[TheThermaltaker]

I'm going to be running a Q9300 and either 4 or 8 gigs of ram, but I don't know what board I should get. I need at least 4 USB ports, but the more the merrier (so I don't have to use my internal hubs). I'm going to use an Nvidia 6600GT PCI-E graphics card, a Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card, internal midi interface, and probably more that I can't think of right now so I need a good amount of ports. I plan on doing some overclocking, and want to spend under $200 for the board. I'm not brand loyal and want to put either 4 or 8gb of 1066 or 800mhz DDR2 ram. I'm using this for a home drum recording studio and playing samples with Mandala 2.0's using Battery so there's no need for SLI capability or any gaming features. Any suggestions?

[TheThermaltaker]

And I might go with a Q9450 instead.

[TheThermaltaker]

What about these two?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131196

[TheThermaltaker]

Or this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127030

[shleepy]

If you don't want any high-end gaming capabilities, then the P35 chipset should work well. One issue, however, is that you'd need an up-to-date BIOS version to support a 45nm C2Q, which is what you want. Unless you have an extra low-end socket 775 chip lying around, then you should definitely look into whether or not the motherboard will support the CPU on its stock BIOS version.

That said, do you really need such a high-end processor? If you want to stick with quad-core, then you might want to look into something like Q6600 or even something from AMD.

[Shadowmonk]

Originally Posted by TheThermaltaker

And I might go with a Q9450 instead.

I have my second quad on this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136045

Amazing board and rock solid

[TheThermaltaker]

Originally Posted by Shadowmonk

I have my second quad on this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136045

Amazing board and rock solid

I just started looking at DFI, they have the same features as the Abit and with a better price too! I just can't seem to find the differences between the BloodIron and the Lanparty DK. What would you go with? And how's their customer service?

[TheThermaltaker]

Originally Posted by TheThermaltaker

I just started looking at DFI, they have the same features as the Abit and with a better price too! I just can't seem to find the differences between the BloodIron and the Lanparty DK. What would you go with? And how's their customer service?

Are the motherboards reliable?

[santos]

do you realy need a quad? for gaming the core 2 duos are a way better choice. by the time the games support quad cores in a way that realy improves performance, you will already have upgraded a couple times. at the moment higher frequency beats more cores. the e8400 is the ultimate gaming cpu if you include the "bang for the buck" factor. and the core 2 duos beat the quad in >99% of all games if you compare them by price. the one you want to get has only 2.5ghz and costs way more then the e8400 which has 3ghz. so without overclocking already 20% more performance in almost all games.

as for mobo i can realy recommend the asus p5k-premium. great overclockability. SLI isnt realy recommendable anyway, so the p35 chipset is perfect for gaming. you can still fit a gx2 card if your monitor has killer resolution and you got to insist on sli.

as a general rule you shouldnt ever make the mistake to buy 2 weaker cards instead of 1 stronger one though (with some common sense ofc. if a card has double the price at only 10% more performance....). so there is realy no reason to buy a nvidia based board with an intel cpu. sooner or later you would most likely regret having baught 2 smaller cards.

[axis01]

Originally Posted by TheThermaltaker

Are the motherboards reliable?

As any other MB manufacturer and better than some.

If you're going to try to OC this CPU, you'll need to pick a MB that can run a high FSB as the new quads have low multipliers.

Axis

[TheThermaltaker]

Originally Posted by santos

do you realy need a quad? for gaming the core 2 duos are a way better choice. by the time the games support quad cores in a way that realy improves performance, you will already have upgraded a couple times. at the moment higher frequency beats more cores. the e8400 is the ultimate gaming cpu if you include the "bang for the buck" factor. and the core 2 duos beat the quad in >99% of all games if you compare them by price. the one you want to get has only 2.5ghz and costs way more then the e8400 which has 3ghz. so without overclocking already 20% more performance in almost all games.

as for mobo i can realy recommend the asus p5k-premium. great overclockability. SLI isnt realy recommendable anyway, so the p35 chipset is perfect for gaming. you can still fit a gx2 card if your monitor has killer resolution and you got to insist on sli.

as a general rule you shouldnt ever make the mistake to buy 2 weaker cards instead of 1 stronger one though (with some common sense ofc. if a card has double the price at only 10% more performance....). so there is realy no reason to buy a nvidia based board with an intel cpu. sooner or later you would most likely regret having baught 2 smaller cards.

Originally Posted by TheThermaltaker

I'm using this for a home drum recording studio and playing samples with Mandala 2.0's using Battery so there's no need for SLI capability or any gaming features. Any suggestions?

Like I've said prior, no gaming on this computer, but the apps I'm using support quad cores and although dual is supported in more apps right now, quad core is going to do to dual core what dual did to P4 by the time the new platform comes out. For games dual core is better, but for a home drum studio and Photoshop quad core is much better.

Originally Posted by axis01

As any other MB manufacturer and better than some.

If you're going to try to OC this CPU, you'll need to pick a MB that can run a high FSB as the new quads have low multipliers.

Axis

I'm only OC'ing to 3.0ghz so I need to get my fsb to 400mhz, right?

[gigabit]

Originally Posted by TheThermaltaker

What about these two?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131196

Asus P5K-E is one great board for the money.I loved mine when i had it.It ran my Quad just as good if not better than my Abit IP35 or the Asus P5E.It was my favorite of those 3 boards.