Not another..."Which motherboard" question...

Sorry, but I too am in need of the same old advice. I have read many posts on the topic, but none seem to fit my situation. I plan to buy a Q6600 and OC it as high as possible with stock voltage (for longevity and low heat). I plan to put 8GB of RAM on it (yes, I'm running Vista x64, and I want 8GB for Photoshop, 3DS Max, and anything else that needs it).

First I'd like you to address something I read on newegg recently. Somebody wrote a review on the G.SKILL 2x2GB kit, and reported reviews when using 8GB total. A G.SKILL representative responded:

4 sticks of memory on 680 or 650i motherboard might have issue. we don't recommend install 4 dimm on nvidia 570,590,650, 680i chipset. however, 2 sticks or 3 sticks are no problem whatsoever, thank you

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Is this true? Do any of you run 8GB on a 680i board? I'm looking at the Abit IN9 32X-MAX board. It says it can handle up to 32GB (in fact it's the only 680i board claiming to support more than 8GB.

OK, so back to my decision. I want to run 8GB or RAM, I need at least 6 SATA2 ports onboard (I do not need any eSATA). The reason I'm interested in the Abit board mentioned is for future SLI possibility. But I'm finding most people are using the P35 chipset for OCing, and that's important for me, as well as stability/compatability. So, should I be looking at the P35 boards? And if I stick with 680i boards, is there a good arguement for going with a different board? The other important factor for me is noise, my system is very quiet, and I'd like to keep it that way. Will the Abit board require active cooling or can I run it passive?

Thanks in advance for your help.

BTW - the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Rev.2 is the P35 mobo I'm considering (I love the 8 rear USB ports).

well you won't find low heat when you oc a Q6600 even on stock volts. Mine reaches 50 odd degrees on high end air cooling (very fast fan) at 20c ambients on stock volts at 3ghz.

Anyway, nuff of that. I currently use a P5K-E Asus mobo. Its also a p35 chipset and its very nice. onboard wifi if you want it too (i don't use it though). Its also a good price and will handle 4 sticks of ram.

Overall i highly recommend a P35 chipset mobo. GL with it.

50C odd degrees is low heat in my book....I'll be cooling it with a Ninja, but with low airflow. If I can get to 3.0-3.2GHz and stay under 60C I'll be happy.

What I was saying is that I'd have to reevaluate my cooling solution if I crank up the voltage because my current cooling wouldn't be able to handle the extra heat output.

Well at 3.2Ghz My system stays under 60c, but i also have 220CFM of airflow pumping through the heatsink most of the time. Quads are just hot and that all there is too it. If you leave the voltage stock you should be fine i think.

Hipcrostino said:

Well at 3.2Ghz My system stays under 60c, but i also have 220CFM of airflow pumping through the heatsink most of the time. Quads are just hot and that all there is too it. If you leave the voltage stock you should be fine i think.

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220CFM!!!

Do you wear ear protection?

The i680 is not a good overclocker for the quad cores. It does allow SLI, but that's about the only good thing. I highly recommend the P35 chipset in either the Abit or Asus flavors. The Abit IP35 has 6 SATA channels and runs 4 sticks of RAM (although people I know that had 4 sticks used 4X1GB). According to the official Abit website: "4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 8GB."

Really, 220 CFM total is not loud if it's spread out through 4 fans. My 4 case fans (120mm) are rated 55 CFM each (220 CFM total) and it's not loud at all.