Motherboard Comparison/Replacement Opinions

[DougMcDonald]

I have an Asus P5B Deluxe at the moment, and like the board in general.

It does however have wifi which is nice to have (but I don't use) and a decent raid controller on board.

I know the chipset is relatively old and was wondering about changing the board to one with a newer chipset. I've been thinking this since i bought it really, but the P5B has some good opinions on the o'clocking potential etc.
Personally I do have some problems overclocking it to high levels, but I won't go into that!

I have to option to replace the board with something like the Abit IP35-E and would like opinions on whether or not the chipset difference would offer any real benefits.

As far as I can see, pros of the Abit board would be the chipset, and cons would be loss of raid and wifi (The raid is a bit annoying, but not a deal breaker) wifi i don't care about.

Anyone got any opinions on this? Thanks

[peterb]

If you are happy with the board in general, and it is meeting your requirement, don't change it for the sake of it. If you are looking for a little more overclocking potential, ask yourself if it really will make any difference, and will you be causing yourself more angst because you are trying to identify a real or expected improvement in performance - and what if the performance should be no better or worse?

If the RAID is important to you, you coulkd get a separate controller card with the Abit - but doing that in your existing board might improve performance anyway.

Personally, I don't think you would see a great difference and that the hassle isn't worth it - but I'm sure others will disagree!

[staffsMike]

P5B delux is a very nice board and I wouldn't change it but I would get the IP-35 which has been £64 occasionally on scan recently. That way you get your RAID and firewire back but honestly it doesn't seem worth it.