Mobo Dilemma

[Azrael]

Hey Guys,

Well since I'm stuck in this little problem, I'll tell you a little about it. I've been looking into building a new rig for about 6 months now, and plan to buy it and build it before summer's end. Here's what I have so far:
1. Intel E6420
2. OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 PC2-6400 (2x1Gb)
3. EVGA 8800 GTS 320mb
4. NZXT LEXA Case
5. Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320mb
6. Silverstone Zeus 750W

Now the problem is with the mobo, I've been in indecision since the start as to what to get. Every time I decide it ends up having a big problem. So I ask you guys for help in this matter.

A few things I'd like is good overclockability (I'd like is possible to attain 3Ghz with stock cooler (I know... such an amateur)), I'd like a serial port for a printer, but it's not dire. and the whole SLI/Crossfire thing is not important I pan to only have one video card, but I'd lean more to the sli then crossfire if that is the difference between two boards.

So I leave this in your knowing hands.

Thanks for the help,
Azrael

[Babrbarossa]

What's your mobo budget? If you are looking for an inexpensive aftermarket cooler, you might want to look into an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7- you can get them for about $23 and they're great for the money.

[Azrael]

The budget is right around the 200 mark, maybe a bit above if I can be convinced. About the cooler, is it truly necessary ( I assume it would be better for the chip), would I have to buy arctic silver or another type of thermal compound as well?

[omgwtf]

If you purchase Arctic Freezer 64 Pro you don't have to buy another thermal paste because it comes with (arctic mx1) already on the heatsink.
I use Arctic Silver 64 pro and Arctic silver 5 on my X2 4600+, it doesn't matter. The temperature of the cpu is 46 after I played for 10 hours and the pc is up like for 3 days....
You won't regret it.

[Babrbarossa]

Yeah, well you wont be buying the 64 pro as it's for AMD chipsets, but the freezer pro 7 comes with paste too. It's quieter and will keep it a little cooler- I'd say it was worth the 25 bucks for an overclocker.

If you want SLI, I'd go for the Asus P5n32-E SLI, or the evga 680i A1.

The evga is easy to do basic overclocking on, is a good memory overclocker, has an LED debug readout, you hardly ever need to clear CMOS if you tweak too far- it just restarts at defaults, evga has great warranty, a good support community, requent bios updates, and is more affordable than many 680i. There are occacsionally issues with any 680i, but I think evga makes the risk well worth it.

The p5ne32-sli is the older 650i chipset and is quite a bit more affordable, but performs VERY well.

For a single GPU, you might consider the Gigabyte DS3- this is a great overclocker but can be picky about memory compatibility. The north bridge can get pretty warm on these, but they have solid capacitors which last longer too. Best of all, it's inexpensive.

The Asus p5B Deluxe is old reliable, a solid board with good overclocking, layout and bios- easy bios flashing too. It can be a little but fiddly though, to get a good overclock out of (so I hear)

If I'm omitting any other good options, hopefully other will interject.

[Azrael]

those seem good, so are a little expensive, but I've heard good things about the evga I680 Rev. A1. I was looking at the ASUS P5B-Plus. It seems pretty good, any Ideas (I'll look into the EVGA I680 A1 and the Gigabyte DS3)

[Babrbarossa]

Yeah- you won't go wrong with that board- it's in the same price range as the p5n32e and the gigabyte ds3.

Another board in that range that is new is the DFI Infinity 965-S It's was pretty hyped as a monster overclocker at it's release, but I do hear some grumblings about audio problems. sswilson, who is one of our mods, is getting one this week so we'll see how he makes out.

[b1lk1]

I would recommend the MSI P6N SLI-FI over ANY other C2D motherboard out.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...=MSI/MicroStar

Excellent price and overclockability too.

I'd steer clear of DFI if I were you. THey are not hte company they used to be.

[Azrael]

hmmm, so much choice... I didn't know mobo's could be so painful to chose (My first mid-high range build... not like before when I just needed stable low-end...:P). Now there was also the gigabyte 650I, which looks promising as well.

I think I'll probably keep all these in a list, and then slowly trim the 'fat'. So any others? All this help is very much appreciated, and I'll tell you how the search goes (directcanada.com is even cheaper then NCIX, so maybe I'll be able to get 'high-end' items :))

Thanks again, and any more are very much appreciated.

[Babrbarossa]

Well- sorry for not being able to offer you 'the one' but hopefully you have a working list- there's a bunch of good boards- just a matter of price and features. D.C. is generally cheaper on their day-to-day prices, but NCIX often has better sale prices, so check out their weekly sales.