Whats Best Board for 3.06b +PC3700 Ram?

Just looking for some advice on what board works best for a 3.06b with PC3700 Ram. Currently my board (Gigabyte-Sinxp1394) has made me very unhappy and I am looking for a board with ALL of the following.

• MUST have a Complete Choice of DRAM voltage settings in bios, not just 1 or 2 options, current board only has "normal" and "+0.2V" for DRAM Voltage options. I'm looking for a board that I can easily adjust the rams voltage and can up that voltage to run at 2.9V-3V
  
• MUST be a Dual channel DDR board, and be able to run the ram dual channel@DDR466, Basically has to be PC3700 compatible. If manufacturer doesn't claim this, but you know from personal experience or have read in a post that its compatible thats fine with me too. My ram is Geil PC3700 Platinum series.
  
• MUST be compatible with slk-900u HSF.
  
• Prefer to have on board gigabit Lan.
  
• Would like it to be a board known for good overclocking abilities
  
• Must support AGP 8x
  
• Tired of disspointment , so new board MUST make me happy hehe

Motherboard price is not a factor for me right now, so please just tell me what you think the "best" motherboard is for my cpu/ram.

Sounds like you're looking for the Abit IC7-G. It has everything you're looking for except the RAM voltages (only go up to 2.8v). My second choice would be the Asus P4C800, but I don't think it has the Gigabit LAN.

I wasn't clear if you already have the 3.06, but if you are looking to buy one, consider one of the 800 bus P-4's instead.

yeah I do already have the processor/ram, built a new PC a little over a 2 months ago now. I have a question on the ram voltage, you said it only goes up to 2.8V is that enough voltage to run ram at DDR466 speeds? If so I may go with that board,

*Edit* also after checking abits site, it just says the board runs Dual Channel DDR400, but not necessarily DDR466. Just want to double check that its fully compatible with PC3700 DDR466 Ram. It says that its compatible with Geil memory though...

I'm using OCZ PC3500 EL (DDR433) RAM and it's working ok. I've seen other people using PC3700 (DDR466) RAM with the IC7, I don't recall hearing anyone with PC3700 ever having a problem. I think you'll be ok. I've gotten my RAM up tp DDR470 on this mobo, so I think "only" going up to 2.8v is not much of a handicap. If you really "need" more vmem, there is a voltage mod that some folks (like Hipro5) have done, if you're good at soldering.

Ok, thats all I was wondering, as long as I can hit DDR466 with this board thats good enough to convince me to purchase it. If I can get more out of it thats great too, but so long as my ram are running at their rated speeds I'll be able to sleep easier. Its been driving me nuts to have DDR466 and having to run it under DDR400, like seriously I can't stop thinking about it. All those nightmarish dreams with my motherboard's evil yet triumphant smirk as it refuses to run my ram at its rated speeds.

So in a couple weeks once I'm out of school, and taking out my mobo to mod my case with my dremel, it will be a time for a motherboard change too. Also I was thinking about buying a 2.6C to go with it, depending on if I have the money or not (all depends on if I get my summer job or not) find out this morning. Either way though getting this board will give me the possibility of upgrading my cpu later on when I do have money.

I guess the question that I need to solve now is what to do with my Sinxp, its a fine motherboard, but it just doens't do what I need it to do. Also if I upgrade my cpu too, I can't decide if I should sell it maybe as a mobo CPU combo type of thing? I mean it did hit 3.4Ghz without any problems. And would be a great board for anyone running ram rated under DDR400. and apparently its supposed to be able to run over DDR400, but only with the "selected" memory sticks which in reality is just 1 stick of TwinMos DDR466, GREAT compatibliity for different manufacturers lol. If you're so inclinced check out the compatibility list http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/TechnologyGuide/TechnologyGuide_63.htm when comparing that to Abits compatibility list it really makes me feel like I didn't do near enough motherboard research when buliding my system.

Oh yeah don't forget to read the disclaimer on the bottom of the compatability list

Both DDR 434 and DDR466 modules are setting at 400MHz

Click to expand...

Lol, yeah that board is definately "correctly" advertised as DDR400+

Hey Batboy, I was wondering what you regularily run your ram at timings, voltage, etc, and also what are your memory benchmarks when using sandra. since you are using the board I'm planning on upgrading to, I guess I just want to make sure that getting it would create a big difference in both performance and sandra scores. Don't feel like spending $200 and seeing no noticeable difference in my computers performance

I have no benchies that will compare apples to apples, since both my 2.4C and 2.8C will have much more FSB. If you really want me to post benchies I will though. These benchies were handy and are all for my 2.4C/3.3 gig running at 275 FSB using the 5:4 mem ratio...

BB, I have the BE7-Raid and my cpu benches are better than urs DREY = 10511 and the Whetstone is 2885/6228. Only the 6228 is slightly lower, but your should be much faster since I am only @ 146 FSB with my 3.06. How is this possible? I know your memory band is about 2.5x mine. Does the memory Band. make that much of a difference in overall pc speed?

Frozen, I dont think with the 3.06 if you will be able to maxout your ram to 466 as I dont believe the ram dividers will allow you to go this high but I maybe wrong. I am also interested in the IC7-G since the wife has given me clearance to buy upto 250 for a Fathers day present for myself from the kids. So any input on if the 533 cpu's have any problems running the Dual Channel memory is of great importance to myself. I heard some people are having problems with the 533 and DC, any truth that BB has heard would be great.

Tread

Since your CPU is running at 3.36 gig compared to my 3.30 gig, it's not surprising your CPU bench mark edged me out a tad. Can't find my Sandra benchmark for my 2.8C running at 3.6 gig, but trust me, it kicks butt. The memory bandwidth really makes a huge difference in many apps and only a modest diff in others. Not sure what you've heard about the non-800 bus CPUs not doing well in the IC7, but I tested my 2.66 and my 2.0A in my IC7 and both got a significantly better overclock than the same CPUs in my TH7-II. I had no problems.

Tread is right, with the high multiplier 533 CPU like the 3.06, you probably won't max out PC3700. If you can hit 150 FSB and use the 3:4 ratio, that's only DDR400.

Ok well that proves to me that getting the IC7-G would definately be well worth the investment. My memory bandwidth scores are sad especially compared to yours.

Ok so I don't know how to post pics, so I'll just state my scores. For these scores I'm only running my cpu at 3.12Ghz right now, was at 3.3Ghz... its been REALLY hot the last couple days and so until I get my cable management in order and my new case fans dremeled in, gonna leave it at that speed I just don't like to see my temps ever hit 50C. So anyways the scores.

FSB@137, Stock Voltage, [email protected], 2x512MB Geil Platinum PC3700 DDR466@DDR364, Timings 2.5 6-3-3

Sandra Says Mem Bandwidth Bench: My Computer --(Int 3374, Float 3367)--

Sandra Says Mem Bandwidth Bench: BB's Computer --(Int 5945, Float 5157)--

I'm not sure exactly how sandra measures memory bandwidth, but I'm guessing that having overall more memory would increase this score. So the fact that you have a total of 512MB of memory and I have 1Gig and your score is almost double mine tells me that the board I have was definately not made for the ram I have.

So now the question remains....what do I do with this motherboard, I've only had it a few weeks, and it works great, it just not the right motherboard for my system

You could try selling it in the forum classified ads or eBay. What I do when I start getting enough cast off components from upgrading is that I scrounge around and buy the remaining parts for a bargain and then put a bare bines system together to sell. I always seem to find a friend or co-worker who wants to buy it. I've been doing this for several years now and have a reputation for putting together quality boxes for a low price.

Ok so if I were to build a bare-bones, is that just mobo, Ram, HSF? or is it an entire "bargain" system? with case, PS, fans the works...? I guess what I'm asking is what exactly you mean by bare-bones, what components are included? because I have decent extra computer parts just sitting in my last system, so I was thinking maybe of doing like you said and going with bare-bones if its possible for me to do so. Plus with upgrading the mobo and potentially processor, my current mobo+3.06b would go to the bare-bones. Ideally I'd like to get at least $400-450 for what I put together (if possible that is) because that would give me the money needed to get the IC7-G and a 2.6c CPU.