Good Intel Core2 motherboards?

[destrukt]

So, I'm building a new system and one of the stores I may be buying from may be able to get me a slightly cheaper price but for some bizarre reason they don't have any Gigabyte motherboards, sigh, so I may possibly need to choose a new motherboard but I really don't have any idea.

The motherboard I've planned on getting is the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P so if you guys know of a comparable motherboard from Asus, ABIT, MSI or something around the same price (Not above $175AU) that would be brand.

And here's the site's list of Intel 775 motherboards: http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_list.php?maingroup=MOTHERBOARD&secondgroup=INTEL SOCKET 775 PCIx

Here's the rest of my planned system, by the way:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 OR Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 but most likely the E6750 which is $100 cheaper
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
Hard drive: Western Digital SATAII 16MB Cache 500GB
Video card: XFX 8800GT 512MB OR an 8800GT 512MB from another notable brand like PNY, Gigabyte, Asus, etc
Power supply: Corsair VX450 (450W)
RAM: Either keeping my 4x512 DDR667 GEiL or buying a 2x1GB DDR800 kit from a notable brand like OCZ, GEiL or so

 

[Dekstar]

Off topic a bit but I would probably double your RAM. Looking through those specs everything seems top notch, but then getting to the RAM it's just average, and so it might bottleneck. I'm no techspert though.

I'm sorry I can't help you with your motherboards because I have no real computer knowledge, but I have an Asus P5K deluxe Wifi AP edition:
http://www.custompc.co.uk/reviews/120866/asus-p5k-deluxe-wifi-ap/specs.html

Which I rather like.

 

[Operational]

And here I was about to recommend a Gigabyte motherboard.

 

[destrukt]

We'd probably get another 2GB of RAM in 2-3 months.

Okay, I got a quote from this store and is kind of more expensive than the others, or when I buy the parts from different stores so this thread is mostly useless now.

One thing though, the guy from the store said a 450W power supply wouldn't power this system.. would it?

 

[Asus]

If the unit has the power where it is needed then a 450Watt PSU should handle it fine. But if it doesn't have enough power on the (example) +12v rail for the GPU and drives but extra power on the +3.3v...that won't do.

My system uses <300 watts from the wall under full load. Several hard drives in there as well. Their benchmarking setup with an Intel X6800 2.9GHz CPU and 8800GT was @ 231 watts under load. Add a couple drives and it would still be under 300watts. Drives add about 10-14 watts per.

 

[Kyorisu]

Asus P5K or P5K Deluxe Wifi Ap are worthy P35 competitors. I am actually running a P5K now having upgraded from my old P65-DS3P.

 

[Ridge]

ASUS P5N32 Supports quad cores and has a built in overclocking program in the BIOS...

 

[destrukt]

Really? Well, I've decided to buy from different stores now anyway, I end up with a way better price.

Also, getting 4GB of RAM straight away too, woo. Just need to decide which brand, I'm thinking GEiL because it's $99 for 2x1GB DDR800 but also considering Corsair which is $115 for the same same kit. Is the extra ~ $30 worth it? I haven't had any problems with my current GEiL RAM.

Trying to decide out of:

And..

I'm leaning towards the CoolerMaster.

 

[TCfromBN]

I can vouch for OCZ Platinum. Great stuff, plus voltage protection.


With the price of RAM now, there is NO excuse for not getting some good DDR2 ram.

 

[Kyorisu]

I've had too many stricks from OCZ that do not run at their rated timings and eventually die in the arse. I'd go the Corsair they are far more reputable for quality parts.

ASUS P5N32 Supports quad cores and has a built in overclocking program in the BIOS...

Except the Nvidia boards are no good for massive overclocks and yeah most Motherboards these days support a generic overclock on demand feature. Do you even need 800mhz ram? You realise most 667 parts will easily hit 800 if that's what you need.

 

[destrukt]

Unfortunately they didn't have OCZ at the store with the best RAM prices and at the other stores it's way expensive. D: So I'll stick with Corsair.

Guys, I'm about to order the parts but I have one main question left I desperately need answered: is a 450W Corsair power supply ample to power this system?

Edit: Going with the 550, last big question, I mean it this time: ASUS or BFG 8800 GT 512MB? The ASUS seems to have the best software + a free copy of CoH: OpposingFronts but BFG has always been one of those "Ooooo" brands.

Final choices:

MOB: Gigabyte P35-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
RAM: Corsair DDR2 2x1GB PC6400 TwinX (2 sets of this equalling 4GB)
GPU: ASUS 8800GT 512MB
HDD: Western Digital 500GB SATAII 16MB Cache
PSU: Corsair VX-550 or VX-450
CSE: CoolerMaster CM-690

 

[WhiteZero]

One of the best overclocking Core2 mobos is the Abit IP35 Pro.
And it has full support for 45nm processors and can go way over 1600Mhz FSB.

One of the few mobos that Anandtech gave it's Editors Choice to.

We kept looking for problems - or rather, we kept expecting problems to show up as they had on previous products. However, the more we used the board, the more we became enamored of it. It was not any single feature (although the excellent ?Guru technology does stand out in the crowd) that eventually won us over but the combination of several features and renewed commitment to support that had us eventually singing praises for this board.

With praises come accolades, and AnandTech is proud to present the Gold Editors Choice to the abit IP35-Pro. abit has come a long way in the last two years and the result is an exceptionally stable motherboard, full of useful features, along with being one of the most consistent performing products we have tested recently. abit's ?Guru technology clearly stands out as the best platform tuning and monitoring tool currently offered by any motherboard manufacturer; it sets the standard that other brands would do well to emulate. Except for ?Guru, there is not a single feature on the board that really stands out from the crowd. However, every feature that abit has included on the IP35-Pro along with the board layout, color selection, BIOS design, accessories, support, and consistent performance certainly leads us to believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in this case.

 

[Killing2Live]

I've had too many stricks from OCZ that do not run at their rated timings and eventually die in the arse. I'd go the Corsair they are far more reputable for quality parts.



Except the Nvidia boards are no good for massive overclocks and yeah most Motherboards these days support a generic overclock on demand feature. Do you even need 800mhz ram? You realise most 667 parts will easily hit 800 if that's what you need.

Really? I bought a dual channel kit off ebay and one stick was bad so I sent it in becuase they have lifetime warranty. Soon after they sent me back brand new modules.