Author Topic: Help me choose! (Read 912 times)

Brenjen · « **on:** January 23, 2007, 09:26:28 AM »

I am about to embark on a new PC build for my wife & kids; I am going to build the system around the core2 duo LGA 775 socket & I can't find a motherboard I feel comfortable with yet. All the reviews I have been reading complain about memory problems or worse (read eVGA 680i board).

I like my ASUS board in my AMD rig, it's been rock solid with 10 - 12 hour a day use for a year & it was easy as pie to set-up so I've been leaning toward another ASUS but....all the "it's picky about what memory you use" problems have me wondering. I know Foxconn builds some good boards but they are the ones who built the nightmare evga board that everyone is having major issues with.

I'm currently pondering the ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI or the Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 LGA 775 Intel 955X. I am aware the memory standards are different on these two boards btw.

Anyone who has hands on knowledge of a good board they feel comfortable recommending, I'd like to hear from you. What memory you know works well in said board (or boards if you like more than one) & what chipset you like with these core2 duo cpu's. I am by no means a tech geek, I have built two systems in my entire life & both went smooth as silk (even the el-cheapo PC chips mobo build) & I want this one to be an equally easy to set up; stable, reliable system for the family.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2007, 10:36:13 AM »

Brenjen,
Funny. I was just putting my grocery list together myself for "my wife and kids" new computer. Here is what I've come up with for around $1400

1. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 cpu $315 from zipzoomfly

2. Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe Mobo $210 from zipzoomfly

3. Corsair XMS 2GB (2 X 1GB) 240-pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) RAM
Reported to work well with the Asus P5N32 mb. $265 from buy.com

4. Nvidia EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB video card $399 from zipzoomfly

5. ThermalTake ToughPower W0117 750W PS $152 from Page Computer

I'm still evaluating/comparing so I may change direction several more times but this may help you a bit.

Hope your wife enjoys her new computer.

Brenjen · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2007, 01:27:54 PM »

lol, mine really is for the wife & kids. I'm not just saying that.

My girls don't do any real heavy gaming, the Sims, Harry Potter, Emergency Vet & a few other games like that is about all they do as far as gaming. My wife & daughters all have digital cameras & music (tons of pictures & music) that they use their PC for so I'm leaning toward the budget, low end game capable, large hard drive reliable as a mule type of build. I'm looking at these main parts;

ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI mobo for $140

eVGA 256-P2-N443-LX GeForce 7300GT VGA for $70

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W PS for $70

Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU for $187

G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) for $205

Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s HD for $95

OR this mobo & memory

Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 LGA 775 Intel 955X for $145

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) for $179

NOT · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2007, 03:36:31 PM »

go with Asus. Mine has been flawless.

Brenjen · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2007, 06:57:38 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by BMnot
go with Asus. Mine has been flawless.

Do you own the model I posted above? (P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI)

Nomak · « **Reply #5 on:** January 23, 2007, 08:57:17 PM »

I would go with the Intel P965 chipset. Although I believe that the nForce680i is the best chip for core2 at the moment, you wont find one for less than around $250. The P965 can be had for $100 and has the latest ICH8R Southbridge. Also THG says that you only notice the difference in the two when doing serious overclocking. If you want more info Toms Hardware guide is the place.

http://www.tomshardware.com/

Here is some P965 info and 7 boards reviewed

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/13/shootout_at_the_core_2_corral/

Hope that helps. I wish I would have read before I bought my MB

Dave

Nomak · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2007, 09:10:35 PM »

Here is an incredable E6300 overclock using a P965 chip. Great article. its also kind of a follow up on the 7 MB shootout I posted a link to.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/18/overclocking-guide-part-1/

Dave

Brenjen · « **Reply #7 on:** January 24, 2007, 10:49:21 AM »

I plan to overclock the cpu; that's why I'm going with the 6300; unless it's just such a great chip it's not needed. This will be my first Core2 duo experience so I am completely unfamiliar with the chip & the motherboards that support them other than what I have read. Thanks for the links, I'll read them.

Brenjen · « **Reply #8 on:** January 25, 2007, 11:11:20 AM »

So I take it that none of you that have built a Core2 duo (conroe) system have had a trouble free motherboard? I want to use the 680i chipset but I have read so many reviews that my head hurts & all of the first hand "I used this motherboard in my build" reviews are about 75% positive & 25% negative on every single board. I haven't run across one yet that the majority of users had no problems with.

I'll use the the Intel 9 series chipset if it comes to that but I was hoping for some first hand info from people who don't just review their motherboards by saying "it sucks, waste of money" like so many do referring to the 680i

I'm not feeling the love on the eVGA 680i board, they are reeling from complaints about it on their forums. But from what I've seen the offerings from other companies like ASUS & Gigabyte aren't much better.

What to do, what to do.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #9 on:** January 25, 2007, 11:14:51 AM »

Mine has been rock solid. But I cannot make any suggestions as to what motherboard to use without someone interpreting it as an endorsement and that is not acceptable.

Brenjen · « **Reply #10 on:** January 25, 2007, 01:10:53 PM »

I am only looking for first hand "I built mine around this chipset & it just happens to be this brand"

If you had a bad experience with a certain chipset or mobo I'd be glad to hear it too & I will in no way view any one persons personal choice as an endorsement by HTC or any individual since good or bad depends a lot on the builders knowledge; I am trying to arm myself beforehand

eagl · « **Reply #11 on:** January 25, 2007, 04:14:50 PM »

hardocp just reviewed the asus p5b-e and seemed to like it well enough. It's not an enthusiast board but it sounded like a nice reasonably priced board.

JCLerch · « **Reply #12 on:** January 26, 2007, 03:33:51 PM »

I just finished building a new system, here's what I put together (all parts from newegg)

MSI P965 Platinum MS-7238

Intel C2D E6600 with stock heat sink fan, running very stable at 3.1ghz @ 57C max (41C normal)

A-Data 2x 1-Gig DDR2-800 1.8v 5-5-5-18

Triple head video using:
Single head Nvidia 7900 GS PCIe X16
Dual head Nvidia 6200 le PCIe x16 (2d display only)

2x ST3320620AS via Intel Matrix Raid (100g root mirror) (400g data stripe)

Antec SONATA II case with stock 450watt power supply(I even kept the silly air duct, but added the optional fans)

Win XP 32bit Pro SP2

Man I LOVE this thing, and it went together with only one problem, I needed a floppy drive to "F6" the Intel raid drivers during the WinXP install. (I really thought floppy drivers were a thing of the past!!!!)

For reference, I upgraded from a 4yr old 2.4ghz P4 Dell machine. WOW what a difference

Brenjen · « **Reply #13 on:** January 26, 2007, 03:55:07 PM »

Sounds sweet. I've never put together a raid array; I was thinking about doing it with this P/C, I have a spare floppy laying around. It sort of pisses me off to, it's the only thing I can see ever needing a floppy for

I almost went with the sonata case, what is that crazy air duct on the side for? Does it feed clean air to the power supply? It looked like I would have to remove it to put in the motherboard & I am thinking of using the arctic cooling freezer 7 pro & I was afraid it might interfere with it. My wife & kids picked out some cheap, ugly case anyway so it made my concerns a moot point.

JCLerch · « **Reply #14 on:** January 26, 2007, 08:05:09 PM »

Yea, the black plastic thing on the Sonata case is an air inlet duct. As is from the factory I don't think it would be worth much as the air would have to be sucked thru it. Also, it does have to come out to gain access to the motherboard or PCI slots.

Most ppl confess to simply doing away with the duct, If I didn't have spare fans lying around I probably would have also. However, since I did have fans to fit it, I now use the duct to force fresh cool air over both the PCI slots and the CPU. Seems to work pretty well, but the fans did make the case slightly less than silent during normal use. When benchmarking, they can actually start to sound like a small jet engine back there

BTW, the raid array isn't anything unusual and the hardware is built into most motherboards these days. I'm thankfull I did the mirror as one of the drives started "clicking" and causing timeout errors. I've got a replacement drive on the way, in the mean time I just unplugged the troublesome drive and everything just keeps on working

When the new drive arrives, I just plug it in and let the hardware re-create the mirror. Simple, fast, cheap and reliable (as long as I don't loose the remaining drive while waiting for the replacement!)