Need new mobo...opinions purdy please

Hello all, I have just been getting back into computers after a long while hiatus. Ive been referred to an ABIT mobo by both Greenmaji and Deanzo. Ive posted my soon-to-be setup, budget and what im using my rig for in this thread here. Of course it is going to be the usual gaming rig. As of right now I can't decide what mobo to get. It is between the ABIT AB9-Pro or the AW9D-Max. Ive never OCed before in my life but I want to give it a try. Any and all opinions and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated and will help me tons. If you can help me with other questions I might have in the other thread or this one please feel free to post. Again your help is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

I like the nV 650i chipset, although there is only one board based on this chipset available currently in the US at this point (Asus P5N-E). I like the fact that it seems to overclock well, has a relatively low price point($150ish), seperate memory bus frequencies, & SLI capabilities.

I would not consider a 650i chipset unless you are dead set to use SLI.

The AB9-Pro would be perfectly fine teamed up with an E6600. I have the Aw9D-Max and I love it. Rock stable board. Don't forget there is also a plain version of the AW9D too.

Like batboy i also have an AW9D-Max, rig is in my sig it is the most stable board i have had for a long time unless you want extra sata ports i would get the AW9D and save a few bucks.

Thanks everyone for your opinions So are the only differences between the AW9D-Max and the AW9D is that the max has 3 more sata ports, 1 e-sata port, and 2 ieee1394 ports? Ive never really understood the difference between the different chipsets (i.e. P965, 945p, 975x, etc.) Any advantages over the other?

The i975X chipset can benchmark a tad faster than the i965. Those are the only two that officially support Core 2 Duo. But, the i965 can sometimes clock higher FSB.

batboy said:

I would not consider a 650i chipset unless you are dead set to use SLI.

The AB9-Pro would be perfectly fine teamed up with an E6600. I have the Aw9D-Max and I love it. Rock stable board. Don't forget there is also a plain version of the AW9D too.

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Any particular reason? I know all about nVidia's reputation as a failure in the Intel chipset market, but clearly with the 600 series, nVidia has turned a corner. With the 650i chipset nV appears to have finally created a great performing affordable alternative to Intel chipsets. The Asus P5N-E and Abit AB9-Pro are both great boards and priced within a few dollars of each other. The 650i board offers the additional option of SLI while the AB9 offers matrix RAID which is kewl. Obviously there are other differences as well, but I think both boards are worthy of consideration. To my mind SLI capability is far more important than Matrix RAID, even if you don't initially plan to utilize dual video cards. It just keeps your options open.

I'm not sure I could say the 600 series nvidia chipsets turned a corner. Spend an hour and do some searching here on the forum and in other forums. Some people are definitely having problems with the 650i. If you are set on SLI, you don't have much choice, go for the nvidia. Personally, I don't see what the fascination is with SLI.

ive been looking at the specs for the aw9d and ive read some reviews about them. People are saying that the layout for the SATA ports 2 of them will be covered if using a long video card. Does it really block up the 2 ports because im hoping on using 3 hds and 1 sata burner. Does this limitation limit me on what type of video card i can get? And if so which ones?

The SATA ports are not near the primary PCI-E vid card slot. Maybe if you are running Crossfire the second card might be close if it is really long. I have a single X1900XT and I can access all 7 SATA ports on my AW9D-Max.

Ive used a 7900GT, 6600GT and X700 cards on my board and none of them cover any of the SATA ports.

And by the way my vote goes with AW9D Max, love my board.

Thats not to say the AB9-Pro isnt a good board, but if I had to pick one or the other and price didnt matter and its going with an E6600 then for me it's the AW9D Max hands down.

Number of PCI slots

I don't have any of the boards mentioned, but on quick search, I've noticed some of them have fewer PCI slots then others. If using a video card like the 8800GTX or GTS which both take up 2 slots, you're down to only 3 availble slots on these boards. After installing double wide video card your down to 1 PCIe x1 and 2 PCI slots on the AB9 Pro. That might be an issue! It's a shame getting an ATX board and only having 3 available slots.

With the ASUS P5w or P5b series, after installing the double wide video card you have 1 PCIe x1, one PICe x16, and 3 PCI slots left over! Thats 5 extra slots.