Help chosing the BEST :)

Hey, I was wondering what the best MOBO/RAM combo is for a Q6600 (quad core, socket LGA775)

By "best" I mean overclockability, reliability, and performance.


Thanks in advance

You want SLI or CF ?

If no you can buy a NON CF P45

If CF you can buy a CF P45

If SLI you can buy a 780i ( i dont really recommend 750i for OCing )

Yeah, I am non CF or SLI... for now! Hehe, actually probably for quite a long time

UPDATE:

ok, so I was looking at some different P45s and read some reviews, and it seems to me that the Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3r or Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3l are the best options, but i need help choosing between the two, and then finding good ram for it. Basically, I was wondering what the difference betheen the "l" or "r". It seems to me that the only difference is the ram speed... oh, and $30!

The difference is the southbridge. The "R" uses the ICH10R, and the "L" uses the ICH10. You only need the ICH10R if you're planning to run Intel Matrix RAID, otherwise they're exactly the same and should perform identically.

As for RAM, you probably won't be breaking 3.8GHz without a ton of voltage. The Q6600 has a multiplier of 9, so 3.8GHz translates to 422MHz (DDR2 844MHz). Most quality PC2 6400 memory shouldn't have trouble getting you there. Poke around in the memory subsection for recommendations or do a search (there's a ton of info already there), and check out the classifieds if you're looking for a deal.

You might look at a Q9xxx series if you haven't picked up a CPU yet. 45nm architecture means less heat, less voltage, better performance, and potentially better overclocking.

Well, I actually already have the q6600. See, I wanted to OC but my MOBO wouldent support it... but "unfortunately" my MOBO was recently fried! That means its time to get some OCing goodness!

Thanks for the tips! I don't think, nay, I KNOW I will not be doing RAID anytime soon, so it looks to me that the "L" is the version for me! So RAM is pretty open as long as it has some nice timings and is higher than 844MHz cool, thanks alot guys!

wats the big diff between a 750 and 780I?

So RAM is pretty open as long as it has some nice timings and is higher than 844MHz cool, thanks alot guys!

Click to expand...

Yup! Search around to find a set that gives good flexibility with speed/timings - it's more fun to be able to play with it a bit. Timings don't matter a TON, but the extra bandwidth can be handy, and some extra MHz headroom will give you room to upgrade a bit if you decide to go that route.

The 750i will do SLI 8x8x
The 780i will do 3SLI 16x16x16x

The 780i will clock higher.

pinkles said:

ok, so I was looking at some different P45s and read some reviews, and it seems to me that the Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3r or Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3l are the best options, but i need help choosing between the two, and then finding good ram for it. Basically, I was wondering what the difference betheen the "l" or "r". It seems to me that the only difference is the ram speed... oh, and $30!

Click to expand...

I can personally vouch for the Gigabyte P45 boards. I have used a couple in clients builds, and am running a GA-EP45-UD3LR in my rig, and I love it. Plenty of OC options, and stable as a rock. So far, this board is running my Q6600 at 3.0 (333x9) with stock voltage, and not a hiccup yet. From what I understand, if your Q6600 is a G0, you could even run 3.2 (400x8) with stock voltage. Just be careful if you want to use a cooler like the TRUE with a 38mm thick fan if you are going to run memory with the tall heatspreaders like Corsair Dominators. I had troubles getting the fan to fit even with the RAM in slots 2 and 4. I eventually just went with a pair of high speed Yates in push pull, and my temps don't get any higher than 57C folding 24/7 in the Arizona heat. Also, if you have RAM that takes anywhere around 2.0 volts or more, boot with one stick, and set the memory voltage manually in BIOS, also set your speed and timings if they are not automatically detected, shut down, put the second one in, and start back up. If you try to boot with both of them at 1.8 (standard DDR2 voltage) and they require more, you will get a beep pattern that signifies a voltage error. I spent an hour trying to figure that one out, mostly with my DMM, and a google search set me in the right direction. Other than that, everything has been smooth sailing with this board, and it was my first Gigabyte board. I used to really love Abit, but since they were shut down, was forced to try something else, and read too many good things about Gigabyte to not give them a try.

Ha, thanks for the warning Yeah, I have water cooling... I don't think i'm gonna have to worry about the temps much