Recommend mobo/Chipset

[MrCoffee]

hi guys, can someone give me a run down on current mobos and chipsets for socket 775?

I've been looking long and hard at the Asus P5B Deluxe as a board of choice but its an older chipset (p965), another board i've been looking at is the EVGA nForce 680 with the newer nforce chipset.

Which should I go for? they have a similar list of specs, importantly both doing RAID 5 I believe.

 

[Sora]

The 680i is only needed if you want full SLI support. If not then Honestly the best board for the money that supports RAID5 is the P5B-E. I love that board

 

[MrCoffee]

how about the P5N32-E SLI, thats the 680 nforce chipset and looks like the successor of the p5B plus doe RAID 5?
Does it overclock as well as the p5B anyone know?

i'll be going for a nvidia gfx card so the sli might come in handy I suppose

 

[Sora]

680i Boards are only worth the money if you want FULL SLI. I don't like SLI and I would go with a 650i board as the only real difference is the 650i doesn't support full sli, however they are half the price and who needs true sli?


the 650i's are great boards. They also support RAID 5 which I wasn't sure of.

The 650i boards do not support FULL SLI really so they still aren't a good choice for people planning on going say SLI 8 series cards. The thing is SLI usually is not worth it so don't worry.

The P6N 650i is an EXCELLENT board for the price. OC's well, supports SLI to a certain extent, and best of all a great price. I highly recommend this board.

Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[veg1992]

gigabyte ds3 (biostar tforce965pt this is good too) and e??00 choose ur conroe man!!

 

[Sora]

I own the Biostar 965PT and it is a good board for the money but the lack of RAID, poor heatsink, and finicky overclocking makes the MSI 650i a much better choice for only 10 bucks more. The DS3 is good but the 650i is still a better board and 7 bucks cheaper.

 

[synergy]

I don't know about ASUS. I used to swear by them and they get great reviews, but here are my gripes:

1. Lack of overclocking - Asus BIOS's suck! There are abosolutely NO overclocking options available from what I have used.

2. S****y web site - Downloading drivers from their web site is a nightmare!

3. I have had to RMA quite a few of them just to have them die again.

4. Customer service is crap!

I recommend DFI mobos. The Lanparty that supports Core 2's has an ATI chipset and supports RAID 5. You can overclock the s**t outta your rig with the BIOS options. Forget about SLI...the only advantage it gives you is bragging rights IMO.