Motherboard selection

[sammybaines]

I need some help off people in deciding which mobo to choose for my build - i will primarily be using it as a gaming rig and with overclocking in mind.

So far the components ive fixed on are:
C2D E6600
Sapphire ATi radeon 512mb graphics card
G.Skill ram 2GB NQ Series
Corsair 620W HX series
Barracuda ES 500GB 16MB 7200RPM

The boards i have been looking at are made by ASUS, i just want to know which out of the selection they think is best for my build please.

ASUS P5B
ASUS P5B-P
ASUS P5B-E plus
ASUS P5B-V
ASUS P5B Deluxe
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

Can someone also please explain to me the ASUS idea of this fanless design with stack cool and heat pipes??

 

[Sora]

Don't limit yourself to Asus but out of all of those I love the P5B-E

 

[sammybaines]

i understand there are mobos from makers like gigabyte DS3 and DS4 for example and i suppose i could use one of those but what are the advantages of using these over asus because i really dont know.

 

[Sora]

The DS3 isnt as good as the P5B-E alltogether becuase it doesn't support RAID 5 or so. Still they both OC very well.

 

[sammybaines]

What about the DS4 is that better than the P5B-E?? And is there any point in getting a P5B-E Plus when comparing it to a DS4 or DS3?

 

[Sora]

I don't hear of the DS4 that much really. I don't think it's worth it to get the Plus. The P5B-E is an awesome board and overclocks awesome and has all sorts of cool features. It's an overall better board than the DS3 but of coarse about 25 bucks more as well.

 

[sammybaines]

Well looks like the ASUS P5B-E will be the board for me maybe. As the plus looks like overkill and the DS4 is more expensive but has similar features.

 

[zacharyt]

The asus heat pipes are supposed to capture the heat as it comes off the core and carry it through to the pipe and dissepate it, sorta like a heat sink. Not sure how effective it is tho...