Been out of the loop...spec me a Core2Duo setup please?

[pendulum666]

Cheers BUFF, I just had to cancel my order! I can't believe I did not spot that. So poor that. OK, so thats the Abit I can't use as has no coaxial out, the Asus and some of the gigabyte don't have external firewire. I will have to keep looking. Damn

EDIT - just seen teh above so will have a look at those ta

[pendulum666]

Just so I can clarify things here (sorry Im getting confused) is it just the P5KC that is an odd board here with only allowing raid on 1 internal and 1 external? All the other IP35 chipset mobos I look at around the same mention RAID in their specs, but I want to be sure they all actually do have RAID on atleast 2 sata ports internally. Preferably 4, but if I have to pay extra for one of the above boards you mentioned (i.e. Gigabyte P35-DS3P
or Asus P5K-E) then I'll just stick to a board with ports internally that can do 2 x RAID.

Sorry! Im confused.

[BUFF]

OK, a lot of P35 mobos use a JMicron (or similar) addon controller for IDE support & that often has a pair of (RAID capable) SATA ports too. Sometimes those are used for eSATA, sometimes like on the Gigabytes they are internal (but can be used for eSATA with a PCI slot plate).
Tbh the JMicron isn't a great controller so what you realy want is a mobo with the Intel ICH9R which gives you 6 RAID capable ports on the Intel controller which is way superior to the JMicron.

Your requirements (4 port RAID+ firewire+ coaxial SPDIF) narrows the field down drastically.
The P35-DS3P is only £10 dearer at SCAN than the P5KC.

[pendulum666]

Ok Buff you been great so I went with....

P35-DS3R

I decided to get that over the P35C-DS3R as I don't need ddr3 and I heard this board overclocks a little better. Decided to leave firewire in the end. Can always get a pci card. Im ok with 2 x SATA RAID Internally actually, but I gather this board can do 6 sata off the ich9r and 2 off the micron thing as well. This has coaxial out too.