Which Board for a Q9650

J

JHFerry

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
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108
My Abit ix38 bit the dust again so I need to replace it. My specs are below, I have about 3 SATA hardrives as well. Im not a big OC'er, only what I could by air.

I was looking in a x48 board and saw the GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 but then I didnt realize they made the P45 boards now. Is there a big difference in performance?

I have my eye on the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P but there is like 10 versions of the P45 boards just from Gigabyte so here I am.

* OCZ part number:-OCZ2RPR10664GK
* Module size and kit size:-4GB 2x2GB kit
* CPU model and rated speed:-Intel Core 2 quad Q9650
* Video card:-EVGA Nvidia 8800GS
* Power supply:-PSU corsair TX-750W 750wa
* Operating System:-XP
* CPU and System Cooling:-stock
 
I see the GA-EP45C-UD3R takes both DDR2 and DDR3. Not as high review though...

Board layout it a little different too but gives you 6 Ram slots!
 
JHFerry said:
I was looking in a x48 board and saw the GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 but then I didnt realize they made the P45 boards now. Is there a big difference in performance?
Click to expand...
P45 boards are generally better options than X48 boards unless you need the extra PCI-E lanes afforded by the X48 chipset. You probably wouldn't see any benefit from going with an X48 board, so I would recommend that you stick with P45.
JHFerry said:
I have my eye on the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P but there is like 10 versions of the P45 boards just from Gigabyte so here I am.
Click to expand...
The UD3R is basically identical to the UD3P except it only has one PCI-E graphics slot instead of two and it only has one onboard ethernet adapter. Since you're using an nVidia graphics card, it would be pointless for you to get the P model unless you plan on switching to an ATI graphics card in the near future or if you intend to run a RAID setup on a dedicated controller, since the extra PCI-E slot is only useful for Crossfire or for an external RAID card. If you don't intend to do either of those things, then I would suggest that you go with the UD3R instead and save yourself a few bucks.

Another series of boards that you should take a look at is the P5Q series by ASUS; notably the P5Q Pro, P5Q Pro Turbo, and P5Q-E, which are the more reasonably-priced models. They are on par with the Gigabyte boards in terms of quality.
 
I've used two different P5Q Pro boards and they have both been great.
 
I highly suggest any P45 Gigabyte board. I have one and it works very well, and the overclocking features are great too.
 
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