Quad core mainboard choice

[HowardG]

My niece is retiring her four year old Alienware gaming computer and she was
going to just buy another one until I showed her how much more computer she
could get for less by building it herself. She's very capable, technically,
and would have no trouble doing this.

We have now spent several days choosing components and everything but the
mainboard have been very easy choices. Basically, she's going with the
2.4ghz quad core Intel chip. She will only use one video card, a GEforce
8800 (brand not yet determined). She does need the computer to be powerful
enough to play games, but, since her main gaming is played on an X-box 360,
she no longer needs this to be a state of the art gaming computer. Her
husband will need to do some fairly intensive Photoshop still photo work on
the new computer, however.

I've recommended an Asus mainboard as I've been using Asus boards for
several years now. But there is a bewildering number of them. Can someone
suggest a board that will work well for her?

Suggestions for coolig the cpu, video card, etc., would also be appreciated.
The case will most likely be the Zalman GT1000.

Thank you.

[Bob Knowlden]

You could start by checking the compatibility list:

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?cpu=Core%202%20Quad%20Q6600%20%284%20cores%2C2.40GHz%2C1066FSB%2CL2%3A2X4MB%2Crev.G0%29&SLanguage=en-us

(link may wrap). The G0 stepping of the Q6600 is the latest revision, as far
as I know, and it consumes a little less power than the previous B3 stepping
(95W vs. 105).

The P5K mainboards use the P35 chipset, which is the latest. If your niece,
or her husband, wants RAID (I suppose that might be helpful for Photoshop),
and doesn't want to use an add-in RAID controller card, make sure to get one
of the higher-end P5K variants that uses the ICH9R controller (rather than
ICH9). The P5K3 requires DDR3 memory, which is expensive at the moment.

Why are you asking about coolers for the CPU and graphics card? If you're
not planning to overclock, the stock coolers should be OK, as well as free
(if you buy a retail boxed Q6600 CPU).

The highest performance (air) cooler for Socket 775 may be:

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_ultra120_extreme.htm

I don't own one - I believe that it'd be too tall (160 mm) for my case
(cheapish Antec 900). It might be OK for the Zalman GT1000, which is approx.
15 mm wider than the Antec.

There aren't many aftermarket air coolers for 8800 cards on the market yet.
Here's a high performance (air) one:

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr03_plus.htm

It's huge, though, and covers more than two slots. (I have one. It permits
my 8800GTX to run at 8800 Ultra clocks.)

The forthcoming Accelero Extreme from Arctic Cooling looks like a less
ungainly solution, but it's not available yet.

Let me add that for something that isn't supposed to be a "state of the art
gaming computer", she's going for a fairly high-end system. Make sure that
she gets a good PSU, especially if she intends to overclock the Q6600.

My latest mainboard is the Abit IP35 Pro. My previous few boards have been
Asus, but I thought I'd try a more Spartan Abit product. I can't say how
well it works with a Q6600, but I have no trouble getting an E6600 to run at
3.6 GHz (using a Thermaltake Big Typhoon HS/F). I won't have time to try the
Q6600 until the week end (it arrived today).

Have fun.

Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

Post by HowardG
My niece is retiring her four year old Alienware gaming computer and she
was going to just buy another one until I showed her how much more
computer she could get for less by building it herself. She's very
capable, technically, and would have no trouble doing this.
We have now spent several days choosing components and everything but the
mainboard have been very easy choices. Basically, she's going with the
2.4ghz quad core Intel chip. She will only use one video card, a GEforce
8800 (brand not yet determined). She does need the computer to be powerful
enough to play games, but, since her main gaming is played on an X-box
360, she no longer needs this to be a state of the art gaming computer.
Her husband will need to do some fairly intensive Photoshop still photo
work on the new computer, however.
I've recommended an Asus mainboard as I've been using Asus boards for
several years now. But there is a bewildering number of them. Can someone
suggest a board that will work well for her?
Suggestions for coolig the cpu, video card, etc., would also be
appreciated. The case will most likely be the Zalman GT1000.
Thank you.

[Noddy]

Post by Bob Knowlden
Why are you asking about coolers for the CPU and graphics card? If you're
not planning to overclock, the stock coolers should be OK, as well as free
(if you buy a retail boxed Q6600 CPU).

The stock coolers are even good for mild to moderate overclocking. I have my
E6850 OC by 400mhz on stock HSF with no heat issues at all.

[Paul]

Post by HowardG
My niece is retiring her four year old Alienware gaming computer and she was
going to just buy another one until I showed her how much more computer she
could get for less by building it herself. She's very capable, technically,
and would have no trouble doing this.
We have now spent several days choosing components and everything but the
mainboard have been very easy choices. Basically, she's going with the
2.4ghz quad core Intel chip. She will only use one video card, a GEforce
8800 (brand not yet determined). She does need the computer to be powerful
enough to play games, but, since her main gaming is played on an X-box 360,
she no longer needs this to be a state of the art gaming computer. Her
husband will need to do some fairly intensive Photoshop still photo work on
the new computer, however.
I've recommended an Asus mainboard as I've been using Asus boards for
several years now. But there is a bewildering number of them. Can someone
suggest a board that will work well for her?
Suggestions for coolig the cpu, video card, etc., would also be appreciated.
The case will most likely be the Zalman GT1000.
Thank you.

You can use the CPU support page, to assemble a list of boards that will work.

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

This list is for a Q6600 G0 stepping, which at least a few vendors are shipping.
One nice feature of the G0, is reduced power consumption (95W). Some smaller
vendors specifically mention they are shipping G0's. (Warning - line wrapped
manually, to suit the tastes of my USENET server, which won't accept long lines.)

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpu_support_right_master.aspx?type=0&name=
Core%202%20Quad%20Q6600%20(4%20cores%2C2.40GHz%2C1066FSB%2CL2%3A2X4MB%2Crev.G0)&SLanguage=en-us

The Q6600 is an FSB1066 processor, which is why there is quite a range of motherboards
that support it. The latest generation of dual cores, uses FSB1333, and native
support for FSB1333 is limited to fewer motherboards. Many FSB1066 chipsets
can be overclocked to FSB1333, but if you are using a FSB1333 chip, you
want "chipset headroom" to push above FSB1333. Which is why Intel introduced
FSB1333 chips - to make obsolete certain chipset company products :-)
So far, at least for dual cores, there doesn't seem to be much point
to FSB1333. A quad on the other hand, could make better use of it.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLACR (G0, 95W)
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9UM (B3, 105W)

The P5K family is probably native FSB1333, while many of the other motherboards
reach FSB1333 via overclock. That is not to say other boards won't do the
job for your current application, because they will. If you want to save
a few bucks, an older generation P965 may be good enough for the Q6600.

Asus has a product comparison link, but it only runs under IE and not
Firefox. It is also limited as to how many motherboards it will put
side by side for comparison.

http://www.asus.com.tw/products_compare.aspx?l1=3&l2=-1

In the comparison table here, I've selected boards that use DDR2, for economic
reasons. DDR3 is just being introduced in the current generation, and
memory manufacturers are hoping to make a profit as it becomes mainstream.
DDR2 on the other hand, is dirt cheap, but has been rising in price slightly
lately.

http://www.asus.com.tw/products_compare_show.aspx?array_model=1637,1646,1749,1705,1691&l1=3

Another difference to look for, is how many phases the Vcore power uses. Some
boards have eight phase power, some might be four or three phases. The Q6600
is 95W, which should be possible with any of them. But if overclocking,
it is nice to have an eight phase regulator, for when the power
consumption goes through the roof.

Other features, such as peripheral chips, should be easier to compare.

The P5K WS was thrown into that table, to show what a "workstation" class
product offering includes. Generally, they have a bridge chip, that
adds a 64 bit PCI slot. That is good if you wanted to buy a legacy
high performance controller of some sort. PCI Express can be used
for that kind of thing, but sometimes you pay a premium for PCI
Express versions of cards. If you wanted to add some kind of fancy PCI-X
SCSI controller you got off Ebay for example, a workstation board might
be good.

You can also use the Newegg customer reviews, to see which of the
boards are dogs or heros. Some of the cheapest boards may give the
perception of a higher DOA rate, or maybe the boards differ in
how well they handle RAM or how easy they are to overclock the CPU.
You should look at the reviews as well, to form an opinion that
way.

HTH,
Paul