Need Help finding good MOBO

[Greg-O]

Ok, I am looking to build me a new computer here pretty soon but i need help finding a good mobo that will support Conroe and sli for pretty cheap. (i.e. around $100)

P.S. First time post so you guys may get alot of these.

 

[vanilla_guerilla]

there are no mainboards that support c2d and sli for $100. you may be able to get a cheap 965 board, that will run sli (one 16x slot and 1 4x slot or maybe one 8x slot and 1 4x slot, dont remember) with modified drivers. or you can get one of the intel 570 boards that came out in september, i think theres an asus, and ecs maybe. but those boards suck. wait until the price for the ref 680i boards comes down after the new year and maybe pick one of them up for around $180 (ie evga, xfx, biostar, bfg). why would you spring for sli, but not for a decent mainboard, btw?

 

[kirbyrj]

If you don't mind running stock (or a minor OC) with a cheaper board, you can get SLI with C2D for around $100.

Here's an ECS 570 SLI for $69 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135026
Asus version of the same chipset ($110 or so)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131032

 

[Greg-O]

Ok thanks, i may end up waiting until the price goes down on the EVGA 680i mobo goes down.

Dont really wanna go with the ecs and asus board mentioned befor cus of the bad reviews on them.

do you guy maybe know of a good alternative board that can match it an sli rig with a conroe even if it is not AMD (just dont know AMD that well really and truely an Intel fan)

but i am also checking into single card mobo really likin the gigabyte DS3

 

[kirbyrj]

If you're running a single video card setup, any good 965/975 board will do. The S3/DS3 from Gigabyte OC's well and is around $110 for the S3 and $130 for the DS3. The Asus P5B/P5B-E are also in the $140-150 range and OC well. Personally, if you want a board now, I'd just get the S3 and a nice video card.

What kind of cards were you planning on using in SLI?

 

[Greg-O]

Probably one of these three

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130056
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130066

depends on how much money i can save up for (depends on how anxious i get)

also would end up trading up when 8800 goes down or just get more $$

 

[kirbyrj]

I don't think you need an SLI board for any of those. I'd just save and buy the 7950GT (or 8800GTS ). I think that's a better plan than using SLI with 7600GT's or even 7900GS's.

 

[Editorman]

If you don't mind running stock (or a minor OC) with a cheaper board, you can get SLI with C2D for around $100.

Here's an ECS 570 SLI for $69 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135026
Asus version of the same chipset ($110 or so)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131032

I've built a few PCs for friends with the ECS board. Had no issues. Worked pretty well and having SLI as an option is always good

 

[wesleys_dad]

being an amd guy i just finished building a rig for my bro in law and he wanted intel on a budget sli system.i used the ecs board and an e6300 with 1 gig of ram.he had 1 7600 video card and bought another.ill have to say the system runs great.i was amazed at the performance with all stock settings.the board was easy to setup and booted on first try.he is thrilled with it as well as me.id have to say for a budget system the ecs board is fine.

 

[magoo]

Here's what I built for a mid range SLI rig.......

ASUS P5N-SLI (nVidia 570 chip) 119 dollars
e6300 C2D......180 dollars
1GB Corsair Value Ram.....110 dollars
2xeVGA 7600 GT KO......rebated to 119 dollars each

games very well.
the ASUS board is rock solid but doesnt OC very well. I did manage to get the C2D to just over e6400 speed.....so I was happy.

 

[kirbyrj]

Just wondering why you went with 2x7600GT's. Personally, I would have gone with 1x7900GS for $145 or so and had the option to add another later if I wanted to.

 

[umbolo]

Just wondering why you went with 2x7600GT's. Personally, I would have gone with 1x7900GS for $145 or so and had the option to add another later if I wanted to.

Yes, that doesn't make any sense. Sorry to break it up to you, but you could've had much faster graphics for less money. Another SLI marketing victim

 

[NordicRX8]

GO AWAY

TROLL

 

[adecole]

I'm a noob and want to build a PC to make music on. I am not a gamer but use CPU/memory intensive digital audio processing (Cubase SX running tons of plugins). For this reason I am looking to get some good overclocked performance out of the sucker! I have a CD drive already and will be using an external audio interface. Here is a system I am looking for some feedback on:

hd $109.98 Seagate 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA2 w/ NCQ 16MB
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18409&promoid=1058

monitor $385.98 Acer AL2216Wbd 22" Widescreen LCD DVI 5ms (black)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19543&promoid=1058

cpu $378.99 Intel Core2 Duo Processor E6600 2.40GHz w/ 4MB Cache
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19144&promoid=1058

heatsink $51.39 Scythe Ninja Plus REV.B Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S478 S754 S939 W/ 120MM Fan Adjuster
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21163

ram $289.98 OCZ Platinum XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-5-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18494&promoid=1058

case $174.42 Antec P150 Quiet PC ATX Tower Case Silver 4X5.25 4X3.5INT 430W W/ 120MM Fan & Filters
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16520


The only thing I am unsure about is the MOBO!
Here are some considerations and some models I have been looking at:
1. I am not a gamer, so I don't care about great graphics. Having said this, should I look for onboard graphics or still get a graphics card and MOBO separately?
2. This system is built to be OC'd, so the board should be a good OCer! Here are some boards that I have been advised to look into:

$285.00 ASUS P5W DH Deluxe - lots of people say it's great, but I don't think I really need all those bells and whistles.

$170-200 various models in the ASUS P5B series - any recommendations here? They all look pretty much the same (FSB,OC features,RAMspeed, etc)
site

$127.53 Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H

$157.55 Gigabyte GA-965P-S3

$218.88 DFI Infinity 975X/G ATX LGA775 Conroe 975X DDR2 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E4 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA Sound Motherboard
(just went to anandtech and read this guide...looks like 975x--as found on the DFI Infinity & ASUS P5W DH Deluxe--would be better performance than these 965 boards)

Quite a range of prices! Like I said though, it's all about speed and power, the only graphics-intensive process I will be doing is running that huge widescreen at standard resolution. Any recommendations for a graphics card for the boards without onboaod graphics? These mobos were recommended for OCing, but none of them have the ATI/Nvidea onboard... Any feedback would be great, like comments/experiences about any of these components. If I have made some sort of goof up please let me know! Will the 430W power supply included with the Antec case be sufficient to handle all this stuff once I start pushing the system over the 3Ghz range? I will be buying through http://www.ncix.com/ in case you couldn't tell! (prices in Canadian dollars) I am *trying* to keep the bill under $1600 and I'm already at just under $1400 without the mobo/graphics! Thanks for any help

 

[kirbyrj]

The P5W DH is nice, but if you don't need all the bells and whistles or aren't using dual ATI cards, the 965 series is fine. I'd probably get the P5B-E personally if you wanted to stay on some sort of budget. It's around $150 USD. One of the cheaper P5B boards.