I can see from reading the threads that most here seem to recommend only 1 of 2 motherboards based on the 955 chipset: Abit AW8-Max or Asus P5WD2. I've actually never used an Asus board, but I hear good things mostly. I had great luck with my last Abit board (lasted 6 years and was stable as they come). Anyway, w/o even looking at the specs, I'm sure either would suit my needs. My current board is an SiS-based AOpen and omg what a PoS .. never again will I go SiS and honestly I'm even soured on AOpen b/c of it. People use to recommend Gigabyte mobos often but I haven't seen that much anymore. What happened? I've noticed a lot of serious problems mentioned with the Abit and ASUS boards (i.e. via posts on their respective forums) so that concerns me a bit. :x
Stability is my #1 issue here. I don't mind sacrificing a little performace for it. Any suggestions for other good boards would be welcome as well though on the 955. Any at all?
My 2nd question is a bit of a longer. multi-facted one .. Is it worth it for me to pick up a 975-based board instead? I need to upgrade by year's end - not much time as you can see. I have no need for Crossfire and I never will. My rig will be used mostly for everyday multitasking, video encoding and other multimedia tasks (TV, movies, etc). I barely do any gaming so Crossfire means squat to me.
The biggest draw of the 975 I can see is the potential to support future CPUs that the 955 may or may not support. Anyone have any input on that subject? The chances of me upgrading in anything less than 2 years is slim, but I guess it depends on what Intel brings to the table.
At the moment, I will be fitting whatever mobo I get with a cheapo Celeron D (found one for $80 I will prob go with) b/c I need to get this box together within the next week. When Presler arrives, the Celeron will go up for sale.
Because there won't be much 'real-life' data on the 975 mobos, b/c there are so few to choose from, and b/c I have 0 need for Crossfire, I'm a bit hesitant to go in that direction. Anyone have some insightful thoughts on this to help me make my decision?
Stability is my #1 issue here. I don't mind sacrificing a little performace for it. Any suggestions for other good boards would be welcome as well though on the 955. Any at all?
My 2nd question is a bit of a longer. multi-facted one .. Is it worth it for me to pick up a 975-based board instead? I need to upgrade by year's end - not much time as you can see. I have no need for Crossfire and I never will. My rig will be used mostly for everyday multitasking, video encoding and other multimedia tasks (TV, movies, etc). I barely do any gaming so Crossfire means squat to me.
The biggest draw of the 975 I can see is the potential to support future CPUs that the 955 may or may not support. Anyone have any input on that subject? The chances of me upgrading in anything less than 2 years is slim, but I guess it depends on what Intel brings to the table.
At the moment, I will be fitting whatever mobo I get with a cheapo Celeron D (found one for $80 I will prob go with) b/c I need to get this box together within the next week. When Presler arrives, the Celeron will go up for sale.
Because there won't be much 'real-life' data on the 975 mobos, b/c there are so few to choose from, and b/c I have 0 need for Crossfire, I'm a bit hesitant to go in that direction. Anyone have some insightful thoughts on this to help me make my decision?
Last edited: