Good Motherboard for Core 2 Duo?

Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo (probably
an E4300).
I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
price.
As I've been using AMD since the first Athlons came out, I'm confused by the
various chipsets offered.

Basically, what should I be looking for (chipset or specific board)? I've
been using Asus for the past 5 years, so to narrow it down, is there a
recommended Asus board?

Thanks!

"Peter van der Goes" <> wrote in message
news:7Xi0i.147407$...
> Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo
> (probably an E4300).
> I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
> video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
> price.
> As I've been using AMD since the first Athlons came out, I'm confused by
> the various chipsets offered.
>
> Basically, what should I be looking for (chipset or specific board)? I've
> been using Asus for the past 5 years, so to narrow it down, is there a
> recommended Asus board?
>
> Thanks!

nice line up of 965 chipset boards on tomshardware i read few days ago
the asus was the worst for overclocking (they couldn't understand why
though)

i went for abit AB9 pro

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/11/13...e_2_corral_uk/

slightly old now i suppose

"Peter van der Goes" <> wrote in message
news:7Xi0i.147407$...
> Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo
> (probably an E4300).
> I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
> video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
> price.
> As I've been using AMD since the first Athlons came out, I'm confused by
> the various chipsets offered.
>
> Basically, what should I be looking for (chipset or specific board)? I've
> been using Asus for the past 5 years, so to narrow it down, is there a
> recommended Asus board?
>
> Thanks!
>

I run a Asus P5B which uses the 965 chipset.
800Mhz memory & C2Duo 6600 cpu.
Using the Asus AI Suite :-
Set Memory type to 800Mhz
Set PCIE bus speed to 100Mhz
Set CPU speed to 354MHz (slowly increased in 5MHz steps from original 266 )
Result :- 33% Overclock to 3.2Ghz on Stock cooling.
Idle cpu temp 47C
Prime95 torture test 60C
FSX simulator in 'busy' city area 55C

Not bad for free!
Only thing to note is that there is only 1 IDE socket with 2 channels for
standard CDdrives etc.
Apart from that I've had zero problems since I purchased this machine back
in Dec '06.

Len


--
Core2 Duo E6600 at 3.2GHz stock cooling, ASUS P5B , 2Gb Corsair 800MHz ram,
7900GT 256Mb Graphics card, Audigy 4 sound + USB headset for comms, 250Gb
SATA HD.
External Integral USB2 enclosure with 200GB IDE HD.

'Peter van der Goes' wrote, in part:"
| Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo
(probably
| an E4300).
| I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
| video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
| price.
_____

Overclocking the E4300 with its lower FSB and higher multiplier ought to be
dead easy with any decently overclocking friendly motherboard. Admittedly I
have any expensive EVGA 680i chipset motherboard, but I can run Orthos small
FFTs loading both CPUs to 100% for hours with the FSB set to 1200 MHz and
the core voltage dropped to 1.250 v from the stock 1.325 v and using the
stock Intel boxed retail heatsink/fan (CPU speed = 2.7 GHz). I am still
working on a higher overclock, but may need better cooling.

Try to find a motherboard using an Intel 965 chipset and that is certified
for the soon-to-be-here 1333 MHz FSB CPU's and you ought to get a 50% or
more overclock. For a 50% overclock with the E4300 you only need PC4200
DDR2 memory and still set a 1:1 CPU clock : Memory clock ratio. The E4400
is likely an even better overclocking choice since it has a higher
multiplier, and thus will gain more CPU speed for each FSB increase compared
to the E4300.

I've always liked aBit motherboards, but I don't have a specific
recommendation.

Phil Weldon


"Peter van der Goes" <> wrote in message
news:7Xi0i.147407$...
| Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo
(probably
| an E4300).
| I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
| video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
| price.
| As I've been using AMD since the first Athlons came out, I'm confused by
the
| various chipsets offered.
|
| Basically, what should I be looking for (chipset or specific board)? I've
| been using Asus for the past 5 years, so to narrow it down, is there a
| recommended Asus board?
|
| Thanks!
|
|

I'd say the P5B for sure..

But if you're not in a hurry, the new Intel Bearlake (P35) platforms
will be available.

Asus versions are P5K (DDR2) and P5K3 (for soon to be released DDR3
memory).

The boards have already surfaced over seas, and are due to be released
stateside on 6/4.

Reviews are sparse at this point but will be popping up in the next
few days.

Basically, these boards are designed to support the new 45nm
processors as well as DDR3 memory in the case of the P5K3..

Good luck with your choice.

You can't go wrong with P965 though.

I'm happy with Asus boards, currently I'm running a P5N32-E SLI which
has the 680i chipset, and 2 PCIEx16 lanes. This is to accomodae 2
8800gtx's which I'm happy to say are performing very well together but
are very much bottlenecked with my E6600 @3.7ghz.

good luck with your choice, in either case I'm sure you'll be happy..

Al

On Wed, 9 May 2007 07:14:11 -0500, "Peter van der Goes"
<> wrote:

>Planning a semi-budget second computer to be based on a Core 2 Duo (probably
>an E4300).
>I need ATX, only a single PCI-E X16 slot, no Firewire needed, no onboard
>video, good BIOS overclocking features, Vista compatible and a reasonable
>price.
>As I've been using AMD since the first Athlons came out, I'm confused by the
>various chipsets offered.
>
>Basically, what should I be looking for (chipset or specific board)? I've
>been using Asus for the past 5 years, so to narrow it down, is there a
>recommended Asus board?
>
>Thanks!
>

Al Brumski wrote:
> I'd say the P5B for sure..
>
> But if you're not in a hurry, the new Intel Bearlake (P35) platforms
> will be available.

Gigabyte first out the door, but DDR2 only, and *not cheap!*
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y


On a semi-budget, I think I'd go for the Gigabyte DS3 latest revision 3.3.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....7&RSKU=BA22907

"Fishface" <?> wrote in message
news:aWE0i.8412$HR1.5684@trnddc01...
>>
>> But if you're not in a hurry, the new Intel Bearlake (P35) platforms
>> will be available.
>
> Gigabyte first out the door, but DDR2 only, and *not cheap!*
> http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y
>
> On a semi-budget, I think I'd go for the Gigabyte DS3 latest revision 3.3.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012
> http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....7&RSKU=BA22907
>
>
Could you recommend P965 board with two PCI Express x16?

'007' wrote:
| Could you recommend P965 board with two PCI Express x16?
_____

Which would allow only ATI display adapters to be used in Cross-fire mode,
display adapters that are not offered in DX10 capable versions? So why an
Intel chipped motherboard with two PCI-E x16?

Phil Weldon

"007" <> wrote in message
news:f1vihc$g0i$...
| "Fishface" <?> wrote in message
| news:aWE0i.8412$HR1.5684@trnddc01...
| >>
| >> But if you're not in a hurry, the new Intel Bearlake (P35) platforms
| >> will be available.
| >
| > Gigabyte first out the door, but DDR2 only, and *not cheap!*
| >
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y
| >
| > On a semi-budget, I think I'd go for the Gigabyte DS3 latest revision
3.3.
| > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012
| > http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....7&RSKU=BA22907
| >
| >
| Could you recommend P965 board with two PCI Express x16?
|

"Phil Weldon" <> wrote in message
news:GHL0i.13918$ link.net...
> '007' wrote:
> | Could you recommend P965 board with two PCI Express x16?
> _____
>
> Which would allow only ATI display adapters to be used in Cross-fire mode,
> display adapters that are not offered in DX10 capable versions? So why an
> Intel chipped motherboard with two PCI-E x16?
>

To use with 3 monitors utilizing inexpensive video cards in financial
application.

The Gigabyte N650SLI DS4 is 139.99 on newegg..........in my humble opinion
it is a better board than the P965 and it has SLI.
of course I might be slightly prejudiced because thats what I decided to buy
2 weeks ago.It installed flawlessly...OC'd easily and does my Video/Audio
stuff exceptionally quick.
it worth a look
peter
"007" <> wrote in message
news:f203u4$2s4$...
> "Phil Weldon" <> wrote in message
> news:GHL0i.13918$ link.net...
>> '007' wrote:
>> | Could you recommend P965 board with two PCI Express x16?
>> _____
>>
>> Which would allow only ATI display adapters to be used in Cross-fire
>> mode,
>> display adapters that are not offered in DX10 capable versions? So why
>> an
>> Intel chipped motherboard with two PCI-E x16?
>>
>
> To use with 3 monitors utilizing inexpensive video cards in financial
> application.