Chipsets

[smartin4]

Just curious what people are running for chipsets on their Core 2 Duo rigs. With CompUSA closing the 2 stores by me, it has made me think about buying a Conroe at 20% off (though I may hold out for further price cuts).

I have use ASUS boards exclusively for the last 8-10 yrs, using mostly Intel chipsets , with one SiS chipset (recommended by a user on the forums here) and have had no issues. I am really not up on the current technology, and have no idea what is performing best, best value, best newcomer, etc.

What about the nforce chipsets? Are they any good, specifically the 680i SLI, or am I better off sticking with the Intel chipsets?

I appreciate any suggestions or experiences that you have had. In the meantime, I am going to do some research, and just may run over to Comp and grab at least the CPU, and keep it on the shelf while I ponder which board & PCI Express video card (prob a GeForce 7600) I am going to get.

Edit: What is the prevailing opinion on EVGA boards? I ask because I found a deal on ZZF for a $50 rebate on their 680i SLI mobo when you buy a Core 2 Duo CPU, this price, plus the fact that even with the 20% off, Comp will only be about $20 cheaper on the CPU makes me consider this

link:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=246710

[hoxlund]

just look at my sig

tell me you would pick a different chipset from those OC results

OC'ing aside, i have never been happier with my motherboard selection

I've got inside information to stay away from Asus's 680i Striker mobo

Their P965 chipset motherboard is another awesome selection, but...

the 965 chipset doesn't natively support FSB 1333 when it comes out, now yes I know you can overclock to or past 1333MHz but to support it without overclocking is a little knock against it

The eVGA 680 chipset boards are amazing performers, It has my approval

edit: ohh and the eVGA 680 boards support natively ddr2 1200 without overclocking

[smartin4]

Thanks for the info Hox. Just curious of there is much diff between your mobo and the one in the link (NF68 vs NF63)?

[hoxlund]

i can summarize the differences:

the 63 has 1 less pci slot, 2 less usb ports on the rear and 2 less usb ports on the board

so not really a huge difference

[Wesociety]

I am severely itchin for a dual core system.
I'm sure I'll get around to snagging one up sometime this year.

[2Dogs]

yes, I'm thinking about building an E4300 based system - with the OC potential that has, it has to be the best bang for the buck by a long way. It's all about the multipliers...

[LoneWolf]

I've built one C2D system this year (well, late last year) for family --decided to wait for one for myself (see what AMD's K8L/Barcelona bring to the table, as well as Intel's likely summer refresh). I used an Intel BadAxe mainboard for the build.

I can't say I fully trust nVidia any more. The SATA incident with their reference design 680i boards should have been caught before product release, just like the SATA incident with nForce4 and Maxtor SATA drives. While it has been fixed, I've seen a nagging trend in the past few years that concerns me when it comes to nVidia's level of support for consumers. There have been several broken products, some of them broken in silicon. Lately, driver support has been less than stellar. And to top it off, they are retiring support on some products quite early. This wouldn't hurt someone like Hox, who gets new product fairly rapidly, but for those of us who keep a mainboard for 2-3 years, this could be a concern, an example being the nForce3 chipset, which at first was not going to be supported under Windows Vista, and now is (due to customer backlash), only we don't know when.

At this point, the Intel BadAxe2 mainboard is about the only C2D mainboard I'd look at. It doesn't support SLI, but I never plan to use that. The i975X chipset is a little dated, but still has all the features, supports both new and legacy technology, and has really good RAID support. There are reasons why Intel chose to use it on their flagship (and only model with overclocking options) mainboard over the i965, though that chipset would probably be my second choice.

[hoxlund]

i have yet to try a 965 chipset, although from reviews ive read there supposed to be kickass

but seeing my results, i don't see a 965 outperforming me

ohh and as you can see in my sig, i was just handed a kilowatt power supply from my boss

I LOVE FREE STUFF

its this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703007