Best X38 motherboard for under £125? and build advise please

[jallsey]

Not many reviews on the X38 boards and the ones I have found have a common theme i.e. poor performance on the early BIOS.

Have these early problems been resolved with BIOS updates?

I want to go for an X38 as 2x 16xPCI-E 2.0 and X48s too expensive
(I will be adding a second HD4870 at a later date)

The new system I am building will have the following;

Q6600 GO OC'D
ATI HD4870

and probably (advise appreciated)

OCZ 2x2GB DDR2 1066Mhz/PC2-8500 Reaper HPC
SilverPower SP-S850 or Corsair TX750W (4xPCI-E)


I am looking to overclock for the first time so would also like some advise on a HSF under £25
and 120mm case fans.


Cheers

[Will404]

I would go for the corsair PSU, as they are great, silent, efficent, and have long warrenty's.

For the mobo, I would get a http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=701626, as it has just about everything you could want - 3*pci-e x16 2.0, eSATA, not too large, good company, not overbudget.........

Same CPU as I ordered last night, and the GPU looks good - (i went for a HD4850)

CPU cooler under £25...may be a little limeted, but you never know, scan are gr8 prices... what do you know, the scythe mine - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=383006 - £25 on the dot. A great cooler.. Here is what Hexus reviewed it http://www.hexus.net/content/item.ph...8757&page=55:D just what you are looking for.

And fans, it depends on prefrance(colours), what you need(silence, gr8 cooling...), and what you are going to conect it to (3pin, or molex).
Hard to tell.

I would recomend getting a fan controller, so that you can ajust the speed, or something silent like this:http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=590761

As for the memory I would go for OCZ or corsair...

Hope that it helps, and that you have a gr8 computer

[tensim]

I've gone with the Abit iX38 QuadGT... though there seems to be some conjecture on the forum as to it's performance/stability... (I'm sure Clunk and Blitzen will be in here offering their thoughts at some point! )

I'm building my PC this week, so should have some hands on experience of the board by the end of the weekend, look out for my build thread on Friday!

As for a cooler, I've gone with the Xigmatek HDT-S1283, seems to offer the best 'bang-for-your-buck' (I got it for £17 delivered on Scans 'Today Only'... fricking bargain I reckon!)

cheers

Edit: No disrespect intended to Clunk & Blitzen with the 'rolling eyes'... I appreciate their opinions

[Blitzen]

I'm sure Clunk and Blitzen will be in here offering their thoughts at some point!

The only thought i will give you is this:

I like it and its rock solid for what i use it for with the mature bios (12 or 13). I still have it, using CrossFire atm with 2 x 4870's and it does all i want.

Clunk didn't like it, and it was not solid for him using the early bios releases. I do agree with Clunk that it was flaky with the shipping bios (11). There has been two releases since then though.

I cant comment on 45nm stability though as i haven't tried with that.

[Webby]

Can't really advice on the x38 board as I don't have one but the DFI DK board is less than £120 on Scan and will probably do everything you want and more.

Memory wise with a Q6600 you will not need to go above PC2-6400 (800MHz) you will get to 3.6GHz on the CPU with the memory running at stock.

CPU cooler wise Scythe Mine or the 120mm tower Xigmatek (cant remember the name) will do you well or if you want to spend a little more then the Thermalright Ultima 90 or the Scythe ninja are both very good.

Personally I would spd less on the memory and more on the cooler but perhaps thats just me

Oh and with the memory those reaper modules are really tall make sure they will fit in your case before buying them.