OT: Q6600 SPEC BEST MOTHERBOARD ?

xberk wrote on 8/3/2007, 3:42 PM
I'm going to build two new boxes in the next month or so ..
I've decided the Q6600 is the best value on the CPU -- I'll get retail boxed versions.
I'd like the ability to run eSata drives and 800 firewire.

So far the Intel D975XBX2KR looks good (I doubt I'd be over-clocking but I want the thing to be rock solid and run as cool and quiet as possible)..

Looking for suggestions on any other possible motherboards.

Paul B .. PCI Express Video Card: EVGA VCX 10G-P5-3885-KL GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA ,,  Intel Core i9-11900K Desktop Processor ,,  MSI Z590-A PRO Desktop Motherboard LGA-1200 ,, 64GB (2X32GB) XPG GAMMIX D45 DDR4 3200MHz 288-Pin SDRAM PC4-25600 Memory .. Seasonic Power Supply SSR-1000FX Focus Plus 1000W ,, Arctic Liquid Freezer II – 360MM .. Fractal Design case ,, Samsung Solid State Drive MZ-V8P1T0B/AM 980 PRO 1TB PCI Express 4 NVMe M.2 ,, Wundiws 10 .. Vegas Pro 19 Edit

Comments

blink3times wrote on 8/3/2007, 7:54 PM
Go with the XBX2KR. I'm running that with the q6600 and it's a great combination. Boots a heck of a lot faster than with my other Asus board. Lots of bios features too.
RBartlett wrote on 8/5/2007, 2:32 AM
I've recently built some media stations based on micro-ATX boards on the latest chipsets. P35 and G33 are the replacements for approx. 965 and 945. X38 is the replacement for 975X and apart from DDR2, DDR3 or a choice option I feel that the main thrust for X38 is going to be PCIexpress 2.0 support. PCIExpress 2.0 allows double data rate and the use of extension cables to external enclosures or backplanes. DDR3 is likely to be worth investing in towards the end of this year when the prices will probably be more affordable and the latency figures will be more refined. Less power, so less cooling required and serious opportunities for higher speeds going forward (BIOS support permitting).

If cool/quiet is also tending your desires towards small footprint then - while they wouldn't have onboard FW800 these following suggested boards. They can overclock but assuming you don't you can enjoy the benefits of the extra engineering:

Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R has the latest memory controller and reasonable onboard video with official 1333FSB support.

Abit F-I90HD has onboard good quality directx9 graphics with VGA and HDMI-inc-audio sockets in a dual head configuration. Officially only up to 1066FSB support.

I've had issues with the F-I90HD, having built many, 3 died within days from separate sources/consigments but they were early production units so just ensure you have the time, energy and finance to handle that eventuality.

I went for these relatively cheap and high performance boards because my eyes are more set on the Intel X38 chipset with VRM11.1 power requirements for next year's Penryn. When I was building this wasn't an option. Also, I was contemplating a Mac Pro which meant the larger case I'd need for an XBX2KR, or ASUS WS board wouldn't have been utilised for very many months if I took that option.

You won't go far wrong with an Intel board, especially one of the new generation items. Just thought it worth explaining my thought process and experience.
xberk wrote on 8/5/2007, 5:10 PM
Thanks for the detailed report on your recent builds using P35 etc..
I'm in a good spot on this as I can build something now with the Q6600 and 975X board using DDR2-800 and enjoy that now and when Penryn becomes attractively priced (hopefully a year from now) .. I can do a new build with P35 etc and the 1333 FSB etc and suffle this poor old snail of a Q6600 onto my wife who is still bumbing along with a P4 .. Meanwhile unless there is a compelling reason NOT to -- I'll probably opt for what many on these boards have already done the Q6600 with 975X intel board .. although I'll also probably go for Vista 64 despite some negaitve views on that..I can still remember the reluctance of some to move from Win98 to XP ... I run Vista and Vegas on my laptop with no problems.

Paul B .. PCI Express Video Card: EVGA VCX 10G-P5-3885-KL GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA ,,  Intel Core i9-11900K Desktop Processor ,,  MSI Z590-A PRO Desktop Motherboard LGA-1200 ,, 64GB (2X32GB) XPG GAMMIX D45 DDR4 3200MHz 288-Pin SDRAM PC4-25600 Memory .. Seasonic Power Supply SSR-1000FX Focus Plus 1000W ,, Arctic Liquid Freezer II – 360MM .. Fractal Design case ,, Samsung Solid State Drive MZ-V8P1T0B/AM 980 PRO 1TB PCI Express 4 NVMe M.2 ,, Wundiws 10 .. Vegas Pro 19 Edit

Jeff9329 wrote on 8/6/2007, 11:49 AM
I just built a Q6600 editing machine based on the P35/ICH9R chips using a ASUS P5K Deluxe Wi-Fi/AP motherboard.

It's not bad & was fairly well reviewed when I was researching motherboards.

Mini-review
1. Fast, stable & lots of OC options
2. slow bios boot
3. fairly quiet & cool using the boxed fan with CPU
4. 1394a only
5. 2 eSATA on back panel
6. The on-board "HD" 8 channel sound is actually pretty good, a vast improvement from last board.

However, ASUS quality seems to be slipping a little lately. And the "heat pipe" cooling is really just a marketing gimmick.
astorvick wrote on 8/6/2007, 9:56 PM
If you don't mind be budding in.. I just bought the following

Asus P5N32-E SLI 680i chipset -1203 Bios
Quad 6600 - not overclocked
3GB Corsair XMS2 6400C4 Ram
EVGA 8800 GTX

Working great so far, had a little problem getting the ram to run at
4-4-4-12, but eventually got it, I also had to disable Legacy USB support, was messing up Vista a little bit.
I would just make sure to look at the motherboard's QVL list before buying your ram. My old Computer was a Dell Dimension 8300 3.2Ghz with HT and it took about 14.5 mins to encode 10 minutes of normal 4x3 720x480 to DVD Mpeg2, that same video now takes 3:53. I had some growing pains, but was well worth it.