A decent 775 motherboard

[SaiyanZ]

Hi, I'm looking at purchasing a new 775 motherboard with more sata ports (6+) and space such that the graphics card won't block the ports. At the moment I have a Foxconn G31MXP, with an E5200 and HD4870. The only upgrade I'll be doing in the next few months would be maybe a new cpu like a Q9550. Any suggestions?

 

[Xenophon]

I have the Gigabyte motherboard :
GA-P35-DS3L - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2629

It's only got 4 SATA ports, but maybe look at one in the same family. This mobo is a dream. I run it with the E5200 and just overclocked it from 2.66 to 3.46. My RAM held me back, which is the reason I didn't go higher (I know it can go till about 4Ghz)

On the CPU, I am also looking at upgrading to the Q9550.

Have a look at :
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...ard&ProductID=3329&ProductName=GA-EP45T-USB3P

It's got 6x SATA And it's also got USB 3.0

 

[Keeper]

I am also looking for a good second hand 775 mobo, want to buy it maybe next weekend or so.

I'm willing to spend up to around R1500 for it, second hand, if I think it is good enough

I need
- loads of SATA ports, 6 or preferably 8 please.
- 4 DDR II RAM slots - must be able to support around 8 or 16 Gigs of Ram
- 775 chipset supporting a Q6600
- PCI Ex16 2.0 that will handle my 4870X2
- Good mobo, gigabyte or asus

Maximus Formulae? I might want it.

Anyone have something like this that wants to upgrade?

I live in the east rand, willing to pick it up or meet/etc

 

[ironstone]

asus has a couple of P5Q variants. i've been running the SE-Plus for a year+ now and am quite happy with it. 6 SATA, 6 USB etc. mine does not have 2 graphics slots, but i think there are others in the range that do.

 

[SaiyanZ]

Hmmm...looking at the Q9550 prices I think maybe biting the bullet, dumping the gf and upgrading to an i5 750 or PhenomII X4 955 may be a better idea. I didn't want to have to buy new ram but 2GB ddr3 is only a little more than 2GB ddr2. I mostly use the PC as a media center, playing blu rays and SD movies, and playing games. Got it permanently hooked up to an LCD TV in the lounge. I'm leaning more towards getting the 955 after considering motherboard requirements and pricing. Is there any reasoning to get the i5 750?

 

[PostmanPot]

SaiyanZ let me know if you're selling the Foxconn board.

I recommend the ASUS P5Q SE2 @ ±R1000.

 

[SaiyanZ]

SaiyanZ let me know if you're selling the Foxconn board.

I recommend the ASUS P5Q SE2 @ ±R1000.

I probably will be selling in the next 2 weeks or so as well as the E5200 and 4GB ddr2 ram. Looking at my options:

Option 1
ASUS P5Q SE2 - R1024
Q9550 - R2267
Total R3291

Option 2
ASUS M2A77TD PRO AM3 motheboard with crossfire capability - R924
4GB ddr3 1333 - R1060
Phenom II x4 965 - R1788
Total R3772 ....will also be able to sell my 4GB ddr2 ram so price will drop to about the same as the Q9550 upgrade above.

So looks like option 2 is the best. Just not sure how good the AMD motherboard is. Will maybe overclock to 3.6-3.8Ghz.

 

[nakedpeanut]

just a question.. why do you want to over clock a "media centre" pc?
I'd go the AMD route

 

[SaiyanZ]

It's a gaming PC as well. Only thing I am unsure of is the motherboard. My options are:

M4A77TD PRO ASUS AMD Socket AM3, AMD770, 5200MT/s, 4xDual DDR3 1800 (O.C), 2xPCI-x16 (CrossFire), 1xPCIx1, 3xPCI, 1xATA133, 5xSATAII(Raid 0,1,10), 1x eSATA, Gbe Lan, 8ch-Sound, Max 12xUSB, ATX........R924

or

M4A79T Deluxe ASUS AMD Socket AM3, AMD 790FX, 5200MT/s, 4xDual DDR3 2000, 4xPCI-x16(CrossFire), 2xPCI, 1xATA133, 5xSATA II(Raid 0,1,5,10), 1x eSATA, Gbe Lan, 8ch-Sound, Max 12xUSB, 2xIEEE 1394, ATX.....R1993


The first one is a lot cheaper and the only major difference seems to be the number of PCI-x16 slots. So I plan on getting the cheaper one. Has anyone here had experience with the M4A77TD PRO?

 

[ironstone]

Is there any reasoning to get the i5 750?

the i5 750 got fantastic reviews last i checked online (www.tomshardware.com). best value for money cpu... true 4core (without hyperthreading), good turbo. if i had a few G spare i'd snap this one up, but it means new cpu, (socket 1156(is it ?) + mobo + RAM (DDR3). (i'm rather running my desjtop to fail i guess, and punting the cash towards a laptop).

but don't discount this option. intel is running circles around amd (still). i've been pro amd for *life*, but my last buy was a no-brainer ito bang for buck and lease on life.