New Motherboard suggestions?

Hey Guys and Gals,

So I made some good overtime hours this week, and I have a little extra moolah for my little rig I'm throwing together. Now I want to finally scrap this OEM motherboard and find a decent, cheap, overclockable motherboard.

It doesn't need to be fancy or anything. It will need to be a socket LGA775 with support for a Pentium E5400, and support DDR3 1333 memory, with a few dividers for overclocking. Voltage adjustments would be needed as well.

It also must fit into an mATX case, and will only need to support 1 GPU.

I would like on-board graphics for troubleshooting GPU issues if and when they arise, but it's not a must.

On-board LAN port would be nice as well.

I wont be needing the PCI slots hopefully.

Also, the cheaper then better, would like to stay under $100CAD if possible. I need one that will last a year or two before making me upgrade to an i7 or whatever the newest AMD is at that time.

It's main purpose really will be folding

 

Newegg has a few, I'm partial towards Biostar boards (built over 20 systems with their boards in the past 6-7 years, have never had a problem).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138315

Sam

 

A new mobo will not help if you stick with the same processor as OC'ing it will only give a few extra MHz translating into not a big gain in PPD. You have that E5400 near max so either get a Q6xxx also or just put that money in the bank towards the i7 etc. Just my $0.02 Sorry.

 

Here's a chart comparing CPU/PPD, it's fairly accurate from what I see. Look for your CPU in the 2nd chart.

 

I agree that I can only squeeze another .6-.8 Ghz from the 3.06Ghz I have been running it at. The E5400's can run around 3.8-4.0Ghz on Air depending on the strength of the CPU cooler used.

I also understand that it wont equate into much PPD-wise, but I'm one of those people that can't leave anything alone until it's running 100% efficient lol.

and just browsing quickly, LGA775 motherboards are pretty cheap now since they're now considered outdated. I figure it's a $100 upgrade that will let me bump my E5400 up to 3.6-3.8 until I have $750 that I'd like to drop down on a completely new build.

On another note, It's been running Orthos a couple hours now at 3.31Ghz. stock voltages. Apparently this motherboard really likes it when I drop the multi down low and jack the FSB up. It was a weird motherboard, it came out of an Asus CM5571 OEM PC. Originally the BIOS had no OC options at all. But after installing the AI Suite software, my BIOS was magically able to change the multiplier and adjust the FSB from within the BIOS, not the software. Everything else stays locked however.

Still really wish I had voltage adjustment and memory dividers though, hence this thread lol


Thanks for the link augie, it's nice to be able to look at some comparisons

 

Fair enough Nico, enjoy. Just make sure your proc is on the board's QVL list, need to pull up the manual if it doesn't say on your vendour's site.

 

Thats strange my i7 950 is not on your list ???

 

It's not a comprehensive list, just go for the closest. These are not OC'd results either. Just use AI Suite to OC that sucker to 3.8 GHz and get a guaranteed 23K+ PPD.

 

I am all for getting it to perform faster but the heat is my problem.
I have a Coolmaster V8 installed but if i overclock, it will not be good enough.

 

Ya, I see that now here in this review of a i7 920 which should be the same as your 950 as far as heat is concerned. Near 80C for average load just won't cut it. I was under the impression the V8's were decent coolers but I guess I'm wrong. Only thing I can recommend is a Corsair H-50. Keeps my 930 @ 3.8GHZ and at 70C. It'll take some work to switch out the HS/F's too. That sucks man!

 

Man, those i7's get hot. The hottest I've been able to get my E5400 @ 3.31Ghz so far is around 53 celcius with 60% fan speed on the CPU fan, and that was running the intel burn-in test for max heat. Prime95 Linpack and Orthos Gromacs both stay under 50 with normal fan speeds of 35-40%.

I'm using a cheap little asus block and fan assembly for cooling. It looks stock, but performs a tad better, and dissapates heat very quickly with the Arctic Silver.

Mind you, i'm only using about 95W of peak power, 65W average. and have a few less cores burning up electrons. But the temperature differences are still pretty incredible. 80 degrees would probably cook my chip. :-D

 

crap.. and after 6 hours of gromacs testing.. FAIL

Voltage codes again. 101's and 124's. I need Vcore adjustment :cry lol

so i'm thinking with this mobo for $55, I cant go wrong. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130306

anyone see a reason why i should avoid it?

 

sorry for bumping.. 10 minute rule.

Or possibly this one for $60 since I wouldnt need the FDD and PATA connections on the first link. (didn't see them the first time around :-o )

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131680

 

Either one would be fine, though I prefer ASUS as it has a perfect record over 40 boards and the MSI was DOA first time. This doesn't mean much really, get the one you like.

 

Sounds Good, many thanks

I'll be ordering the Asus shortly then, and probably a better HSF just in case. the last thing i need is to get the new board and still be limited by heat

 

Get a Coolermaster Hyper 212+, $30 and will be good for your i7 build.

 

Hmm newegg.ca doesnt seem to have any of those. Where do you find it for $30?

They do have this Scythe SCSMZ-2000 for $35. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185140

I know absolutely nothing about comparing heatsinks :-o lol

 

The Hyper is here, I can't find any head to head comparisons but an idle temp of 55C for the Scythe is Ok for now but not for an i7 running at full load and OC'd. I'll take a look around the egg for ya, may be later in the PM.

 

:cool thank you

It would be nice to have as many components carry-over to my next build as possible. I figure the PSU, DDR3 RAM, GPU, the new heatsink, HD's and optical drives, and my new fan controller and fans will all carry over to the next build. Which means i'll only really need to buy a new ATX case, motherboard, and CPU.

I also dont plan on buying the cheap stuff with that one :-D

I've also heard that DDR4 is coming out in Q1 of 2012? if thats true i will almost certainly wait until then

 

Be prepared for first adopters prices then! I know diddly squat about DDR4 so thanks for that info. I'll look into it. BTW, LOOK AT POST#10, for about $60, that will fill the bill for all your needs.

 

Well looking at your list in post #10, I see that the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 is the 2nd/3rd best on the list, and only $37 on newegg
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc..._re=xigmatek_hdt-s1283-_-35-233-003-_-Product

The bracket set for the LGA1366 boards is an extra $10.

I'm wondering if it will fit my small case though for now? I dont have a side mounted fan anywhere near where this would mount. I think I should have enough clearance.

Oh, and the Asus board is on it's way lol

 

That looks like about the same height as the Hyper which is about 2 inches taller than a video card which will probably be a tight fit.

 

Thats what I was thinking as well. I've just installed a full-size ATX 700W PSU, and I've had a full-size GPU in with plenty of clearance. so I'm hoping I'll have just enough room for it to fit, if not, I suppose it can stay boxed until I grab a larger case off the egg. It's not too big of a deal with the E5400.