Best P35 motherboard?!

[sammyunltd]

Hi!

I'm ordering a computer really soon and I am in a big dilemma regarding motherboards. I really don't know which P35 motherboard to choose. I wondered if you could help me.

I'm looking for a motherboard not too expensive, but I'm willing to pay the price if it's really necessary. ($150-200+ CAD, approx. the same in USD)

I will buy a 8800GTS so, there's no need for Crossfire/I don't really care.

I looked up and saw some interesting mobos:

ASUS P5K
ASUS P5K Deluxe (a little bit expensive, but could pay for it if it is really needed -- really like the Wifi feature).
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P

Also, I was kind of a dilemma regarding the RAM I should buy. Right now, the OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 5-5-5-12 is my choice considering it's so cheap, but is it good?

Is it better to lay some more money on RAM and pick up some HyperX or TWINX with 4-4-4-12 timings? Do the timings really influence the overall performance of the RAM?

 

[SniperWulf]

I hear the Abit IP35 is a really nice board. Thats what I plan to buy in the near future. If you don't need Raid, Newegg has the IP35-E for a pretty good price, plus a mail-in rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813127031

 

[sammyunltd]

I'm Canadian so Newegg isn't an option for me.

Gosh, I forgot the ABIT IP35-E!

Any other feedbacks!

 

[TheBeagle]

Good Evening Mr. Sammy,

Since I couldn't get my Q6600 (G0) to work worth a damn in my Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 board, I built a new PC for my office, and stuck the Q6600 in that rig. I used a Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 board, with assorted hard drives, optical drives, 4x1GB Ballistix 1066 memory, a Zalman 9700, 8800GTS, and Vista 64 Ultimate. After installing the OS and all the programs at stock speed for the proc, and using the F5L BIOS, I started to tweak the proc a bit. It turns out that the Q6600 will run at 361 FSB x 9 = 3.25GHz @ 1.350v; and the memory set at a ratio of 3.20:1 = 1155, 5-5-5-15 @ +.45V. This thing really rips along, and at least so far, no BSOD, lockups, etc. I was quite surprised that the memory would run at 577, 5-5-5-15.

So for those who might be getting a bit tired of NV's empty promises for the N680i board, there seems to be a very good alternative use for those Q6600 procs. I'll keep you posted on how well it runs as time goes on. But for right now, getting a 3.25GHz OC out of a 2.4GHz Quad-Core proc is quite acceptable, especially on air cooling. I noticed that more voltage than 1.350V is a killer for this G0 stepping proc, and CPU-Z reports that it only uses 1.326V, at most. Best regards. TheBeagle :beer:

 

[frythecpuofbender]

I got the P5K Deluxe Wifi myself for 199?
Great board so far. OC my Q6600 to 3.2 Ghz stable with good voltages.
Has plenty of features, HD audio seems to work nicely, has basic cpu/chassis fan control which you can enable.
Bios flashing can be done with just a USB stick in the bios itself which is very nice I think.

Only probs so far have been the front panel audio connector being positioned somewhat far away for my huge Coolermaster case and I had to flash the bios to the newest version to get rid of the microcode error caused by my brandnew G0 stepping Q6600.
Oh and PC Probe software has a bug right now where it shows one of my fans as spinning with 20000rpm...but I hope that get's fixed with the new version. All in all I'm really happy with it.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

IP35-E is a steal @ $70 (MWAVE) if you don't need RAID. BIOS is more stable than its big brother, IP35 Pro. I could run four sticks of RAM up to 564MHz. There's a review of this board in the MB forum. Plenty of info on compatible RAM, CPU, and overclock options to digest.

 

[Borealis7]

The popular choice for cheap performence today is the Abit.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
IP35-E is a steal @ $70 (MWAVE) if you don't need RAID. BIOS is more stable than its big brother, IP35 Pro. I could run four sticks of RAM up to 564MHz. There's a review of this board in the MB forum. Plenty of info on compatible RAM, CPU, and overclock options to digest.

There are people running DDR2-1100+ on the IP35 Pro over at XS with 4x 1GB. I don't know their voltages though.

Abit keeps releasing new BIOSes trying to work on this particular thing too.

 

[Tates]

Got an IP35 from Mwave, ran fine for less than a day then wouldn't post, so I headed on over to Fry's and picked up a IP35 Pro.

I like the Pro version alot better. More features, better chipset cooling, cmos reset on the back of the board, power/reset button on the board for testing. I love more stuff.

I'm running a Q6600 @3400MHz default voltage with 4 1GB stick of Patriot DDR800 at 902MHz 5-5-5-16-1T.

I'm a happy guy.....

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Tates
Got an IP35 from Mwave, ran fine for less than a day then wouldn't post, so I headed on over to Fry's and picked up a IP35 Pro.

I like the Pro version alot better. More features, better chipset cooling, cmos reset on the back of the board, power/reset button on the board for testing. I love more stuff.

I'm running a Q6600 @3400MHz default voltage with 4 1GB stick of Patriot DDR800 at 902MHz 5-5-5-16-1T.

I'm a happy guy.....

You can't run 4-4-4-15 2T? That would likely be better than 5-5-5-16 1T.

 

[Blacklash]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
IP35-E is a steal @ $70 (MWAVE) if you don't need RAID. BIOS is more stable than its big brother, IP35 Pro. I could run four sticks of RAM up to 564MHz. There's a review of this board in the MB forum. Plenty of info on compatible RAM, CPU, and overclock options to digest.

That board allows you to drop your multi with quad core without issues, yes? I have a Q6600 G-0 I'd like to drop down to an 8x multi and see how far I can get it. My BX2 has me stuck with a 9x multi and will not let me above a 390FSB with quad core no matter what I do.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Blacklash

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
IP35-E is a steal @ $70 (MWAVE) if you don't need RAID. BIOS is more stable than its big brother, IP35 Pro. I could run four sticks of RAM up to 564MHz. There's a review of this board in the MB forum. Plenty of info on compatible RAM, CPU, and overclock options to digest.

That board allows you to drop your multi with quad core without issues, yes? I have a Q6600 G-0 I'd like to drop down to an 8x multi and see how far I can get it. My BX2 has me stuck with a 9x multi and will not let me above a 390FSB with quad core no matter what I do.

yes

 

[Tates]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Tates
Got an IP35 from Mwave, ran fine for less than a day then wouldn't post, so I headed on over to Fry's and picked up a IP35 Pro.

I like the Pro version alot better. More features, better chipset cooling, cmos reset on the back of the board, power/reset button on the board for testing. I love more stuff.

I'm running a Q6600 @3400MHz default voltage with 4 1GB stick of Patriot DDR800 at 902MHz 5-5-5-16-1T.

I'm a happy guy.....

You can't run 4-4-4-15 2T? That would likely be better than 5-5-5-16 1T.

I'll give it shot

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Tates

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Tates
Got an IP35 from Mwave, ran fine for less than a day then wouldn't post, so I headed on over to Fry's and picked up a IP35 Pro.

I like the Pro version alot better. More features, better chipset cooling, cmos reset on the back of the board, power/reset button on the board for testing. I love more stuff.

I'm running a Q6600 @3400MHz default voltage with 4 1GB stick of Patriot DDR800 at 902MHz 5-5-5-16-1T.

I'm a happy guy.....

You can't run 4-4-4-15 2T? That would likely be better than 5-5-5-16 1T.

I'll give it shot

I don't know what ICs your memory has, but my D9 based Gskill can do ~DDR2-900 4-4-4-12 1T with only 2.125v

 

[sammyunltd]

Hi!

Thank you for your answers! I forgot to say that even though I'm not the "casual type" that doesn't touch his computer after buying it, I'm not as "computer-savvy"/enthusiast as you and probably will just do a little overclocking and that's it.

I'm not leaning towards heavy performances, rather more towards stability and features (though more stability than features), but I still want something efficient. Ah, and I'm not willing to pay $300 CAD for this board too

I want the motherboard with the best overall value for its price.

What about the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P ($175 CAD), the ABIT IP35 PRO ($200 CAD) and the ASUS P5K Deluxe ($240 CAD)?

Any other ideas?

Thank you a lot for your answers

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: Tates
Got an IP35 from Mwave, ran fine for less than a day then wouldn't post, so I headed on over to Fry's and picked up a IP35 Pro.

I like the Pro version alot better. More features, better chipset cooling, cmos reset on the back of the board, power/reset button on the board for testing. I love more stuff.

I'm running a Q6600 @3400MHz default voltage with 4 1GB stick of Patriot DDR800 at 902MHz 5-5-5-16-1T.

I'm a happy guy.....

I had the IP35 middle version, broke it, and wound up getting the pro version to replace it. I really like the Pro extras over even the middle version for the reasons that you mentioned, as well as extra aux fans, the led status readout, and the raid/extra sata ports (altho I don't use those yet.) I still believe it is the best p35 board when taking in account the value, ability, stability, and also the excellent compatability/few issues that these boards have (which is a big reason why I chose it.) It rarely surpases the other gigabyte and asus boards in benchmarks, but they are only a fraction off, and for stability and few problems, I'll sacrifice a few benchmark points anytime.

As for which memory to get, I'd recommend Gskill or Ballistix because of how well they overclock and how compatible they are. Of all the memory reviews I read, OCZ had the most p35 compatibility issues (at the time reviews were for pc6400 sticks, since not many pc8500 reviews were posted yet.)

 

[cineb313]

Considering what you are looking for, the best motherboard for the price looks to be the ASUS P5K-E/WiFi. It seems like it is priced on the low side on NewEgg and others for its feature and quality package. It booted the first time with a Q6600, Patriot 4gbs (2x2) DDR2-800 and Vista64 -- and has been stable and cool for about two weeks with stock fans in Sonata III case. It is solidly built -- I have not overclocked anything yet but there are a host of features. You need to upgrade to the latest BIOS, but that is easy. The ASUS Wifi Solo software is sophomoric, so I disconnected it and the the regular Intel Wireless works just fine with the ASUS onboard adapter (I had to manually put in an IP and Gateway address however, but not sure if that is uniquely related to my wireless Linksys home network). There are not many reviews on this motherboard, but it is certainly worth a look. Hope helps. PTB

 

[SerpentRoyal]

I think you're paying too much $ for P5K-E. You didn't like the WiFi, so more wasted $. The 8-phase power section uses more power and generates more heat without any improvement in overclocking capability. Same with heat pipe cooler. Note that only 1/2 of the MOSFETs are cooled by the heat pipe.

100% solid caps = 100% marketing. You can get the same level of performance at 1/2 the price with an Abit IP35-E at MWAVE. The major advantages of the Asus board are RAID and 1394a (if needed).

$70 (AR) Abit IP35-E has better on-board fan control. There's an open bay below the PCI-E 16x slot for additional cooling. This is a nice feature because you don't lose a PCI or PCI-E slot if you have a big GPU. IP35-E didn't have any problem keeping up with the P5K-E.

I personally think the all blue IP35-E is a better looking board.

http://www.techspot.com/articl...rd-roundup/page24.html