Overwhelmed. Help needed!

[imported_nicros]

I am looking for a new mobo that is preferably:
1. Silent
2. Good overclocker for someone who has done it before but still kind of new. I want to overclock, but Im not hardcore about every little bit of juice.
3. Future proof (1600FSB? or is 1333 ok?)
4. Works with 45nm
5. Solid, stable and made with great components
6. Price is good

Yep, pretty much the same things everyone is looking for in a good motherboard...

Here are the candidates I have lined up (in no order). Im leaning towards the DFI, just cause I hear such good things about it, but the other things I hear like its not for novices kind of spook me. Maximus formula seems good, but I hear it is discontinued and the p5e is just as good. Gigabyte I dont know much about. Anyways, the list:

GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128089

GIGABYTE GA-EX38T-DQ6
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128329

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128331

ASUS P5E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131219

ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131227

DFI LP UT P35 T2R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136037

DFI LP LT X48-T2R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136046

DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136047

Im really stuck here. Is it worth it to pay the extra? Im willing if it will give me a longer time with that motherboard. Is there a particular brand that is better? Go for the entry level version or the top o the line?

Some suggestions would be very much appreciated!!!

 

[jaqie]

One, and most importantly: there is no such thing as futureproofing, it simply does not exist. Remember this. Even the older LGA775 mobos cannot run current processors, the socket may be the same, but the power reg is not up to the task (for example).
Two, for what you want, gigabyte is far and away the best choice brandwise, as they have always made very solid, reliable boards that have some tweaking (hence overclocking) options (hidden) in the BIOS (google gigybyte F10 trick).
Three, if you want silent, look for a fanless heatpipe system on the motherboard you buy, or look into replacing the stock coolers with water cooling.

 

[daggermeerkat]

You haven't mentioned ABIT? Was in a similar situation 3 weeks ago. What kind of features do you need? Raid, esata, sli, xfire? If you can do away with those features, the basic boards will suit you fine. With regards to ABIT, the ip35 or the ip35-e variant. They are very good with regards to overclocking and are silent. If you want xfire/raid there is the ip35-pro which is just as well a good overclocker like its two little brothers. I ended up getting an ABIT ip35 pro [all solid japanese caps] .. and a q6600 that got me a relatively nice overclock from 2.4Ghz to 3.3Ghz. The p35 variants will also be cheaper than the x38 ones.

Also hear good things about the p35 Gigabyte variants .. even the most basic ones like the GA-P35-DSL3.

All depends on if you are going to use all the features of the mobo. If you are not, stick with basic ones and since you mention that you are not that extreme an overclocker .. you will be pretty happy with either the ABIT or Gigabyte ones. The Asus p5e is equally good.

What cpu you looking at?

 

[imported_nicros]

Augh!

Just missed the Abit X38 quad GT. Was a $90 MIR on newegg, could have got it for $129, but its out of stock (or says auto-notify).

That would have been perfect.

I do understand that theres no real future proof, mostly I mean that I can use the thing with the 1600FSB LGA775 processors when (if) they come out. But even that isnt a huge priority- the DFI's I like are 1333.

 

[Heidfirst]

You haven't really said what you need in terms of features e.g. do you need RAID, firewire, Crossfire etc.?

There is a new version of the abit IP35 Pro, the XE, coming out with official 1600fsb support but pretty much any P35 should do that anyway with an overclock so it's just a bit of marketing spin.

officially X38 chipset is end of life so it's a case of what mobos are left in stock in the channel.

 

[imported_nicros]

Ah okay. Here are my needs:
1. Silent. My current 680i has a noisy NB fan, I hate it.
2. I dont need crossfire or SLI
3. I dont need raid
4. I do need firewire
5. I do need overclocking
6. Supports wolfsdale- want to get an E8400 with it in the near future

Im not sure if I need 1600FSB or not, it sounds cool, but by the time 1600 processors arrive for LGA775, maybe Ill need a new system anyway.

I guess most important is cool, quiet, great overclocking and quality board. Price ideally is somewhere in the 250 or below range.

 

[Goldfish4209]

Go with P35. There are many good P35 mobos out there. I'm running on one made by asus.

 

[Twsmit]

Many of the P35 options will fit the bill for you. No official 1600FSB support but that shouldn't be a problem since they OC well. I just picked up the DFI DK P35 and it is a very solid board, no firewire though and lacks crossfire. It is expensive for what you get feature wise, pretty bare compared to other offerings for $140 but is a great OCer and easy to use.

Whatever you do I would say stick with DDR2 as it is very cheap and use the board until the next gen with IMC comes out early next year.

 

[imported_nicros]

Im kind of liking these two at the moment:
DFI LT UT P35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813136037

And this:
GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128089

Both right around 210. Both seem like good products.

 

[DarkRogue]

Question, why are you looking at the X38 chipset?

I was in the same boat myself, I wanted to "future proof" my purchase, but if you're not using Crossfire, one of the biggest advantages of X38 over P35 goes wasted, and you're paying an extra $100-200 for nothing. And I don't think getting an X38 right now will make it any more "future proof" than a P35, because the Nehalem's use a different socket which automatically means a new motherboard anyway.

I'm quite happy with my Gigabyte board, although it comes with a few features you don't need. only a few Gigabyte P35 boards have firewire though, but if you're not opposed to buying add-in cards, you can get a DS3L for $80-90 and pick up a firewire PCI card cheap.

 

[imported_nicros]

No particular reason to look at the X38. Im not using crossfire. It just happens to fall in the price range and feature set of the motherboards Im looking at.

 

[DarkRogue]

Well, as mentioned before, Gigabyte P35 boards are solid performers, I'd suggest you take a look at them, they're sub-100 up to around 160 depending on features you need. As for 1600FSB support, my DS3P does support it as I'm running an OC'd E8400 @ 9x400 atm. It's also silent because there are no fans, it's cooled by a heatpipe (the DS4 extends the heatpipe to the southbridge as well, but I couldn't justify the extra cost for it personally.)

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Go buy a cheap P35 board and a $15 firewire card. I saved you 30 bucks, please mail a check to me now.

 

[Heidfirst]

if you can find the standard abit IP35 http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en...AME=IP35&fMTYPE=LGA775 it's a good mobo has/does everything that you want plus RAID (you also get an extra 2 SATA ports on the RAID version of the Intel sb) & should be ~$100-120.
If Newegg do the IP35 Pro offer for $100 after rebate again jump on it.