Motherboard and RAM to accompany an E6300 B2

[Ripper3]

So earlier today, I went to see a good friend of mine at his workplace, and I got tempted. That seductress named Core 2 Duo invaded my thoughts and my senses. I dipped my hand into the box full, and felt around, as the cool touch of the IHS... yeah, so, anyhow, I got an E6300 B2 stepping for £1, my old phone, and my old MP3 player (not bad considering the E6320 still goes for over £100, heheh).

Now I've found a problem with my indecisions. I now need a 'board and some RAM.
So, suggestions. I have upto £150, which should include shipping/postage if possible.
I'd prefer to buy it new, and direct from a UK store, but buying international and/or used is still fine (used is actually okay with me, gives me a chance to query more).
Now, what I'd like most:
- Potential for high FSB
- Plenty of space around the CPU
- Full sized ATX only please (I have enough space for ATX, so I will take advantage of the fact)
- Micron D9s, or other good RAM chips.

Not necesarry, but added plus:
- RAID 0+1, RAID5, RAID 10. If I ever RAID, it'll likely be RAID 0, maybe JBOD (which would be nice to have support for actually)
- GigE, one port @ 100Mbps is sufficient, two is stupid, for my usage, and my current router
- SLi/Crossfire - I can't be arsed with the problems associated with SLi/Crossfire, so I'll try to ward away temptation, by not owning a compliant 'board.
- Over DDR2-667/PC2-800 is not necesarry, I'll most likely be running 1:1, and I doubt my CPU will be running 533MHz FSB 24/7, if ever, even.
- Fancy heatsinks covering everything, with heatpipes connecting them. Looks good, but unless it works, I don't see a point to them, especially since most of the boards with interconnected heatsinks cost an absurd amount and will likely block the space for my OCZ Vindicator.

Avoiding:
- DDR3
- Any boards supporting AGP and DDR in any way shape or form, backwards compatibility sucks
- X38 chipset (P35, P965 are fine)
- 680i SLi chipset (but 650i/680i LT are fine)

'Tis all I can think of atm.

Three nice cheap mobos I've been looking at most, and I may be disputing between are:
EVGA 650i Ultra - sells for about £60 IIRC. Seems good, but reviews say that it can sometimes be a bitch to OC to high FSB.

DFI Infinity P965-S Dark - I liked the look of the 965 chipset when released, and this board has received good reviews. Sells for something like £70 on OcUK.

DFI Infinity P975/G - something like that, glanced over it, and I believe I've seen someone here with it. Sells for a little less than the P965-S on Ebuyer.

Some RAM kits I've been looking at:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC2-5300 - runs at 3-3-3-12 timings stock, and infrared reviewed it quite well, a while back. Runs nearly £60 though, which is high for a lowly PC2-5300 rated kit.

GeIL Value Series 2GB CL4 - some nice PC2-6400 kits running 4-4-4-12 timings, and costs under £40 atm.

Mushkin 2GB PC2-6400 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mushkin-2GB-2...yZ111425QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem
Sells for a lot more in the UK, that's why I'm considering buying from the US. This is mostly for the brand, since there are most likely better kits about.

Any suggestions welcome, but keep in mind I've also got a list of personal requirements atm.


Thanks for any help, hopefully this should stop me from buying another dud for a motherboard (yeah, this mobo is fine, but loses out over the nForce chipsets in some areas still)

 

[panchoman]

crucial ballistix all the way. and gigabyte p35 boards are great

 

[pt]

this one
http://us.dfi.com.tw/Press/press_he...&TITLE_ID=8632&LINKED_URL=arch462.jsp&SITE=US

 

[Ripper3]

this one
http://us.dfi.com.tw/Press/press_he...&TITLE_ID=8632&LINKED_URL=arch462.jsp&SITE=US

I love that suggestion, but if the RDX600 boards from DFI are still retailing for £130-ish, and P35 boards for £170, I've hate to think of the price of the Blood Iron board.

panchoman: I've looked at the Gigabyte P35 boards, pretty good, but the more I look over them, the more undecided I become. D'you happen to know which of their P35 boards have solid caps? Or do they all have them now? Since I know their older boards had two versions of each (which funnily enough, the solid capacitor versions were cheaper)
I'm tempted by the Ballistix. My hand is edging to the add to cart button, but I'll hold off for now.

 

[pt]

i rly don't know british market, but the one i pointed sells for 140€ here

 

[Ripper3]

€140 is about £100. Yeah, I can afford that. Point me in the right direction, I can always get my aunt/uncle to mail it over if they can't send it directly here (and if I don't find a place here selling the Blood Iron)

 

[Ripper3]

I'm looking at a mini-review of the Abit IP35 Pro, and I'm wondering how it's little brother, the IP35, will do. I do like Abit, and they've served my friend's PC well.
I'm trying to get something directly from a store too, so I don't have to arrange pick-up from the City Link branch or the Post Office or w/e. So I might buy from YoYoTech, so if anyone has anything to say about them, please tell. (They've got some 'boards priced much lower than scan.co.uk and OcUK, while others are about the same, if not higher)

They have the more expensive Gigabyte boards in stock, but not the P35-DS4, which is what I had my eye on. Hopefully they should have at least one on Tuesday.

 

[newconroer]

How high are we talking for the FSB OC?

the EVGA 650i will do 1600 fine, some will pull 1700+

If you're going for budget OC/gaming board, it's one to get.

However, depending on what cooling solutions you have, the DFI might be a better route.

 

[Ripper3]

I'm thinking I may end up running less than 400MHz FSB 24/7 (so an effective 1600MHz at the most), since I'm still a little wary of killing a component through stupidity, but hopefully I can get this CPU up to about 500MHz FSB at one point, even if it's just for benching, but this is unlikely that I'll ever give it a go.
I'm really liking the DFI P965, but I've got a notification for when the Gigabyte board, the P35-DS4 comes into stock, so I may buy that (even though it's a lot more expensive). I'm also keeping my eye on the Abit IP35, the Pro version was reviewed well, and I read a few memory reviews, using the IP35 Pro, they were able to clock well.

Also, what about Patriot RAM? I've been looking at some kits, they're cheap, and the latencies are high on some, but for £35-40 for a 2GB kit, with 4-4-4-12 timings at 667MHz, and another £15 for an 800MHz kit with 4-4-4-12, it's got pretty good price-performance ratio, on paper at least (supposedly also covered under warranty for upto 2.3v on some kits).

 

[Wile E]

Still get the Ballistix. Guaranteed D9.

 

[Ripper3]

Fair enough, I'm just looking through all the options, but I really do come back to:
Crucial Ballistix and DFI Infinity P965
Time to go crawl Ebay, maybe someone's selling their Ballistix kit.

 

[Wile E]

How much is the DFI Blood Iron over there? It's about $120 on this side of the pond. Isn't that around 80 over there?

 

[Tatty_Two]

Ripper, if you want value for money.......performance and some change, you could do a lot worse than the MSI P35 Neo-FR board, capable of over 500FSB I beleive, it's just £67 here:

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4M61

There are a couple of owners on these forums who rave about the board, also I would concurr, get 2Gigs of Crucial ballisix PC6400 or even 8500, with the MSI motherboard you will remain within your budget, Komplett, Aria and Overclockers UK are all doing some decent prices at the moment.

 

[Tatty_Two]

How high are we talking for the FSB OC?

the EVGA 650i will do 1600 fine, some will pull 1700+

If you're going for budget OC/gaming board, it's one to get.

However, depending on what cooling solutions you have, the DFI might be a better route.

Mine pulls 2028!!!....507FSB, not very stable to be honest but I can run well over 1900 24/7.

 

[Wile E]

Ripper, if you want value for money.......performance and some change, you could do a lot worse than the MSI P35 Neo-FR board, capable of over 500FSB I beleive, it's just £67 here:

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4M61

There are a couple of owners on these forums who rave about the board, also I would concurr, get 2Gigs of Crucial ballisix PC6400 or even 8500, with the MSI motherboard you will remain within your budget, Komplett, Aria and Overclockers UK are all doing some decent prices at the moment.

Blood Iron does over 500fsb as well.

But seriously, how much is the Blood Iron over there?

 

[Tatty_Two]

Blood Iron does over 500fsb as well.

But seriously, how much is the Blood Iron over there?

More than the MSI, the DFI is around £85 so about$40US more, it does look a decent board tho but I have heard lots of good things about the MSI.

 

[Ripper3]

The Blood Iron looks like a good board, and finally found one on Ebay, but I'd love to find it retail.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll have a look at the MSI board, the P35 chipset keeps looking better and better to me.
I'll probably never go for a 500MHz FSB, heheh, but it's a nice option, especially knowing the board will be fine running it.

 

[panchoman]

i think the asus p5k e goes over 500 fsb too. this might be helpful:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/19/eight_p35-ddr2_motherboards_compared/

 

[ghost101]

For RAM, i recommend this set

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119278

will reach PC2-8000 without a sweat.

edit:

cheaper direct from crucial

667mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA663
800mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA804

 

[Tatty_Two]

For RAM, i recommend this set

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119278

will reach PC2-8000 without a sweat.

edit:

cheaper direct from crucial

667mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA663
800mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA804

Yup, mine are the exact same, check my specs! And in fact at 800mhz they will do 3-4-4-8 2T at 2.25V (my board has strange VDimm increments)

 

[panchoman]

For RAM, i recommend this set

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119278

will reach PC2-8000 without a sweat.

edit:

cheaper direct from crucial

667mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA663
800mhz - http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA804

third that.

 

[Ripper3]

Yeah, I decided to get those, the other DDR2 sticks I've been looking at just don't seem to cut it, and those are relatively cheap. Now I just need to get the money, I might buy them today, and wait for this weekend before buying a mobo.

 

[ghost101]

Now only £44.99 with google checkout

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119278 - 667mhz

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119273 - 800mhz

for <£50 using google checkout

 

[Ripper3]

Now only £44.99 with google checkout

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119278 - 667mhz

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119273 - 800mhz

for <£50 using google checkout

Bollocks, I bought them the day before that... full price from Crucial's site.
Well, at least I know where to buy the mobo from...

Either way, I've had problems with Google checkout before, so I think I'm not too bothered really.

Nah, screw it, I'm lying, I want those extra £10 back!

EDIT: Plus, they arrived today, so no chance in getting the order cancelled either.

EDIT2: Lucky that I made a new Gmail account earlier (my name as an email address sounds better than elrohir.anarion IMO, heh), the £10 off offer has been given to me before.
I think I'll be grabbing a Gigabyte GA-P31-S3L from Ebuyer in this case, coming up to under £50 with postage, and after the £10 off, should be good enough for my purposes atm, and fits my budget more than well enough, which keeps getting smaller and smaller, each time I really rebalance and re-evaluate my finances.

 

[Ripper3]

Got a great deal on an XFX 650i Ultra board, from Yoyo-tech. Managed to get a discount, and meant I took the board away same day, rather than waiting until Tuesday for City Link to deliver a board.
The chipset's heatsink is flaming hot to the touch, and it's a huge mofo, but I can't complain otherwise.
Still not tried anything else, but I'm liking the system already, so far. Hopefully, I'll be able to clock it up to a 400MHz FSB pretty easily. The Ballistix are running on really loose timings by default (something like 1:1 533MHz, 5-5-5-24-32-2T, at 1.8V which is stock), but I'll manually get them to 3-3-3-8-1T soon enough.