Recommend a good Intel chipset mobo for a E8500

L31mr0d

Blew my 680i a few weeks back and its been the final nail in the coffin with my experience with the Nvidia chipset.

I don't really care about SLI, I'll be sticking with single gfx card setups for the foreseeable future. So what Intel chipset mobo should I go for? I'll be installing 4GB of DDR2 PC2-8000 RAM and an E8500.

Looking for one that will be excellent for overclocking and easily watercooled.

All help appreciated, i'll rep+ accordingly

somakasvh

I couldn't recommend the asus x38 boards more. I've built, watercooled and overclocked a machine with a maximus formula. and in my own machine I have a P5E which i've flashed to a rampage formula (for lots of extra bios/mobo tweaks).

I can get a 480FSB without even trying with a quad, so i imagine you could get higher with a dual

L31mr0d

somakasvh wrote: »

I couldn't recommend the asus x38 boards more. I've built, watercooled and overclocked a machine with a maximus formula. and in my own machine I have a P5E which i've flashed to a rampage formula (for lots of extra bios/mobo tweaks).

I can get a 480FSB without even trying with a quad, so i imagine you could get higher with a dual

cheers, I'll start reading up about that board. Would it be better to just buy the rampage formula though? Apart from the extra BIOS features is there any other benefits to it?

PogMoThoin

I really love asus mobo's, got a P5k Deluxe, can't recommend them highly enough and the failed OC feature on their boards means u never ever need to clear cmos. Since you got a c2d tho, not a quad a p35 board would oc just as high. Just my 2c.

TonyM.

I went the same route a few weeks ago with the Asus Maximus Extreme and Flaccus gave me a good deal on a qx9650 the watercooler on the chipset was the deciding factor for me.

papu

best boards for clocking penryns supposedly are the P965 and P45 boards

the Asus Commando 965 has gotten a 630fsb with mods on a e8500 thats 6017mhz

the Asus Maximus 2 Formula P45 is also a very good clocker with someone gettign a 670 Fsb 5.3ghz

biostar p45 also good but might be a bit pricey

so really have a look around
Xtreme Overclocking
and the intel section and see what people say
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59

conzy

I was going to get the Asus P5Q-E for my next build until Komplett gave me a free Abit IP35-Pro

The Asus is a great board with great features and people get savage overclocks from it, 622mhz fsb with an E8200



There is a deluxe version too if you have money to burn

L31mr0d

TonyM. wrote: »

Asus Maximus Extreme... the watercooler on the chipset was the deciding factor for me.

same here :eek: think that included waterblock on the chipset is the clincher for me. Cheers for that.

Anti

if thats all thats gonna be watercooled its fine, but add a cpu and gfx block and the chipset block is where you will encounter real flow rate problems as its meant to be pretty restrictive. But saying that there are a few ppl on XS that can make full custom blocks for that board.

somakasvh

I was using the non-SE version of the maximus formula, so I just removed the heatpipe and fit a waterblock

Its handy because the heatpipe is just glued to the SB heatsink and attached to the VRM heatsink with a thermal pad.
So I didn't need to buy aftermarket cooling for them

somakasvh

L31mr0d wrote: »

same here :eek: think that included waterblock on the chipset is the clincher for me. Cheers for that.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/motherboards/2007/asus-max-extreme-p1/boardmain.jpg

Thats the maximus extreme - it uses DDR3

awhir

somakasvh wrote: »

Thats the maximus extreme - it uses DDR3

was just about to say that

go retro p965 cammando ftw !

TonyM.

somakasvh wrote: »

Thats the maximus extreme - it uses DDR3

2 gb. of Corsair ddr3 pc12800 at 1600mhz cost me €149.00 prices are coming down.

Anti

2gig isnt enough these days. especially for vista 4gb minimum.

papu

its ass cheap anyways

Anti

somakasvh wrote: »

I was using the non-SE version of the maximus formula, so I just removed the heatpipe and fit a waterblock

Its handy because the heatpipe is just glued to the SB heatsink and attached to the VRM heatsink with a thermal pad.
So I didn't need to buy aftermarket cooling for them

There is a fair ammount of custom blocks for everythign on the board.

TonyM.

Anti wrote: »

2gig isnt enough these days. especially for vista 4gb minimum.

I have XPpro on one hard disc and Vista on another I need XP to run some old programmes and the drivers all work, if I install the other 2gb of ram i will only be able to boot into Vista.

AlmightyCushion

TonyM. wrote: »

I have XPpro on one hard disc and Vista on another I need XP to run some old programmes and the drivers all work, if I install the other 2gb of ram i will only be able to boot into Vista.

No, you can still use xp but it won't use all the ram installed.

TonyM.

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

No, you can still use xp but it won't use all the ram installed.

really i understood you needed the 64 bit version for 4gb of ram .

papu

TonyM. wrote: »

really i understood you needed the 64 bit version for 4gb of ram .

it will only see something like 3.somthing gigs of ram depending on the Vram you graphics card has , it will boot ito XP , it just won't be able to address/use all of it

AlmightyCushion

TonyM. wrote: »

really i understood you needed the 64 bit version for 4gb of ram .

You need a 64 bit os to use all the ram. You could gladly have 8GBs of ram on a computer with a 32 bit os but it wouldn't use any more than 4GBs (well it's actually closer to 3.25GBs), it will still run though and still use the 3.25GBs available to it.

TonyM.

well 3gb is 50% more i must get it the timings are 7-7-7-20

btw i have a 80mm fan set up over the heatpipes to cool the board.

somakasvh

The OP already said he has 4gigs of DDR2 so it doesnt matter how much xGB of DDR3 is

L31mr0d

aren't all DDR3 boards backwards compatible with DDR2?

The restrictive flow of that waterblock could actually be a problem. If I wanted to cool the NB and SB with 3rd party blocks what board should I go for? I'd like to have the option of upgrading to DD3 or a Q9xxx quad in the future?

papu

no ddr2 wont work on ddr3 boards , but with nahelem and that using ddr3 , investing in some now might bring benefits in the future , sure you'll have to get another motherboard and cpu , but the ram will still be good , so maybe go the cheapo option now and save some money for nahelem? which should be around before the end of the year?

L31mr0d

papu wrote: »

no ddr2 wont work on ddr3 boards

dammit I was sure i'd read somewhere that it would be backwards compatible, but upon reading up on it you're right.

So for DDR2, what would be the best intel chipset board to get? Not really looking into getting DDR3 atm. I really just want to build a stable, overclockable, watercooled system for the time being, I'm doing most of my gaming on my HTPC and PS3.

TonyM.

I would vote for the Asus P5Q Deluxe give the P45 chipset a go.


Check out the "express gate" option.

L31mr0d

think i'm going to go for the Rampage Formula. Been reading good things about it and it also supports DDR2.

TonyM.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=346228

OK-Cancel-Apply

L31mr0d wrote: »

Blew my 680i a few weeks back and its been the final nail in the coffin with my experience with the Nvidia chipset.

What problems were you having with your nvidia chipset?

L31mr0d

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

What problems were you having with your nvidia chipset?

There's a very bad design flaw in the NB, it doesn't work when you chip a big chunk off the corner of it. Typical of nvidia :rolleyes: