new mobo and ram help

[tony the tiger]

first post

[tony the tiger]

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of researching parts for my first computer build, I have been looking at Asus mobo's particularly the p5k p35's. I don't need the wifi and I'm not sure what the differences are between the p5k p35's.

Here is the one I'm currently considering
Asus P5K Atx LGA775 P35 DDR2 2PCI-E16 3PCI 1PCI-E1 SATA2 Sound Gblan 1394 Motherboard - DirectCanada

I'm also not sure about which ram to chose, I'm looking at these
Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Kit W/ LEDs - DirectCanada

I've already ordered the q6600 and 8800gts with plans to overclock both.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

[sswilson]

Welcome to the forums!!!!

Are you planning on overclocking, and secondly do you think you'd ever be using crossfire? (obviously not with the vid card you've ordered.... :) ).

Just to give you some more choices in motherboards, the current reasonably priced overclocking darlings seem to be the gigabyte P35 boards.....

Folks have been reporting really good results with these two models...

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Atx LGA775 Conroe P35 DDR2 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 Sata Raid Sound Gblan Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Atx LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Motherboard

The main difference between the Asus model you're looking at and these is the lack of a second PCIe X 16 (I'm thought that the P35 chipset was limited to 8X on the second slot).

[tony the tiger]

Hey sswilson, thanks for the reply.

The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L seems to have better reviews
Customer Reviews Of GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

How is Gigabyte as a motherboard overall compared to Asus? I read that Asus boards are very well designed and reliable.

Also I don't plan on using SLI but will be getting the azuen prelude 7.1 soon

Any suggestions on ram?

[sswilson]

Well, this batch seems to be well designed, and if you want to believe the literature, they're built to last. (I always take such things with a grain of salt though.... :) ).

I haven't seen any complaints on them at all, which is a pretty good track record when you consider how many of these boards they are probably putting out.... :)

The mem you chose is fine. PC2 8500 would be nicer, but then again, you might get close to PC2 8500 speeds out of the 6400, and that's what overclocking is all about.... :)

[tony the tiger]

So I'm going to pull the trigger on the Crucial 8500's, and I've done some research on the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 boards and they seem to be a good buy. But whats the difference between the DS3R and DS3L? does the DS3L support ddr2?

[sswilson]

They're both DDR2 boards.

I believe the more expensive one has higher quality voltage regulation circuitry.

With any luck, either pscout, or 3.0charlie will jump in here, as I know they both did a fair bit of research between the two boards... :)

There was some discussion of the two boards in this thread.... http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/intel...-my-e6420.html