Good board for Intel Q6600?

[PupChow]

I am looking to build a budget machine that is respectable, so far I have picked up the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and got a Patriot 4GB DDR2/800 coming in.

What would you recommend for a good motherboard? I would like one that supports SLI as well, in case I want to go that route in the future (going to go for a geforce 8800GT).

I am looking at the ASUS Maximus Formula or the EVGA 780i both at around $270. Would you recommend either? Or are there other boards I should look into?

Thank you!

 

[bka4u2c]

Consider the MSI P7N Diamond, it has been great for me. I tried the EVGA 780i and the ASUS P5N-T deluxe and prefer the MSI over them. The only problem I've had is with the eSata ports. For some reason Windows will only show an attached drive if is turned on when booting up the PC. But its controlled by JMicron if that means anything. Its also one of the few motherboards with two IDE ports. Although I use neither, but may be an option for some.

Newegg currently has it at $259 before a $30 MIR=$229.

 

[PupChow]

Thanks for the recommendation! Did you overclock and have you experienced any difficulty with the board? I just read some reviews and that seems to be one item that people mentioned.

 

[bka4u2c]

Now that you mention it, there were issues with people overclocking using the Q6600 and this board. But there has been success with it and there is thread for this board over at XtremeSystem and the MSI forums. If I remember correctly, users were able to use a beta bios to achieve higher overclocks with the Q6600.

I had success with the only official 1.0 BIOS, but I was also using a E8400 at the time. I didn't push it to the limit, but was able to get it up to 445FSB with no major push in voltage.

 

[theYipster]

The P7N is a fantastic board and is perhaps the best solution if you want SLI w/o paying for an expensive 790i board and DDR3 RAM. I've been able to bench my Q6600 G0 at 4.05ghz and am currently running stable at 3.6ghz on BIOS 1.1B4. As I was one of the first to get the board, it took some time to figure out all of the BIOS options, but once done OCing is relatively painless. The BIOS certainly has room to grow, and I only expect my OC to improve, but already I can accomplish on this board what I couldn't accomplish on any of the reference boards: my quad beyond 4ghz. One of the more impressive aspects of this board is that the NB runs much cooler (even with stock cooling) than on the reference boards or the ASUS boards.

Note that I am the originator of the XS thread. Please feel free to post your findings and results there -- we are always looking for as much information as we can get Currently, Q6600s are good to go with the board. I haven't come across anyone with a significant issue. E8400s are now seeing OC success on the board as well. 45nm quads on the other hand (with the exception of the Xtreme Editions) still have some BIOS compatibility issues, but the Q6600 is good to go.

 

[core2slow]

VVVV budget setup VVVV

 

[PupChow]

Thanks, between the following three boards, which one would you guys go with? I have 4gig of DDR2 ram (no DDR3)

MSI P7N Diamond LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard with SoundBlaster X-Fi Extreme Audio - Retail - $259.99
MSI P7N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $164.99
ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $149.99

Thanks!!

 

[theYipster]

I would choose the P7N Diamond or P7N Platinum. Note that I don't have direct experience with the Platinum, but I expect it's a good board.

 

[PupChow]

Doh, here's an issue that I just realized...

I already got 4gig of RAM and they are Patriot PC2-6400 800mhz... which does not work with the P7N Diamond board. With that in mind, are there other recommendations I should look into?