Choose Core 2 Motherboard

[theonetruewill]

Christmas, that wonderful day of multitudes of gifts, and Christ's big day, is coming up. Well for me that means some cash and some generous relatives (for a change). Well I'm fed up with my AMD rig, and my plans for Phenom went through the floor when they ended up considerably slower than the Q6600. I like AMD but I'm not in it for budget computers now, I want performance. After my experience with my current rig I've decided that the motherboard really is the most important part of a computer by far. Thus I need a new motherboard and am probably going to pair it with an E2140 until I can get some super fast CPU at a later date.
So I need a Core 2 motherboard between £55-90 (try and be closer to the former, I'm not made of cash) that will overclock like hell. I don't care about performing vdroop mods or the like. I want sheer performance and proven overclockability for my price range. It must be able to handle an overclocked Quad core at a later date. I will probably never go Xfire or SLI

Current Considerations:
Asus P5k-E (with vdroop mod)
Gigabyte -well a lot of them but most interesting is the P35 DS3R
MSI P35 Neo2 FR
Asus P5K Premium

All suggestions and advice is graciously received

 

[FatForester]

Hey, you're in the exact same boat I was. You can check out my specs to help ya out. The e21x0's overclock like CRAZY, so you wont' be disappointed there. But generally speaking, any Gigabyte or ASUS board will do ya good. If you don't care about SLI, go with the P35 chipset. I went with the ASUS P5K-e, and it has great stability with tons of overclocking options. The Gigabyte variants are the same way.

Concerning vdroop, my P5K-e only varies a maximum of 0.05 volts. Hearing from other people, that's actually a good number. I haven't updated the BIOS yet on mine, but evidently an older BIOS version completely gets rid of vdroop, while newer versions have it.

Oh, if you're wanting SLI AND Penryn, you'll need to wait for the 780i nVidia chipset. However, with the 680i I've heard horror stories of how they eat RAM, so I'm not sure about the 780i. Basically, if you're wanting single nvidia or Crossfire, but want some awesome clocks, go with a P35. They're awesome!

 

[vega22]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-088-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

should fit the bill and band in the middle of your budget.

 

[Grings]

MSI p35neo2 fr - i just got me one of these (not installed yet, messy hard drives, but it looks nice), OR the platinum models only 86.55 on dabs
Gigabyte p35's- well, theres about a thousand different models of these, i'd pick this one- it has the same vrm layout as the ds4/dq6 (both £100+), but no sinks on them, however it looks a lot easier to add some than the other ds3's
Asus p5k-e - Look at the vrm's, then look at a vanilla p5k's, you know this is better, its pretty much a cut down premium (£120+)
Biostar P35 Nasty layout, reasonable overclocker, dirt cheap
A mystery p35 err, china's no.1!!!, looks nice though, i thought it was an oem abit, but after comparing pics of all 3 abit p35's, it isnt
also, abit's look pretty good, but i havent read any reviews apart from the pro (which is a bit pricy)
DFI blood Iron its a dfi, bit spartan though

 

[theonetruewill]

MSI p35neo2 fr - i just got me one of these (not installed yet, messy hard drives, but it looks nice), OR the platinum models only 86.55 on dabs
Gigabyte p35's- well, theres about a thousand different models of these, i'd pick this one- it has the same vrm layout as the ds4/dq6 (both £100+), but no sinks on them, however it looks a lot easier to add some than the other ds3's
Asus p5k-e - Look at the vrm's, then look at a vanilla p5k's, you know this is better, its pretty much a cut down premium (£120+)
Biostar P35 Nasty layout, reasonable overclocker, dirt cheap
A mystery p35 err, china's no.1!!!, looks nice though, i thought it was an oem abit, but after comparing pics of all 3 abit p35's, it isnt
also, abit's look pretty good, but i havent read any reviews apart from the pro (which is a bit pricy)
DFI blood Iron its a dfi, bit spartan though

Just a bit worried about the NBridge heatsink array on that Gigabyte board, which I why I haven't considered it. I suspect it will interfere with non-stock CPU HSF's.

 

[zekrahminator]

Either the Asus or the Gigabyte should serve you well. The Asus should clock better thanks to the VDroop mod, but the Gigabyte will be more reliable/built for the long haul. You choice/whatever's at a better pricepoint, I think .

 

[theonetruewill]

Either the Asus or the Gigabyte should serve you well. The Asus should clock better thanks to the VDroop mod, but the Gigabyte will be more reliable/built for the long haul. You choice/whatever's at a better pricepoint, I think .

Thats what I was thinking, in reference to after the vdroop mod. However, I am not sure. I am hoping to break 3.4GHz with this M0bo/CPU combo so I need a good Motherboard.

 

[theonetruewill]

If I go nuts I might be able to get a P5K Premium.... ooohh my wallet, OWW!!!

 

[Grings]

get a foxconn mars then (no really, theyre v.good)
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...n+Intel+P35MARS+775+Mainboard?productId=28887

 

[theonetruewill]

get a foxconn mars then (no really, theyre v.good)
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...n+Intel+P35MARS+775+Mainboard?productId=28887

I would consider it if they were £110, but £120 not icluding delivery is just a bit too much. however, I agree, I've seen the reviews- those boards are damn good!

 

[theonetruewill]

Man I like the look of that Premium board, Ip;m going to ask senior management if they would consider getting it for my Xmas!
However, any more suggestions are welcome!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I have the premium board.I got my 6750 to 4ghz (500fsb)in it,theres more tho' as it will post at 520fsb,but no windows.Probs just needs more volts.It is a good reliable board tho'.

 

[theonetruewill]

I have the premium board.I got my 6750 to 4ghz (500fsb)in it,theres more tho' as it will post at 520fsb,but no windows.Probs just needs more volts.It is a good reliable board tho'.

That is really weird: Just before you posted I saw you had P5k Premium and was about to PM you about it!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

LOLZ.the vdroop thingie does the job too,on mine its 0.03v droop with it on which is nothing.If you can afford it get the prem.

I dont think x38 is worth bothering with,i mite wit till x48 comes out or even wait for the next intel chipset.This will deffo do till then.

 

[theonetruewill]

LOLZ.the vdroop thingie does the job too,on mine its 0.03v droop with it on which is nothing.If you can afford it get the prem.

I dont think x38 is worth bothering with,i mite wit till x48 comes out or even wait for the next intel chipset.This will deffo do till then.

I've just put forward the idea to Senior Management and they seem to like it so w00t! Just bought an E2140 and 2xAC Freezer 7 Pro's (giving one to a mate); would have waited but I want to get the shipping cost out of the way.

 

[Tatty_Two]

If you really are looking for "Bang for Buck" with a decent board that will ovdrclock pretty well, the Asus P5K P35 will do you fine TBH, it just so happened that Aria have a B Grade for sale, all that is wrong is that the box is damaged, and all for £47!!!!! It is here:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Bargain+Basement/Z-ASUS+P5K+Intel+iP35+775?productId=29767

A review of the board is here:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_p5k_p35_socket_775_motherboard/4

There are better boards around of course, from Asus also but you aint gonna get anything for this price, and these are decent ones......you can then perhaps go for this CPU instead with the £30 saving:

E2180.....just £51

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132064

All in all, a nice little setup for under £100!!!!!

Edit: oppppssss just seen you have bought already....shame, U missed a tidy deal there!

 

[theonetruewill]

If you really are looking for "Bang for Buck" with a decent board that will ovdrclock pretty well, the Asus P5K P35 will do you fine TBH, it just so happened that Aria have a B Grade for sale, all that is wrong is that the box is damaged, and all for £47!!!!! It is here:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Bargain+Basement/Z-ASUS+P5K+Intel+iP35+775?productId=29767

A review of the board is here:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_p5k_p35_socket_775_motherboard/4

There are better boards around of course, from Asus also but you aint gonna get anything for this price, and these are decent ones......you can then perhaps go for this CPU instead with the £30 saving:

E2180.....just £51

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132064

All in all, a nice little setup for under £100!!!!!

Edit: oppppssss just seen you have bought already....shame, U missed a tidy deal there!

I haven't bought the mobo yet, Just the E2140. I', just a bit apprehensive about going cheap on the motherboard. I did that last time and it's left me being forced to attempt a costly upgrade and slow performance.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I haven't bought the mobo yet, Just the E2140. I', just a bit apprehensive about going cheap on the motherboard. I did that last time and it's left me being forced to attempt a costly upgrade and slow performance.

It is not a cheap motherboard, I would class it as mid ranged bearing in mind it's a fair bit more than that without the B Grade tag, thing is it overclocks pretty well, in fact better than the P5B Deluxe if you read the review, TBH though, it will prob only have 4 phase power which is fine for overclocking a quad but there are better out there for that, the premium has 6 phase I beleive.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The premium has 8 phase tatty.

 

[Tatty_Two]

The premium has 8 phase tatty.

Thank you.....mine has 12

 

[Tatty_Two]

Thank you.....mine has 12

So the base might have 6?

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Possibly,more than likely 4 tho'.

 

[kwchang007]

I'd say either a) P5k premium if you can afford it b) A gigabyte p35 board.

 

[twicksisted]

P5K-E has 8-phase power for overclocking quads
Im loving mine! so easy to use and to clock with... just need to get a decent cooler now

 

[theonetruewill]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151968
Holy Crap!