Motherboard recommendation!

[chubdeuce]

I'm debating back and forth between a P35 based and a X38 based motherboard, likely from Gigabyte in either case.

I won't be Crossfiring but will be mildly OCing. I want everything in the system to last for at least 2 years. Assuming the cost difference between the motherboards is irrelevant, what would be best?

Some projected parts are below:

E8400
8800 GTS 512
4GB RAM
2 HDDs

 

[brencat]

You didn't state what your PC will be used for, but if it's general use and gaming, the performance upgrade offered by X38/DDR3 does not justify the cost differential between P35/DDR2 in my opinion. You should be able to pick a nice P35 from Abit or Giga + 2gb DDR2 for not much more than $150 - $175 total, whereas you'll spend easily 2 - 3x that for an X38/DDR3 setup.

 

[chubdeuce]

Sorry about that. Purpose will be general use and gaming.

 

[DSF]

Go with P35 no doubt.

 

[bigblockchevy]

i would go with a p35 as well. maybe the DFI-blood-iron or the biostar pt35d2they can be had for around $100 or so--

add in some good ddr-2-800 with 4-4-4-12 which can now days be had for reasonable $$-

-toss in a wolfdale thats good for 500 or so fsb and you should be set for not even too much $$.

a nice matched little system with a MB --ram and cpu that can hit 500 to 550mhz on the fsb with the ram running 1:1.

 

[chubdeuce]

Update:

Going with P35 as per recommendations.

Was originally going to go with the Asus P5K Deluxe, however, I won't be able to get it now, so I'm left with a choice of Abit IP35 Pro, or Gigabyte DS3R or maybe something you guys can think of?

Suggestions?

 

[Doclife]

1 vote for the Gigabyte DS3R.

 

[chuckm]

What about an Asus P5K-E? They have them with or without wifi, $140 & $150 @newegg.

 

[chubdeuce]

Completely forgot about the P5K-E, I'll check if that's available.

 

[jdkick]

I tossed around a few P35 boards and went with the ASUS P5K-E/WiFi-AP. I just assembled the machine in my signature this weekend and it was flawless. Everything on the board is placed well for my purposes, I prefer the layout of the back panel on the P5K-E over most P35 boards and Vista Home Premium 64-bit installed without a hitch. Granted, i've only had the system running for a few days and still running at stock speeds, but i'm happy so far.

 

[aussiestilgar]

I vote DS3R. 8 USB ports SPDIF and good support. Rev 2.1 supports DDR2-1200.

 

[krunt]

if you go p35 then all the major manufactures boards are about the same performance wise. Features is another story. If you don't need the extra vga slot, then why pay for it? Personally i like the MSI Neo2 because it had eSATA out the back and was under $100 (AR). if you didn't care about eSATA then the abit -e looks good, though with only 4 sata ports it doesn't leave me as much room as i would like.

and before you jump all over me, "the same performance wise" means that at stock speeds they are the same. Overclocking is a different story, but then all the boards hit 500+ fsb. looking for the mild overclock, they all work. Looking for the best overclocker, that is a different post.