Best mobo for under $140

C

cerilia

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2004
Messages
239
As the title says, I am looking for the best mobo for under $140. I do not care about SLI, and I will most likely run the chip stock or near stock speed. I am planning on upgrading after the July price drops.

So far here are two boards that I have in mind:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Rev. 3.3
 
cerilia said:
As the title says, I am looking for the best mobo for under $140. I do not care about SLI, and I will most likely run the chip stock or near stock speed. I am planning on upgrading after the July price drops.

So far here are two boards that I have in mind:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Rev. 3.3
Click to expand...

I'd say the second choice.
 
Also please specify a reason for your choice, if you have a reason.
 
Why the 2nd choice if the first one is using next-gen chipsets with support for 45nm chips ??

My advice is to get the first one for the reason I just stated. P965 is a older chipset with no support for the next generation of cpu (Wolfdale / Yorkfield).
 
I agree sounds like I would want to go with the P35 chipset.

What about other boards I'm open to suggestions.

How about:

ABIT IP35-E
MSI P35 Neo2-FR

others?
 
IP35-E is probably the cheapest P35 chipset mobo that I know of (at least in the UK) & it's also apparently 1 of the coolest running/most efficient P35 mobos but has no RAID or Firewire.
Of course if you need RAID/Firewire then you can choose the IP35 or above that the IP35 Pro.

If you are just going to run stock then look at features that you need/layout, price/bundle as I'm sure that any of the big mfrs mobos will be fine.
 
Abit IP35 would be a nice choice as well. the -E is a bit lacking in features but if you don't care about RAID, Firewire or Crossfire, then it's one of the cheapest choice.

 
No I don't really care about raid or firewire.

I do care about stability and performance. I want a board that will not give me any problems and that maybe I can push a little bit if I decide to.
 
cerilia said:
No I don't really care about raid or firewire.

I do care about stability and performance. I want a board that will not give me any problems and that maybe I can push a little bit if I decide to.
Click to expand...

If you want performance, but don't want RAID, you're missing a lot of performance. Harddrives, even 10k ones, are the slowest aspect of a system. RAID boosts them into acceptable ranges.

In games, you load so many little textures all game, RAIDS help so much. Play any MMO (WoW, EQ2 or Vanguard) and notice the HD hits constantly.
 
I'm pretty happy with this so far and it was under $100
 
Glow said:
I'm pretty happy with this so far and it was under $100
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of picking one up as a hold over until X38. I'm wondering about quad core support on them personally. How well do they OC the quads?
 
kirbyrj said:
I'm thinking of picking one up as a hold over until X38. I'm wondering about quad core support on them personally. How well do they OC the quads?
Click to expand...

If your holding out until x38 then who cares? just OC the shit out of a core2duo what you going to do with a quad anyways no games tuned for them *shrug*
 
Glow said:
If your holding out until x38 then who cares? just OC the shit out of a core2duo what you going to do with a quad anyways no games tuned for them *shrug*
Click to expand...

YoNeX said:
Fold what else ;)
Click to expand...

Lol...I fold sometimes ;). There is more to computers than just games ;). I do some video encoding and some other things that would be nice to have a quad core for.
 
I cant comment on the first choice however I'm currently running the DS3 3.3 with random cold boot issues @ stock settings. I think its a hit or miss with rev 3.3 from what i read ...
 
You should definitely buy the Gigabyte P35-DS3R. It is very stable and has the highest overclockability in it's price range of 'sub $150' motherboards. I am looking at the exact same board as well.
 
JStudrawa said:
If you want performance, but don't want RAID, you're missing a lot of performance. Harddrives, even 10k ones, are the slowest aspect of a system. RAID boosts them into acceptable ranges.

In games, you load so many little textures all game, RAIDS help so much. Play any MMO (WoW, EQ2 or Vanguard) and notice the HD hits constantly.
Click to expand...

uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh errrrrrrr no?

Heres the low-down from bit-tech on what raid is if your uncertain (its a long read but worth it imho)

Raid 0, raid 10, and raid 0+1, are all wayyy more hyped then the should be. Raid 0 (gamers raid) offers little performance unless loading big files, and generally only shows it guns at loading screens. Because todays graphics cards have huge <512mb caches, and Processors L2's are getting bigger and bigger, and, of course, the new 2gb standard for system ram, read speeds on hard drives are becoming less important in game.

Heres a short read that proves my point.

I do agree that the Hard drive is a crucial part of system performance and is constantly understated by todays OEMs, however you can get better system performance at a cheaper price point by running two drives in seperation. Run a 35/70 GB 10k drive for games and main apps, and then a drive >= 200 GB @ 7.2k for data and windows.

anyways, @the mobo choice:
I say P35. Its shaping up to be quite a nice performer. Giga-byte boards have always been excellent in my experiance, from Nvidia's 680i to AMD's 690.
 
Yeah reading over all the specs carefully I've pretty much decided on the gigabyte P35-DS3R.
The question now is, Q6600 or E6850... decisions decisions. :p
 
MrWizard6600 said:
uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh errrrrrrr no?

Heres the low-down from bit-tech on what raid is if your uncertain (its a long read but worth it imho)

Raid 0, raid 10, and raid 0+1, are all wayyy more hyped then the should be. Raid 0 (gamers raid) offers little performance unless loading big files, and generally only shows it guns at loading screens. Because todays graphics cards have huge <512mb caches, and Processors L2's are getting bigger and bigger, and, of course, the new 2gb standard for system ram, read speeds on hard drives are becoming less important in game.

Heres a short read that proves my point.

I do agree that the Hard drive is a crucial part of system performance and is constantly understated by todays OEMs, however you can get better system performance at a cheaper price point by running two drives in seperation. Run a 35/70 GB 10k drive for games and main apps, and then a drive >= 200 GB @ 7.2k for data and windows.

anyways, @the mobo choice:
I say P35. Its shaping up to be quite a nice performer. Giga-byte boards have always been excellent in my experiance, from Nvidia's 680i to AMD's 690.
Click to expand...

QFT Raid is overrated for gaming purposes.
 
How about GA-P35C ? What would you more knowledgeable fellows say about it? It appears to have all the futures of GA-P35 + DD3 Support (up to 4 Gig)
 
vetanix said:
How about GA-P35C ? What would you more knowledgeable fellows say about it? It appears to have all the futures of GA-P35 + DD3 Support (up to 4 Gig)
Click to expand...

Unless you have a lot of money, DDR3 is still a ways off from being any kind of necessity.

However, if you're rich go for it.

:)

If you're that rich, you might as well just get a full fledged DDR3 board and not muddy the NObr waters if ya catch my drift. I tend to think that despite logic having all the extra memory control in that chipset might cause a cluttered slightly slower mobo.

This could just be FUAD though.

I say go p35 and get 4 gigs of DDR2 and a dedicated board for a slight buck cheaper, and wait out DDR3 till it costs the same as DDR2 and the mobos are much cheaper/newer faster cooler chipset.
:)
 
MrWizard6600 said:
uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh errrrrrrr no?

Heres the low-down from bit-tech on what raid is if your uncertain (its a long read but worth it imho)

Raid 0, raid 10, and raid 0+1, are all wayyy more hyped then the should be. Raid 0 (gamers raid) offers little performance unless loading big files, and generally only shows it guns at loading screens. Because todays graphics cards have huge <512mb caches, and Processors L2's are getting bigger and bigger, and, of course, the new 2gb standard for system ram, read speeds on hard drives are becoming less important in game.

Heres a short read that proves my point.

I do agree that the Hard drive is a crucial part of system performance and is constantly understated by todays OEMs, however you can get better system performance at a cheaper price point by running two drives in seperation. Run a 35/70 GB 10k drive for games and main apps, and then a drive >= 200 GB @ 7.2k for data and windows.

anyways, @the mobo choice:
I say P35. Its shaping up to be quite a nice performer. Giga-byte boards have always been excellent in my experiance, from Nvidia's 680i to AMD's 690.
Click to expand...

EQ2/Vangaurd before Raid0 was ass when heading into a city or fort. Hearing pick pick pick of the HD all day. With Raid0, a tremendous shortneing of the loading of textures. Maybe a mis-optomized game, but the real life facts were that it helped me tons.

Good point about newer games though. I am in the market for another SATA drive, so I'll look into the 10k's and test some. Thanks.
 
I see the same way OP does. I can only spend so much on a mobo. Even $140 is pushing it.
I think the ABit is the best bet. I see the PRO as the same with better heatsinks and a couple whistles more. Might be worth it just for the sinks alone.

Steer clear of Junkabyte
 
Glow said:
Fixt!
Click to expand...

Lol :).

MC FLMJIG said:
I see the same way OP does. I can only spend so much on a mobo. Even $140 is pushing it.
I think the ABit is the best bet. I see the PRO as the same with better heatsinks and a couple whistles more. Might be worth it just for the sinks alone.

Steer clear of Junkabyte
Click to expand...

Normally, I would agree with you on that, but the Gigabyte DS3 series really turned things around for me with Gigabyte. I understand not everyone had the same experience, but my Rev. 1 DS3 was a pretty good board for the price. Before that I would have never bought one. They always seemed to be mediocre OCers.
 
Well I just saw a decent deal on the Abit IP35 (not the cheaper E version)

I am now consider possibly getting that instead of the Gigabyte P35 DS3R.

I really wish I could find some benchmark numbers showing off one if not both of these boards, but have been unable to find them. :(
 
cerilia said:
Well I just saw a decent deal on the Abit IP35 (not the cheaper E version)

I am now consider possibly getting that instead of the Gigabyte P35 DS3R.

I really wish I could find some benchmark numbers showing off one if not both of these boards, but have been unable to find them. :(
Click to expand...

At stock speeds they aren't going to be that much different. Even 2% different would be pushing it. I think I did see one review and the IP35 was one of the better performers overall. The P5K series was best, but it auto OC'd the bus to "cheat" it's way to victory. The IP35 is also in the lower bunch in terms of power draw. Seems to use less watts in idle and load states. Overall, it looks like Abit has a winner, but my recent experience with Abit has been you never really know what you're going to get :(. I think maybe Anandtech had a P35 roundup type of review. I read it, but I don't remember where it was from.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
I see the same way OP does. I can only spend so much on a mobo. Even $140 is pushing it.
I think the ABit is the best bet. I see the PRO as the same with better heatsinks and a couple whistles more. Might be worth it just for the sinks alone.

Steer clear of Junkabyte
Click to expand...

you know, I would have to disagree completely.

The mobo brand that holsd the number 1 spot for "most seen in our shop" is Abit's fatal1ty line. Blown caps were always an issue with the boards I saw. Our current count is 14 fatal1ty boards broken.

I have seen a total of 4 Giga-byte boards where the board was at fault, and two of them were toasted in a powersurge (use surge protectors!).

Giga-byte has, as far as I can tell, always released some of the more intresting products and always has something cool to showcase at computex and ces (Quad SLI Royale with its 4 bridges anyone?) their new all-solid-state caps methodology has yeilded not a single Gigabyte board seen in here with a blown cap since the program started. 12 stage power also means you can overvolt things without any concern about damage.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
you know, I would have to disagree completely.

The mobo brand that holsd the number 1 spot for "most seen in our shop" is Abit's fatal1ty line. Blown caps were always an issue with the boards I saw. Our current count is 14 fatal1ty boards broken.

I have seen a total of 4 Giga-byte boards where the board was at fault, and two of them were toasted in a powersurge (use surge protectors!).

Giga-byte has, as far as I can tell, always released some of the more intresting products and always has something cool to showcase at computex and ces (Quad SLI Royale with its 4 bridges anyone?) their new all-solid-state caps methodology has yeilded not a single Gigabyte board seen in here with a blown cap since the program started. 12 stage power also means you can overvolt things without any concern about damage.
Click to expand...

Thanks this is pretty useful knowledge. I will take this into consideration with my next product choice.
 
The Fatality line is not meant for OC. It's for gamers.

So if you go crazy and start overvolting like mad on something that isn't meant to be treated that way what do you think will happen?
Junkabytes support is also the worst. They also do nothing to help out even if it is theoir fault. I will NEVER buy a Junkabyte product again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top