What intel based motherboard are good now?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeremyje
  • Start date Start date
J

jeremyje

I've been out of the loop for 5 years on building computers and I want
to know what motherboard manufacturers are good and who is making
stable chipsets. I'm thinking about getting an Intel Core2 Duo
processor and I would like to know the best motherboard makers out on
the market. I'm looking for a board that's recent and has no major
issues. Also I want a board has high end chipsets like nForce 650/680
or Intel 975X. As of right now I'm looking and these boards seem to
deliver good power but poor compatibility or have some issues.

I'm looking for stability/compatibility over performance but
performance is still important. Also I want hand picked boards that
are proven to work. I hear plenty of stories about boards with issues
on posting and all this crap that never happened so rampant early
2000s.
 
Everyone seems to have a favorite... my own top choices would be MSI and
DFI (the latter is great for stability, but not so great for overclocking)
 
I'm wondering what are the compatabilities with nForce 6 and Intel
975x chipsets and in compatible with nVidia graphics cards and I see a
lot of reports of weird issues.

I didn't like MSI mainly because I had a board that failed me in the
past. I'm looking at Intel, Asus, and Abit. I've had good experience
with abit boards.
 
Well, one of my puters is still running an old Athlon cpu for the past seven
years and it still does fine using an MSI board, but i don't know if an
Intel would last that long. I would not get an Intel board, but Asus and
Abit are ok.
 
I'm wondering what are the compatabilities with nForce 6 and Intel
975x chipsets and in compatible with nVidia graphics cards and I see a
lot of reports of weird issues.

I didn't like MSI mainly because I had a board that failed me in the
past. I'm looking at Intel, Asus, and Abit. I've had good experience
with abit boards.
Click to expand...
Out of those, I have had good luck with Asus. Abit used to be very good, but
have fallen in popularity lately. All boards have failures on occaision. MSI
is also a very good choice.

Ed
 
Ed Medlin said:
Out of those, I have had good luck with Asus.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert and just started building during the last 6 months (with the
help of some on this list) but I've been noticing a few things about
motherboards and about people's opinions about them. The only real thing
that seems consistent is that some companies are oriented toward putting out
the best-fastest thing possible in the shortest period of time in order to
gain market advantage. When they do, they risk putting it out before all of
the bugs and compatibility issues are worked out. Often, those bugs are
related to the bios, so if they exist they can be fixed after the build is
completed. Someone pointed out to me a week or two ago, however, that
sometimes those issues are related to the hardware. In that event you have a
greater problem because the build can't be fixed without pulling the entire
board and replacing with a revised version.

If you get the newest greatest board, you risk these problems to a larger
extent. I bought a new gigabyte board about 5 months ago and have had
problems with some crashes and not having sata drives being detected until I
unplug and replug them. I'm now hearing (after my purchase) that people
believe this to be common for gigabyte - releasing the product quickly and
fixing it with bios revisions. They are up to 6 revisions on my board (7
total including the original) in about a year after production. I just
flashed the latest version about 2 days ago (said to solve some problems
related to sata drives), and so far none of these problems have occurred.

I'm now realizing that I really don't need the latest greatest thing for
what I do and I don't really need the aggravation of flashing bioses (and
the stress associated of knowing that something can go wrong in the process
and make the entire machine into a large paperweight), and unplugging and
re-plugging sata drives to get the bios to recognize them properly.

The next machine (that I think I will order on Monday), will have a Tyan
motherboard even though it doesn't have the most of the fastest PCIe slots,
and doesn't support the fastest ram available.

Other than issues related to pre-mature releases and whether one wants to
take risks with the newest hardware, however, I'm not really seeing any
consistency about opinions on motherboards on this list or elsewhere. It
seems that everyone has had bad experiences with different boards pretty
much equally and everyone will give you a different opinion about which is
best and which one gave them problems in the past. I've heard just as many
people say that they have had no problem with Asus as I've heard people say
that they have. ...same with most other boards - other than what I already
mentioned - if you get the newest thing (apparently more likely with
Gigabyte), you are more likely to have bug and compatibility problems that
may take some time to fix with an updated bios.

For the most part, it seems that you should just find a board with the
features that you need, and if you don't really need something, you might
want to stick with something that has been around a bit longer.

Jeff
 
:
: : >
: > : >> I'm wondering what are the compatabilities with nForce 6 and Intel
: >> 975x chipsets and in compatible with nVidia graphics cards and I
see a
: >> lot of reports of weird issues.
: >>
: >> I didn't like MSI mainly because I had a board that failed me in
the
: >> past. I'm looking at Intel, Asus, and Abit. I've had good
experience
: >> with abit boards.
: >>
: > Out of those, I have had good luck with Asus.
:
: I'm no expert and just started building during the last 6 months (with
the
: help of some on this list) but I've been noticing a few things about
: motherboards and about people's opinions about them. The only real
thing
: that seems consistent is that some companies are oriented toward
putting out
: the best-fastest thing possible in the shortest period of time in
order to
: gain market advantage. When they do, they risk putting it out before
all of
: the bugs and compatibility issues are worked out. Often, those bugs
are
: related to the bios, so if they exist they can be fixed after the
build is
: completed. Someone pointed out to me a week or two ago, however, that
: sometimes those issues are related to the hardware. In that event you
have a
: greater problem because the build can't be fixed without pulling the
entire
: board and replacing with a revised version.
:
: If you get the newest greatest board, you risk these problems to a
larger
: extent. I bought a new gigabyte board about 5 months ago and have had
: problems with some crashes and not having sata drives being detected
until I
: unplug and replug them. I'm now hearing (after my purchase) that
people
: believe this to be common for gigabyte - releasing the product quickly
and
: fixing it with bios revisions. They are up to 6 revisions on my board
(7
: total including the original) in about a year after production. I just
: flashed the latest version about 2 days ago (said to solve some
problems
: related to sata drives), and so far none of these problems have
occurred.
:
: I'm now realizing that I really don't need the latest greatest thing
for
: what I do and I don't really need the aggravation of flashing bioses
(and
: the stress associated of knowing that something can go wrong in the
process
: and make the entire machine into a large paperweight), and unplugging
and
: re-plugging sata drives to get the bios to recognize them properly.
:
: The next machine (that I think I will order on Monday), will have a
Tyan
: motherboard even though it doesn't have the most of the fastest PCIe
slots,
: and doesn't support the fastest ram available.
:
: Other than issues related to pre-mature releases and whether one wants
to
: take risks with the newest hardware, however, I'm not really seeing
any
: consistency about opinions on motherboards on this list or elsewhere.
It
: seems that everyone has had bad experiences with different boards
pretty
: much equally and everyone will give you a different opinion about
which is
: best and which one gave them problems in the past. I've heard just as
many
: people say that they have had no problem with Asus as I've heard
people say
: that they have. ...same with most other boards - other than what I
already
: mentioned - if you get the newest thing (apparently more likely with
: Gigabyte), you are more likely to have bug and compatibility problems
that
: may take some time to fix with an updated bios.
:
: For the most part, it seems that you should just find a board with the
: features that you need, and if you don't really need something, you
might
: want to stick with something that has been around a bit longer.
:
: Jeff

Your observations about Gigabyte hits home in that I have chosen their
GA-965P-DS3 due to its specs. I need both a serial and parallel port
plus 6 expansion slots in addition to the PCIx16. Their's seems to be
the only board that fits most of the criteria. (I would also like a
firewire port). Do you think that the BIOS problem is solved at this
point?
 
good point....I just put together, left overs from 2006.

Asus P5L-MX -
640 P4 3.2 stock HSF -
2 Gigs Mwave ram (pair of 1 gig 667's) (never belly-uped in all the years I
have been using their brand)
ATI X1300
Hitachi 160 SATA2
Viewsonic VG2021m LCD
and a RETRO XION case with the lighted led fans and a semi windowed left
panel (just because)
pulled the PSu, dropped in my S12 seasonic

coming from an old P4B266 1 gigram 1.8@ 2.0 P4 ;^0 DOH! needless to say I
am quite pleased.
the P5L's LG755 will take the core duo (quad) so if I end up with one, maybe
I'll fit it.

anyway I have never found it advantageous to have the latest and greatest,
better to have lots of reviews to get the reality of things.
 
Your observations about Gigabyte hits home in that I have chosen their
GA-965P-DS3 due to its specs. I need both a serial and parallel port
plus 6 expansion slots in addition to the PCIx16. Their's seems to be
the only board that fits most of the criteria. (I would also like a
firewire port). Do you think that the BIOS problem is solved at this
point?
Click to expand...

The only thing that I can tell you is that for my board - GA-M59SLI-S5 for
the AMD Socket AM2 (newest dual core processors) I haven't had a problem in
about the 4 days since I flashed to the newest bios version. Prior to that,
I was rebooting about once every two days (I leave the machine on for about
16 hours/day, so when I say re-boot, I mean that it would crash while either
idle (most commonly) or while working on it while it was on). It was also
freezing while booting about once/week requiring turning off the power and
then back on. I was also losing my secondary sata drive (even when the boot
drive was detected properly) about once every week - that would require me
to open the case (luckily I have one that opens easily), unplug the drive,
restart, stop, and plug it back in before it would start being recognized by
the bios again. I wasn't sure of the cause because I'm running Vista RC1
with both external scsi drives, TV card, and a few other things like virtual
PC that I thought might be causing some type of conflict with the
pre-release software.

....and it took me a number of hours to mess with just about everything to
solve the problem to figure out that nothing other than the above would
correct it.

....however, some of the problem may have also been related to the power
management abilities of the bios and I switched those settings at the same
time I flashed the bios. I'm probably going to set them back tonight and see
what happens.

The newest bios is now reporting something about smart technology being used
(for the drives I assume) on the monitor as it loads when that wasn't
present before.

I have no idea whether your board uses the same bios or not.

If you want me to let you know if the problems return after a few days I
can.

Jeff
 
:
: :
: > Your observations about Gigabyte hits home in that I have chosen
their
: > GA-965P-DS3 due to its specs. I need both a serial and parallel
port
: > plus 6 expansion slots in addition to the PCIx16. Their's seems to
be
: > the only board that fits most of the criteria. (I would also like a
: > firewire port). Do you think that the BIOS problem is solved at
this
: > point?
:
: The only thing that I can tell you is that for my board - GA-M59SLI-S5
for
: the AMD Socket AM2 (newest dual core processors) I haven't had a
problem in
: about the 4 days since I flashed to the newest bios version. Prior to
that,
: I was rebooting about once every two days (I leave the machine on for
about
: 16 hours/day, so when I say re-boot, I mean that it would crash while
either
: idle (most commonly) or while working on it while it was on). It was
also
: freezing while booting about once/week requiring turning off the power
and
: then back on. I was also losing my secondary sata drive (even when the
boot
: drive was detected properly) about once every week - that would
require me
: to open the case (luckily I have one that opens easily), unplug the
drive,
: restart, stop, and plug it back in before it would start being
recognized by
: the bios again. I wasn't sure of the cause because I'm running Vista
RC1
: with both external scsi drives, TV card, and a few other things like
virtual
: PC that I thought might be causing some type of conflict with the
: pre-release software.
:
: ...and it took me a number of hours to mess with just about everything
to
: solve the problem to figure out that nothing other than the above
would
: correct it.
:
: ...however, some of the problem may have also been related to the
power
: management abilities of the bios and I switched those settings at the
same
: time I flashed the bios. I'm probably going to set them back tonight
and see
: what happens.
:
: The newest bios is now reporting something about smart technology
being used
: (for the drives I assume) on the monitor as it loads when that wasn't
: present before.
:
: I have no idea whether your board uses the same bios or not.
:
: If you want me to let you know if the problems return after a few days
I
: can.
:
: Jeff
:
I'll go with the Gigabyte and take a chance. My hunch is that I will be
OK. I plan to order all parts from New Egg tomorrow. Thanks for the
feedback.
 
::
: > Your observations about Gigabyte hits home in that I have chosen
their
: > GA-965P-DS3 due to its specs. I need both a serial and parallel
port
: > plus 6 expansion slots in addition to the PCIx16. Their's seems to
be
: > the only board that fits most of the criteria. (I would also like a
: > firewire port). Do you think that the BIOS problem is solved at
this
: > point?
:
: The only thing that I can tell you is that for my board - GA-M59SLI-S5
for
: the AMD Socket AM2 (newest dual core processors) I haven't had a
problem in
: about the 4 days since I flashed to the newest bios version. Prior to
that,
: I was rebooting about once every two days (I leave the machine on for
about
: 16 hours/day, so when I say re-boot, I mean that it would crash while
either
: idle (most commonly) or while working on it while it was on). It was
also
: freezing while booting about once/week requiring turning off the power
and
: then back on. I was also losing my secondary sata drive (even when the
boot
: drive was detected properly) about once every week - that would
require me
: to open the case (luckily I have one that opens easily), unplug the
drive,
: restart, stop, and plug it back in before it would start being
recognized by
: the bios again. I wasn't sure of the cause because I'm running Vista
RC1
: with both external scsi drives, TV card, and a few other things like
virtual
: PC that I thought might be causing some type of conflict with the
: pre-release software.
:
: ...and it took me a number of hours to mess with just about everything
to
: solve the problem to figure out that nothing other than the above
would
: correct it.
:
: ...however, some of the problem may have also been related to the
power
: management abilities of the bios and I switched those settings at the
same
: time I flashed the bios. I'm probably going to set them back tonight
and see
: what happens.
:
: The newest bios is now reporting something about smart technology
being used
: (for the drives I assume) on the monitor as it loads when that wasn't
: present before.
:
: I have no idea whether your board uses the same bios or not.
:
: If you want me to let you know if the problems return after a few days
I
: can.
:
: Jeff
:
I'll go with the Gigabyte and take a chance. My hunch is that I will be
OK. I plan to order all parts from New Egg tomorrow. Thanks for the
feedback.
Click to expand...

I bought a D975XBX2. It works great. Mad solid performance with a Core
2 Duo E6400. 2 GB of 800 DDR2 XMS2
 
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