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bubbabigsexy · Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:13 am

OK, so i was dead set on getting hte ASUS P5K3 Deluxe motherboard from Newegg for $230. But I was checking out Intel and saw that they also have a pretty good motherboard the Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX2 that is on Newegg for $219. So after reading about that, I am not sure which one to get. I have Crysis, Bioshock, and FEAR. I have a 8800 BTS 512MB card. And I will be purchasing the Q6600 or the new Q9450 when it comes out in February or March. So which one do you think would be the best to get?

I do plan on OC'ing first chance I get.

ASUS P5K3 Deluxe $230

or

Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX2 $220

Any help would be great.

MixedPower · Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:21 am

Both are bad choices. The Intel board is overpriced for an outdated chipset and I don't think it will support 45nm chips like the Q9450. The ASUS board is power hungry and can only use DDR3 RAM.

I recommend the Abit IP35 Pro. It'll be much better for you than the two boards you listed and it got an editor's choice award in TR's P35 roundup. I would also recommend the GA-P35-DQ6, which also got an editor's choice, but I've heard it's been discontinued.

ucisilentbob · Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:22 am

As a user of the IP35 (non-pro). . . I firmly recommend it. DDR2 is a hell of a lot cheaper and performs pretty much the same.

The only issue i have with the board is it's layout. If you have a case that has the PSU mounted at the bottom of the case, (as i do with my p182) the 12v to the connector is up just north of the CPU socket.

Performance has been rock solid.

DrDillyBar · Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:45 am

I'm an ASUS fan myself, and the Intel board doesn't list processors above 1066FSB as supported on their website.
Many of the ASUS boards support the QX9650 according to their table but my own board stops at the QX6850.

bubbabigsexy · Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:13 am

I also plan on installing Vista Ultimate and I am not sure if the ABIT and Gigabyte motherboards are Vista ready. I know that the ASUS and Intel motherboards are.

Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:35 pm

bubbabigsexy wrote:
I also plan on installing Vista Ultimate and I am not sure if the ABIT and Gigabyte motherboards are Vista ready. I know that the ASUS and Intel motherboards are.

P35 chipsets have Vista drivers. They should all be good to run Vista, any edition.

I concur with the others and I am also of the opinion that $200+ motherboards is just too much. Are you looking to CrossFire? Of course you know what I will say.

No point getting a DDR3 board. DDR3 RAM is too expensive with too little performance to show.

Get over it, there is no such thing as future-proofing, especially when next year is Nehalem's time.

ucisilentbob · Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:59 pm

bubbabigsexy wrote:
I also plan on installing Vista Ultimate and I am not sure if the ABIT and Gigabyte motherboards are Vista ready. I know that the ASUS and Intel motherboards are.

Check my Sig.

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