Originally posted by: airhendrix13
I think I understand why you sent me to the thread, but I tried picking a mobo with all the features I wanted last time, and it turns out the 680i is terrible at OCing. I want to avoid that by getting some direction this time. I recall reading that mobos that OC dual cores well don't always OC quads well (like the 680i apparently). I just want something that is going to be easier to OC without having to worry about a ton of voltage settings (I don't mind a little voltage adjusting), and still get a reasonably good OC.
You're getting good advice from the others. I think you want to economize on outlays for year-old/2-year-old technology, but salvage your Q6600, and I can understand that.
I WILL tell you this, from a standpoint of your multi-dimensional trade-offs that include cost/price, though. I had a 680i board that went on the fritz. I sent it back for RMA, but didnt' want to wait, so I got a 780i eVGA board (the 680i was ASUS). Before going forward, I contacted eVGA's tech-support about whether there was a need to reinstall the OS, and the answer was "No. It should boot up just fine, and you can then install the updated 780i drivers."
So that provides a convenience factor, but I don't know how much a 780i board will cost you these days.
Somebody mentioned the GA-EP45-UD3x [UD3P, UD3R, UD3LR, etc.]. I've got one; I'm impressed. I'm just wary about newer chipset-BIOS versions that are focused on Penryn Wolfie-Yorkie cores versus Conroe-Kentsfield. It should work fine, though. Frankly, with that board, you may be able to get stability for a G0 Q6600 at a higher speed and lower VCORE. The board has a lot of tweakable features that you won't find in the nVidia-based boards.
And now that I look again at your initial post -- I see that you have a B3 like mine. I don't see that such would make any difference for a board that might offer more potential generally speaking.
As for the EP45-UD3R board I got, the charge to my MasterCard was $124, but there's a $15 rebate (or there was last week) with a mail-in certificate to Gigabyte.
As for the 780i boards, I just checked Newegg and your choices are limited, with prices in the $160 to $260 range.
EDIT: " . . . I want something that OC's well and
easily . . . " You'll have to come up to speed with P45 over-clocking. BIOS is more complicated than for nVidia chipsets, with more "tweaking" features. Just do the research . . . . On the 780i-angle, our WC'ing guru AigoMorla dubbed the eVGA 780i board a "cherry" for over-clocking. But the Egg doesn't offer them now, and last time I looked, they were still priced above $200+.
ANOTHER EDIT: Not quite $200+, but . . . see what I mean?
EVGA - 132-CK-NF78-TR - nForce 780i SLI ~$190