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Best board for a Q6600

Forum Motherboard & Memory : General Motherboard - Best board for a Q6600

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mrblonde100   04-22-2008 at 02:06:15 PM

Hi all,

I hope you can offer me some of your expert knowledge. I’m looking to build a Quad core PC using the Intel Q6600 CPU. The machine will be used for gaming, photo editing, entertainment, programming and web design.

I have four questions I hope you can shine some light on.

I have done my research and this is my spec:

•Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Core, 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz, 8MB
•2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 DHX, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
•768MB XFX 8800GTX, Extreme, PCI-E
•Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
•LiteOn DH-20A4H-06C 2.
•2x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda
•Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1* 64Bit 1Pk OEM

1. I’m still deciding on is which motherboard to get. The contenders are:

•Abit IP-35 Pro, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800
•Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800
•Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 1066/667/800

This will affect my choice of RAM.

I understand these three are generally regarded as the best in class and price bracket.
But which is best for overclocking and performance?

Many people recommend the IP-35 pro, but the RAM can only go up to 800MHz and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the Asus Motherboards.

I know the P5K3 Deluxe is DDR3 but is it worth the extra expense? What about the P5K Premium? Pretty much the same cost as the Abit.

I have read many reviews on all three boards and they all rank very highly, but which in your experience holds the crown. I get the feeling the Abit version is a little dated compared to the others.

2. Following on from above; what RAM is best suited for your choice of board?

3. What sort of PSU wattage would be comfortable powering this system? Remember I have 8800GTX.

4. Finally any thoughts on getting Vista 64bit. I have read it’s had problems with drivers. I really only feel comfortable with a Windows OS, so now Linux please !

Any thoughts or personal experience on any of the above questions will be gratefully received!
Thanks in advance,

Daniel

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vibe   04-22-2008 at 04:56:04 PM
- 0 +

Is DDR3 worth it..... No, far too much more cost for the gain you get. If you have money to burn or really want the bragging rights, you could go for it but you will probably see a new CPU socet type before DDR3 becomes the norm and hence your board and chip will be out of date before your high spec DDR2 (thats what I think any way)

I've just got a Asus P5K Premium and loving it, there were some problems with the origional version of this mobo with RAID setups and it not liking some HDs, Asus never owned up to it but the version 2 boards and new BIOSs seem to have fixed it. (if your not RAID'ng I dont think there are any known issues)

I dont know how th Abit stands up but I've heard it's a great mobo, from what I have seen, Asus tends to get better OCs but Abit tends to have less issues to work through.

RAM, I went for some high speed OCZ. Raptor and Flex is very nice but you probaby wont need the extra FSB unless its a heavy OC and even then top 800MHz can normaly hack it.

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iluvgillgill   04-22-2008 at 05:04:19 PM
- 0 +

any board that got intel chipset like P35 or X38/X48 will overclock the CPU to its neck and burn it!!!its true apart from the burning bit!!!lol

avoid nForce mobo if you not consider SLI you graphics card.since the Nvidia vs Intel thingy.Specially the quad core from intel dont overclock as well.

Unless you can afford 1600mhz+ DDR3 ram otherwise DDR2-1066cas 5 will smoke the DDR3 like no human before!

your choice

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drumr1829   04-22-2008 at 05:17:40 PM
- 0 +

DDR3 is still in it's infancy as far as price goes, it's way too expensive for any performance gains unless you want to spend the $. I just bought another 4 gig's DDR2 PC2-6400 for $61 with rebate...pretty much the lowest they will go before the supply dwindles and prices start to increase again like DDR. If you do decide to go DDR2, you may as well max out your RAM like I did especially if you're doing Photoshop/ video editing type work.

 

Not sure about those mobo choices, but the one in my config works just fine and I have the option of SLI altho I'm not sure if I'll do that anymore. I think your mobo choices are all Intel based chipsets; would you want the option of SLI at all since you're doing gaming? If not I believe the Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP looks the way to go.

 

Also if going DDR2 and maxing out your RAM, Vista 64 would be the only choice in getting use out of all your memory. I never really had too many problems with software as long as you stay with mainstream type applications. Service Pack 1 has seemed to fix a lot of my issues.


Message edited by drumr1829 on 04-22-2008 at 05:31:58 PM
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