Ah ha, abit AB9 for 95 bucks at buy.com

[warlock110]

that's one of the best deal i've seen for this board... very cheap and rumor will hit 430FSB which is very nice for the E6600 on air cooling... here's why you would wanna get this board.

1) it's the cheapest C2D OCable board @ 95.. vs the gigabyte S3 which is 120 and DS3 is 150.. or the ASUS P5B or the P5B-E which is 140 and 155 respectively...
2) The abit AB9 series has very nice cooling for the north bridge... something which the gigabyte DS3 and the S3 are struggling with... most people with the DS and S3 have to replace their northbridge cooler which costs about 10-20 bucks more.
3) it's abit? lol. for some reason i've always had decent luck with this brand..
4) if you have an E6600 = 9 X 400 = 3600ghz very decent for air cooling

here's why u should not get this board:
1) if u use an E6300 then forget it.. 7 X 400 is only 2800 Ghz... scew that...
2) if you use an E6400 then it might be ok 8 X 400 still gives 3200 ghz
3) if you want raid... i don't think this board has any good raid option on there
4) if you want the best stuff... this board is not it :)

also on buy.com is a 7600GS for 50 bucks AR and a 7600GT for 130.

[LandShark]

hmmm.... might give it a try if it's a decent board.... :rolleyes:

[wannaoc]

Why would this board be a better choice than a 975? Just the price?

[MaxPowers_68]

the price is $94.15 if you use google check out, $114.15 w/o but still good price
the link for the lazy http://www.buy.com/prod/Abit_AB9_Desktop_Board_Core_2_Duo_Pentium_D_Intel_ P965_LGA775_Socket/q/loc/101/202871242.html

[warlock110]

Why would this board be a better choice than a 975? Just the price?

i dunno... u might wanna ask someone else... but all the popular C2D boards are 965 chipset.. don't ask me why...

the gigabyte and the ASUS and the bit boards are all 965 chipset.. that's what most people use and that's what i'm gonna buy.

and yes price is everything to me. to other it might not be a factor but to most it's a huge factor...

[AaronR]

ICH8 w/o R

[warlock110]

newegg has this for 130 bucks shipped. so if u guys wanna read the reviews, it's up on neweggs.

[ahbroody]

the 965 is better for ocing by all accounts i have read.
however do to past abit issues I am weary of another abit board.
Mike

[Vaio]

If it is anything like the AB9 Pro I TRIED to use in a friends build, I would sooner spend the extra cash on a different board. That darn board was picky about everything we tried in it, and was never stable once we got it to boot. We eventually game up and returned it.

Still, that is a good deal if you have a lot of patience and/or a lot of good luck :)

[warlock110]

If it is anything like the AB9 Pro I TRIED to use in a friends build, I would sooner spend the extra cash on a different board. That darn board was picky about everything we tried in it, and was never stable once we got it to boot. We eventually game up and returned it.

Still, that is a good deal if you have a lot of patience and/or a lot of good luck :)


oh man, u scaring me now lol

[Vaio]

Sorry, but it truly was a horrible experience. It made me even more happy to have an Asus board :)

[ahbroody]

seriously,
abit boards are notorious for being picky about memory and just general finiky.
I think I would spend the extra on asus or giga. Both of which I have used many times, never any issues.
mike

[LandShark]

ok, scratch this out then. will get another DS3. :cool:

[warlock110]

oh well... i've already ordered :).. seems like the people on the abit forum are doing ok though... i'll be the shark bait and test out the water.

[Vaio]

They might have a new version out that does better, so you may very well get a good one! The AB9 Pro I used was right around when they first came out.