Micro ATX mobos

[ajones]

I've been searching around for Micro ATX mobos, but all I can find have on board graphics.

From post1424631 the Gigabyte GA-G33M-D2SR is recomended, but the ones I see in stock at Scan are the G33M-S2L running the iG33 Express chipset and GA-Q35M-S2 running the iQ35 Express chipset.

Before I make the decision based on the "bigger number wins" theory, any comments form you folks on these 3 boards?

I'm gonna pair this up with a Q6600 and disable the onboard gfx.

[staffsMike]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=616586

This is the Asus equivalent to the D2SR

[this_is_gav]

Don't worry about the onboard graphics. Intel graphics get disabled when you plug in a dedicated card.

[Jay]

Don't worry about the onboard graphics. Intel graphics get disabled when you plug in a dedicated card.

100% correct. I have a biostar AM2 board (from the Hexus for sale forum ) with an 8500GT card. It also has an nVidia 6100 built in that is disabled. This will be true of any motherboard with a builtin graphics card.

[inonefly]

go for the asus p5k-vm hdmi, it's better oc'er with quad

[ajones]

OK,

How does this look?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR
Asus P5E-VM HDMI iG35
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
500 GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler

This leaves me with 2 questions. Will the Zalman keep that Quad in control, and I has anyone had problems with this mobo / RAM combination? There are very few 2GB sticks on the Asus compatibility chart.

[staffsMike]

What case are you getting? The zalmans are mroe form over function. Take a loot at scythe, thermalright and xigmatec

Get a 640GB HDD to, Western digital AAKS is on scan today only for £52 and they are a fair bit faster

[Will404]

OK,

How does this look?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR
Asus P5E-VM HDMI iG35
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
500 GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler

This leaves me with 2 questions. Will the Zalman keep that Quad in control, and I has anyone had problems with this mobo / RAM combination? There are very few 2GB sticks on the Asus compatibility chart.

I have that RAM and a P5Q PRO, and it works fine even though it is not on the compat list. This too seemed very short, and only had one or two corsair options....

Looks good though, but yer a 640WD will be faster

[ajones]

What case are you getting? The zalmans are mroe form over function. Take a loot at scythe, thermalright and xigmatec

Get a 640GB HDD to, Western digital AAKS is on scan today only for £52 and they are a fair bit faster

the fan will be going into a mini case (the X-Qpack) which is being modded to fit that fan, so it's a case of squeazing stuff in! I've replaced the PSU that came with the X-Qpack with a Tagan unit, so I have extra fans in there to blow as much air through the case as possible.

This will be quite an upgrade, so would be (/looks around to see if anyone is watching) willing to underclock if it gets too hot.....

Thanks for the tip on the WD drive. I'm after mass storage at the moment, and selected the Samsung as the one I've got is uber quiet and runs cool.

[kalniel]

100% correct. I have a biostar AM2 board (from the Hexus for sale forum ) with an 8500GT card. It also has an nVidia 6100 built in that is disabled. This will be true of any motherboard with a builtin graphics card.

Not any, but most. I usually build with ASRock boards and they're often designed so you can have multiple cards active at once, which can be cool

[ajones]

OK, ordered. Many thanks folks