motherboard recommendation

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gumdigger

429 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#29080 22-Dec-2008 11:49

hi
can you guys recommend me what motherboards i should get for following CPU's

Intel Q6600 motherboard budget is below $300
Intel E8400 motherboard budget is below $250

i will be having offboard Graphic card.

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
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#185676 22-Dec-2008 13:13

Do you intend to use multiple graphics cards eg: Crossfire (ATI) or SLI (Nvidia)?

- If you want to use Nvidia SLI you need to get an Nvidia chipset motherboard (780).
- If you want to use ATI Crossfire you need to get an Intel chipset motherboard (X38, X48 or X58). Note you can use Crossfire on P35 and P45 chipset's but the PCIE bandwidth is halved compared to the X chipsets.

If you think you will stick with a single video card than Intel P35 or P45 chipset is the way to go imo.

Personally I would go with an Asus or Gigabyte Intel P45 chipset and a single graphics card unless you're a hardcore performance freak.

I have an Asus PQ5 Pro Intel P45 chipset motherboard with a Q6600 and it works very well, the Gigabyte EP45-DS3 is equivalent and cheaper I think.

Gigabyte EP45-DS3 will work well for either CPU and it ~$200-250 inc GST at most shops.

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#185685 22-Dec-2008 14:21

Most of the advanced features are not useful for an HTPC unless gaming. For an HTPC you don't need multi-graphics: waste of money & takes up slots that can be used for other components. Also, overclocking, expensive RAM, ultra high end graphics.

I have a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3 & haven't had any issues with it & was going to recommend it, but it is only available from one retailer. So maybe the 45 chipset as specified above. As for makes: I think you would get 10 different responses from 10 people.

Any of the major brands should be good. Just make sure you have enough PCI & PCI-e x1/x2 slots for future-proofing.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

rhysb

435 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

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#185717 22-Dec-2008 17:20

The Intel DP35DP media boards are very good HTPC motherboards. They don't have all the frills of some boards but are super reliable and have a good feature set.

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DP35DP/DP35DP-overview.htm