabyte boards use DDR3, I need DDR2.

[Mad-Max]

DQ6 with DDR 2

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=598572

They do it in DDR3 and DDR 2 so be careful when ordering

[Phil_P]

Thanks for your replies. The P35 DQ6 looks good, I'm just concerned about all that copper, planning on getting a big air cooler and it might interfere.

Me too. I emailed thermalright tech support and they said both the Ultra-120 and eXtreme will fit

Ebuyer stock them both at good prices:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/searc...olShowAll=true

Although you will need to remove the CrazyCool backplate cooling from the P35-DQ6 but instructions to do this are detailed in the motherboard manual.

[badger]

Excellent, cheers for your help. I was planning on getting a 120 Extreme so that works out well.

[Phil_P]

Excellent, cheers for your help. I was planning on getting a 120 Extreme so that works out well.

You're welcome

[Mad-Max]

I'm glad your happy