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Best Conroe Motherboard for Gaming w/ 2 X 7800GT?

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Gregz

Gregz

Member
​
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Location
Dawsonville, GA
Hi,

I'd like to build a new gaming machine around a conroe dual-core processesor.

Can anyone recommend a good Motherboard + CPU + Memory (2 X 1Gig) set for me? I'm stuck with two 7800GTs from a previous AMD SLI machine, so I'd like to be able to use those cards in the new machine. They are both PCIe16.

I'm a big fan of ASUS, but I'm open to suggestions(whatever is stable and OCs well).

My total budget for the CPU + MOBO + MEM is $1,000 US

Thanks in advance!

-Greg
_______
 
There are few schools of thought. If you completely oppossed to nforce boards, you are going to need hacked drivers to get the sli going on intel chipsets. Then you are going to have to hope it will be supported in the future with official drivers (odds are it probably will, but you never know).

If you don't mind a little lower oc'ing, and with a conroe its not necessary to get good performance, you can get an e6700, ASUS p5n32sli SE deluxe, and 2 gigs ram under $1000. You can also get a lower version of the conroe if you want and save more money, but that will get you to $1000.

I have this setup, bought a x6800 conroe and spent about 1500 on that combo.
 
forgot to mention memory make sure you use approved memory this board is a little unforgiving. I had to downclock my corsair to 667, but I also was able to speed up the latency. I would go with OCZ for this board
 
Thankyou for your reply,


I checked the ASUS p5n32sli SE deluxe on newegg and it got mixed reviews(4/5):

Mobo wouldnt Post BIOS

Pros: Great Looking Board.

Cons: Even tho is writen all over the box Core 2 Duo and 800MHz Memory Ready. This Board Is Not! I called Tech Support Friday Night, the Day I got it on. Support Said I Needed To Call BIOS Support on Monday for Newer version of BIOS. ASUS Forum Support Does Not Exist, Forum is Very Very Slow and Needs Work on

Other Thoughts: This Board I received Did Not Come Ready as Described. Before Buying this Mobo, Read ASUS Support Forum to Find out how many people have had problems with this Mobo. If you buy this board,... Pray your a lucky person.
Click to expand...

I know from experience that when building a new system you have to start with a great motherboard(especially if you plan to OC), so I'm a bit cautious. Can anyone recommend a different mobo? Should I just wait until October for the 590 chipset boards?

Thanks again,

-Greg
 
the P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe is a very nice board. I just purchased one and I have had no issues with it. One thing it does not do well is OC. The max I can get out of it is 300mhz fsb before it breaks. This takes my E6600 up to about 2.7ghz and I can score about 9350 on 3dmark06 with 2 7900gts volt modded and oced to about 600/1400. If you are looking for really ocing your cpu I would look for another board. Most you will have to use hacked drivers on though. Not many that support core2duo and SLI.
 
Unless you are a heavy overclocker, the p5n32sle se deluxe is actually a pretty good board. And the last poster is right you have to use hacked drivers to get sli on an intel board. Unfortunately those are the choices. They just released a new bios 0401 I think which fixes the problems.
 
Unless you are a heavy overclocker...
Click to expand...

I don't watercool, but I do use a huge heatsink w/ heatpipes and a 120mm fan at 5500RPM or so.

Given that that's my cooling apparatus, would this board be OK for me? I'd like to OC it as far as I can keep it cool with that HSF combo.

Also, do you think it's wise to wait a month to see how the 590 chipset pans out before committing to the p5n32sle se deluxe now?
 
Last edited:
Nah don't wait for the 590 chipset, first ones may have bugs/issues and will be majorly overpriced I'd bet. And this board will be fine for a while to come especially with a good Core 2 Duo and 2GB of DDR2-800.

Try this out:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - $328.99

ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe - $219.99

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $269.00

Total = $817.98 Excluding shipping

Also, if you do overclock at all, a good heatsink would be the Thermalright Ultra 120 and a Scythe S-Flex 120mm Fan. Good Luck.
 
Oh, is the P5W series basically the same board? Because I'm in need of a second integrated network controller.

Thanks,

-Greg
 
the current hacked drivers (dl them here) support 7800 series cards. (when you upgrade GFX's go ATI for multi GPU ;) or wait for official SLI support for intel chipsets ;) )

and the best 975X motherboard is...

Asus P5W64 WS Professional
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=248&model=1341&modelmenu=1

HOT price.. (if the past is any indication at this price these will sell out only to get jacked up for about 3weeks to 2months :( )
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB...3d54c48944aed523008808fd0e8f920b66dbe3f753750

This motherboards stock max FSB is 470 :eek:
 
Last edited:
Gregz said:
Referring specifically to this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813131025
Click to expand...

No.. thats the DH.. I put up a link to Asus's site for the correct WS-pro and a link to the best price on the internet to purchase (from a reputable online vendor ewiz) the correct WS-pro.

It is the best motherboard for multi-gpu for C2D to date, it has 470FSB stock reasonalby (I've seen 480FSB so far)

thats considerbly better then the DH's overclockablity and miles ahead of any SLI motherboard.
 
greenmaji,

Wow that does look impressive.

I have a CM Stacker case and was hoping for another PCIe16 slot for a future RAID5 controller.

Do any of you guys have any objections about the P5W64 WS Professional? Will it suit my needs OK? Can it OC to DDR2-800 and handle my two 7800gts in SLI?

P5W64 WS Professional

Thanks again,

-Greg
 
Never used it or seen reviews, but GreenMaji seems like a smarter nerd than I so. Whatever that and the p5n32 sli look nice, Just pick one and you win! Guess it depends on your budget also.
 
Gregz said:
greenmaji,

Wow that does look impressive.

I have a CM Stacker case and was hoping for another PCIe16 slot for a future RAID5 controller.

Do any of you guys have any objections about the P5W64 WS Professional? Will it suit my needs OK? Can it OC to DDR2-800 and handle my two 7800gts in SLI?

P5W64 WS Professional

Thanks again,

-Greg
Click to expand...

DUMO seems to be doing fine overclocking ram and CPU's with it right now ;)

oh.. and here's DUMO's thread
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=116469

here's aundre's
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=109572
 
Last edited:
Hmm, I'm a bit confused.

That 975X chipset is for crossfire...so doesn't that mean it only supports dual ATI graphics cards?

Remember I'm stuck with two nVidia 7800GT cards.

Thanks in advance,

-Greg
 
OK I downloaded the drivers.

I have to admit feeling nervous about making a $1000 investment on a bet that some hacked drivers will 'probably' support my two 7800GTs. =0

Is SLI support something that will be standard in the next driver release for this board? I'm used to living in nVidia's very comfortable nForce cradle =). Those guys have great driver support...so I'm a bit worried about pulling the trigger on something like this.
 
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