TIME to upgrade... Mobo thoughts?

mlakrid

mlakrid

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Hey Guys!

It is UPGRADE Time once again, I am very happy with how long my 3.2Ghz Northwood lasted me. It played every game I through at it with flying colors... it never bogged down, or hiccuped.

SO with that in mind, I am going to upgrade to the "NEW" best thing in CPUs and go with the new Intel CORE2 Duo... and I am thinking about WHICH Asus board I will go with this time...

Here is the board I am considering, I am looking for a LGA775 board rich with features which I can get for a decent price.

I am partial to ASUS but WILL consider other vendors if they have a good track record and IF they are near the same price point...
EDIT: Current price point approx $220 with shipping to my location: zip code: 34638 Land O Lakes, FL

Here is what this Mobo has to offer:

Thoughts and Ideas? Lets go Ladies and Gents...

Reps+ to all trains of thought I find helpful or poingniant...


Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus Features
  • Support for all Intel LGA775 processors, including Pentium 4, Pentium D, Pentium Extreme Edition, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme;
  • Northbridge: NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI (C55-SLIX8N-A2);
  • Southbridge: NVIDIA MCP55P (NF590-SLI-N-A2);
  • Support for up to 8GB of DDR2-533, DDR2-667 or DDR2-800MHz memory, with additional support for NVIDIA SLI-Ready Memory up to 1200MHz;
  • Two PCI-Express x16 slots for SLI (blue, running at x16) and one PCI-Express x16 slot (white, running at x8), one PCI-Express x1 slot and two PCI slots;
  • Asus SupremeFX Audio Card with 7.1 channel support via ADI1988B HD Audio codec, complete with jack sensing, multi-streaming, jack-retasking and noise filter, along with co-axial and optical S/PDIF out ports;
  • Dual Gigabit Ethernet PHY via a pair of PCI-Express based Marvell 88E1116-NNC1 network controllers;
  • Six native SATA 3Gbps ports supporting RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD;
  • Support for ten USB 2.0 ports (four on rear I/O panel, six via on-board pins/expansion brackets);
  • Two IEEE1394a Firewire ports (one on rear I/O panel, one via on-board pins/expansion brackets);
  • One ATA133 connector and one floppy connector.
Thanks,

Mike A!
Land O Lakes, FL
 
If you dont need/want SLI I's suggest the intel D975XBX2 :)

Otherwise check out the asus striker extreme or the evga 680i sli.
 
Looks fine to me. I don't think there's much between any of the good brands for Core 2 Duo mobos, so long as you're not bothered about SLi or CrossFire.

Core 2 Duos rock by the way, good choice!! :)
 
LordOfLA said:
If you dont need/want SLI I's suggest the intel D975XBX2 :)

Otherwise check out the asus striker extreme or the evga 680i sli.
Click to expand...

I am considering the benefits of SLI because of the fast drop in prices of SLI capable GFX cards...

This card is basically a striker extreme toned down slightly... as a matter of fact the actual card is the same model which is why Asus kept it so quiet, the simply changed the north/southbridge and re-named it...

so the differences in the boards is minimal...

Thanks for the inputs so far, I will have to price out the cards with all of the peripherals... and then make my choice...

Keep the suggestions coming...

Reps on the way! Ray you will have to wait, I have given you reps recently.. :)

David_L6 said:
I have a D975XBX2 and I'm very happy with it.
Click to expand...
Which brand do you have of this board?

Mike A!
 
its an intel only board :)

Probably the best 975X chipset based board available. Intel already have penryn compatible editions in pre-production!
 
OK so what processor shoyuld I be looking at to stay at/above my current level??

I was thinking: E6600 which is ON SALE for a limited time on tiger direct for $239.00
 
The 6600 is regularly priced at $235 on newegg.
Egg Price

The 6600 has a 2.4 gig clock vs 3.2 gig on the old CPU. The 6600 core 2 duo has a much more efficient architecture so that will close the clock speed gap plus it is a dual core CPU which will help in some applications.

You will should be happy with the 6600 the benchies show a 50-90% performance improvement even on single core applications.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=432&model2=461&chart=167

I can't believe the 3.46 gig P4 is selling for $75 and a 3.2 gig Pentium D for $96. No wonder AMD lost 600 million last quarter.
 
Last edited:
I have the P5N-E SLI with the 650I chipset with the 6600E its a monster setup ... I would tell anyone to buy this setup its great , solid , fast ... of course I have a 8800GTS 640mb that kinnda helps !
 
LeeJend said:
The 6600 is regularly priced at $235 on newegg.
Egg Price

The 6600 has a 2.4 gig clock vs 3.2 gig on the old CPU. The 6600 core 2 duo has a much more efficient architecture so that will close the clock speed gap plus it is a dual core CPU which will help in some applications.

You will should be happy with the 6600 the benchies show a 50-90% performance improvement even on single core applications.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=432&model2=461&chart=167

I can't believe the 3.46 gig P4 is selling for $75 and a 3.2 gig Pentium D for $96. No wonder AMD lost 600 million last quarter.
Click to expand...

I should have specified... I am buying the chip the CONROE version 4MB cache etc!!,
Shamus MacNoob said:
I have the P5N-E SLI with the 650I chipset with the 6600E its a monster setup ... I would tell anyone to buy this setup its great , solid , fast ... of course I have a 8800GTS 640mb that kinnda helps !
Click to expand...

LOL

I will NOT be buying that video card... the specs on this chip (CONROE version 4MB cache) etc, are simply AMAZING~!

EDIT: speaking of which, what video card or cards, should I choose for this setup...
SLI is NOT that important to me...

Mike A!
Land O LAkes, FL
 
The C2D E6X00 series just got a price cut from Intel.
 
madmatt said:
The C2D E6X00 series just got a price cut from Intel.
Click to expand...


AHHH that would explain it!

At least the discrepancy between like processors anyway...

:laugh:

Thanks Matt!

AGAIN... I ask what besides that MONSTER of a vid card should I get most bang for the $$$

THANKS!

Mike A!
 
Last edited:
The 8800 GTS or wait for the new ATI cards. I wouldn't recommend anything that doesn't offer DX10 support. But, that's just me.
 
I have the 4mb cache and it is a MONSTER !! What Matt said for DX10 gotta have it !
 
Mlarkid... wait for a coupla months

Native penryn boards would be a good option, rather than just doing bios flashes.

My $0.02

Plus MAYBE barcelona's based procs will be available.
 
Get over that AMD BS. They are going no where fast! My $0.03.
 
if you think the 8800gts is too much you should wait for the ati cards, nvidia's 8600 series doesn't seem too spectacular
 
Thanks for all the information guys!

I kind of answered all my own questions, although I tried to talk myself out of getting the 8800 GTS I guess I will have to break down and get it...

Oh Well...

I already ordered my memory...
The rest I will be ordering very soon.... including the video card... I will pay
Approx $850 shipped for the items listed below thanks to a $100 tigerdirect giftcard and a $50 mail-in rebate:

BFG 640MB 8800 GTS
Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus
2GB OCZ memory paired kit
E6600 CONROE 2.4 Ghz Processor
 
Last edited:
mlakrid said:
Thanks for all the information guys!

I kind of answered all my own questions, although I tried to talk myself out of getting the 8800 GTS I guess I will have to break down and get it...

Oh Well...

I already ordered my memory...
The rest I will be ordering very soon.... including the video card... I will pay
Approx $850 shipped for the items listed below thanks to a $100 tigerdirect giftcard and a $50 mail-in rebate:

BFG 640MB 8800 GTS
Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus
2GB OCZ memory paired kit
E6600 CONROE 2.4 Ghz Processor
Click to expand...

A clone of my machine your going to enjoy congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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