Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo MB recommendations

[mysticmel]

Hello, I just bought an Intel Duo E6600 and I'm having a dickens of a time finding a compatible board that suits my needs and expectations. I'm hoping that those using this cpu can lend some advice. I've tried two boards already and both were dead in the water, one, the MSI 975X Platinum was exactly what I wanted in a board, BUMMER ... and two, the Asus ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe.

Here's the couple things that are a must ...

*DDR2 PC2-5300 non ecc
*at least two regular PCI slots
*fireware and usb headers
*4 sata connectors
*at least 1 ide connector, 2 would be a plus
*atx

And here are a few things that would be nice, but aren't life or death .....

* 8g memory support
*5ch audio, 7 would be nice
*several rear usb's

The slot layout of the board isn't important as far as the PCI Express technology goes, as I'm not too familar with their different archutectures, I know that there's a few types and sizes ... but this aspect isn't important to me, as long as I have just a couple of the regular white PCI's to stick my vid card and wireless card adapter into I'd be thrilled. Speed and rendering is important as I do a great deal of both audio and video editing. Lastly, price is not an issue at this point of sheer desperation.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated. Otherwise, it's back to process of elimination and back and forth for more exchanges!!! grrrr

PS. I'd like to stay away from the Intel boards (((these greedies get enough business ... and plus there's only one board listed as being tested and compatible on their site, unbelievable!))) ... and if possible I'd like to go with either Asus or MSI


Thanks in advance for any replies.

Kay

[Soopafresh]

You have to be certain your power supply is high enough quality to drive these boards. Can't stress that point enough. Your DOA problem could very well be due this issue. What brand ?

Are you saying you want to use an old style PCI video card as your main video? Don't do that. You won't be happy with high definition playback. It'll stutter. Plunk down $100 and get a low end card - PCI express.

A lot of mobos these days have wireless built in - no need for a card.

EVGA are making some very nice motherboards with Nvidia chipsets (high end) - >$200

On the low end, ASROCK has many different configurations and types of mobos to suit your requirements. Those will cost you $80 - $140

My luck has been bad with MSI. Not knocking them, just saying I've had bad luck.

[Krispy Kritter]

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 series and the MSI P6N SLI-F1.

Both have been rock solid for me.

[TBoneit]

What was wrong with the ASUS? The fact that you say two DOA boards leads me to believe it is something else. Or you are buying on the cheap where they just reship returns.

I've used that model Asus here and never had a DOA.

[mysticmel]

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 series and the MSI P6N SLI-F1.

Both have been rock solid for me.

Hi Krispy Kritter, thanks for the input. One question - are you saying both boards support the E6600 with no problem ... speaking from experience with using this particular cpu with both?


Thanks.

[jagabo]

Well, no motherboard supports any processor with any combination of hardware with absolutely no problems. But there should generally be few problems with those two motherboards and an E6600.

[mysticmel]

[quote="Soopafresh"]You have to be certain your power supply is high enough quality to drive these boards. Can't stress that point enough. Your DOA problem could very well be due this issue. What brand ?

Hello Soopafresh, thanks for your help! Here's some answers for you.
A: The PSU is a multi-outlet by PoWork, and it's a 600w (supports Intel Pent 4/AMD). I really like this box cuz' of the multi-outlet comfort .... I used it fine to power up my previous board and it worked great, my swapout was a Asus P5p800 rev 1.01

Are you saying you want to use an old style PCI video card as your main video? Don't do that. You won't be happy with high definition playback. It'll stutter. Plunk down $100 and get a low end card - PCI express.

A: I really don't use my PC for viewing movies, especially anytrhing HD or don't need outstanding graphic capabilities for gaming or anything. Basically, the only thing I need "ok" playback for is video editing. With this said, do you still recommend the Express card?

A lot of mobos these days have wireless built in - no need for a card.

Q: Ok thanks for that note. The question is that I have though is - is the onboard wireless that you're talking about actually wireless wireless capability (like using a wireless card) or are you refering to the onboard LAN (like as in using the RJ45). B/C I know of the second type, I'm just not familar with the built in wi-fi apart from like on laptops. Please pardon my ignorance.

EVGA are making some very nice motherboards with Nvidia chipsets (high end) - >$200

Q: Thanks for this tip as well. Can you recommend a EVGA that you know for sure supports the E660 without any doubts?

On the low end, ASROCK has many different configurations and types of mobos to suit your requirements. Those will cost you $80 - $140

Q: I've never heard of Asrock boards. Same question as the Evga, any model recommendations?


Thanks alot once again to everyone for the advice.

Kay

[mysticmel]

What was wrong with the ASUS? The fact that you say two DOA boards leads me to believe it is something else. Or you are buying on the cheap where they just reship returns.

I've used that model Asus here and never had a DOA.

Hi there TBone, actually now that I'm having the same problem with the second board to the Asus I'm starting to think that these boards weren't DOA at all....... the more I research things on the net and come to find out that the higher quality board as the MSI Platinum requires more memory speed than what I've been using. I've tested both with Corsair 533 ....... when the requirements show DDR2-800 C4 ..... so I'm going to kick it up to see if this may be the problem. But then again the MSI 975X Platinum tested non-compatible with the E6600 .... whereas the 975x Platinum PowerUP tested OK. So now I just need to decide how I want to proceed.


Thanks for your comments.