mobo for vista suggestions?

[Buggs1a]

I'm looking to buy a really good motherboard for Windows Vista Ultimate. It
will be Intel cpu based on Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad in future maybe. Needs Raid
0 sata and sata for backup hard drives. Needs regular IDE as well for my ide
dvdrw drive etc. Needs onboard audio and firewire etc. No onboard video
unless it can be totally easy to disable and not interfere with Vista
Ultimate or PCI-E 16x slots.

I will be putting in this board

1: 2gb of ram for dual channel. 2x 1gb sticks. What is good?
2: 2 Western Digital 10k rpm sata 74gb as Raid 0 for main boot drive where
Vista Ultimate will go. Are there any boards that will work with this and I
do not have to use a floppy or anything for the raid drivers or anything?
3: 160gb sata backup hard drive
4: EVGA SLI capable GF 6800GT 256mb PCI-E 16x video card. Will not be using
sli right now, but may in future.
5: Floppy drive
6: ide lightscribe dvdrw drive
7: External usb2.0 500gb hard drive
8: usb 2.0 external 200gb hard drive
9: usb printer color laser from hp
10: usb all in one unit
11: usb/ps2 keyboard
12: usb wireless mouse

That's pretty much all I'm gonna connect to it.

What I plan to buy is
1: Good motherboard
2: the ram
3: the cpu which might be the intel core 2 duo E6600 maybe? Not totally
sure.

I've heard online that the core2duos are better then the amdx2 dual cores.
currently i have an amdx2 4200+ and asus a8nsli deluxe in one pc and I like
the performance ok. but it's not really good for vista, the board.

thanks guys.

 

[Parrôtt]

Check here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx

http://www.msicomputer.com/

http://www.asus.com.tw/

http://www.dfi.com.tw/


Hope these help in your finding of what mainboard you want......


Have a blessed one...

 

[Buggs1a]

Check here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx

http://www.msicomputer.com/

http://www.asus.com.tw/

http://www.dfi.com.tw/


Hope these help in your finding of what mainboard you want......


Have a blessed one...

Thanks, but specifically what one, not brand. I know what brands, but not
which models are good. thanks a lot though.

 

[Pecos]

I'm looking to buy a really good motherboard for Windows Vista Ultimate.
It will be Intel cpu based on Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad in future maybe. Needs
Raid 0 sata and sata for backup hard drives. Needs regular IDE as well for
my ide dvdrw drive etc. Needs onboard audio and firewire etc. No onboard
video unless it can be totally easy to disable and not interfere with
Vista Ultimate or PCI-E 16x slots.

Foxconn is relatively new to the home enthusiast market but has been
building solid motherboards for years. You might want to take a close look
at the Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H motherboard. It meets all of your
requirements and then some.

I have written a review of it here:
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/Foxconn_975X7AB-8EKRS2H.html

Other motherboards are compared in a table there that you could consider.

I also discuss how to set up the Intel Matrix RAID and the various RAID
options. I am running both striped and mirrored volumes on two 250 GB
Maxtor SATA hard drives and really like the speed and data safety.

I am using Vista RC1 on that motherboard now and except for start up when it
takes 15-20 seconds before I can connect to a network, Vista runs very fast.

Have fun with your search!

--
Alan Norton
Reviews Including ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H
Motherboards
Guide to Choosing the Right Version Of Vista For You - Vista Confusion
Article
Arizona Pics
No Spam - Just a gratuitous plea for more hardware to test
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[Adam Albright]

Thanks, but specifically what one, not brand. I know what brands, but not
which models are good. thanks a lot though.

I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 which is their top end board, works fine
with Vista...except for some minor SATA issues... they work as IDE,
not as they should as SATA, more likely a Vista issue. Aside from
that, a very fast, rock solid board that supports the latest Intel
Core 2 Duo CPUs, and ready for Quad core. Supports up to 8 GB of DDR2
memory, very fast FSB, up to 1066, easy overclocking, easy RAID, Quad
BIOS, eveything else you asked for. Good audio 2-4-6-8 speaker audio
built in, has phone jack and digital audio out, comes with backplane
for extra SATA-E drives, no onboard video, Super fast PCI express x16
video slots. Not cheap, but high quality.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

What I plan to buy is
1: Good motherboard
2: the ram
3: the cpu which might be the intel core 2 duo E6600 maybe? Not totally
sure.

1. Asus P5B Deluxe (or any of the P5B series) are excellent high quality
motherboards. If you want slightly higher performance, get a P5W DH Deluxe,
especially if you want to use ECC RAM or overclock heavily (I have one),
but you get a couple less SATA ports (4+1+1xeSATA).

2. Any brand name PC2-6400 RAM will be fine, but lower latency/higher clock
speed will cost more. I have Mushkin XP-6400, which effortlessly runs at
4-4-3-10 at PC2 7200 at the stock voltage. Get at least 2GB for decent
Vista performance.

3. The E6600 is still the one to go for. The E6700 costs a lot more for
little extra performance, but the E6600 still has the 4MB cache that the
E6400 does not have, and it doesn't cost that much more. I have one too.

ss.

 

[007]

1. Asus P5B Deluxe (or any of the P5B series) are excellent high quality
motherboards. If you want slightly higher performance, get a P5W DH
Deluxe, especially if you want to use ECC RAM or overclock heavily (I
have one), but you get a couple less SATA ports (4+1+1xeSATA).

Any opinion on Intel BOXD975XBX2KR motherboard?

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Any opinion on Intel BOXD975XBX2KR motherboard?

I don't know that board in particular, but with 975X chipset in the name it
must be some variant if the Intel BadAxe. Intel basically make reference
designs to showcase their chipsets. They tend to be very stable, from what
I hear, but don't have many fancy features. Other high-end manufacturers,
like Asus, add other things, and budget brands make alterations to make
their boards cheaper.

The Asus P5W DH would be the equivalent as they have the same high-end
chipsets. They would both be excellent boards, by reputation of the
manufacturers (and I have a P5W DH Deluxe). Compare specs and reviews on
the internet.

ss.

 

[St_nickster]

I have a GigabyteGA-965P-DQ6which is their top end board, works fine
with Vista...except for some minor SATA issues... they work as IDE,
not as they should as SATA, more likely a Vista issue. Aside from
that, a very fast, rock solid board that supports the latest Intel
Core 2 Duo CPUs, and ready for Quad core. Supports up to 8 GB of DDR2
memory, very fast FSB, up to 1066, easy overclocking, easy RAID, Quad
BIOS, eveything else you asked for. Good audio 2-4-6-8 speaker audio
built in, has phone jack and digital audio out, comes with backplane
for extra SATA-E drives, no onboard video, Super fast PCI express x16
video slots. Not cheap, but high quality.

This is a very good solid Motherboard. The latest revision 3.3 is the
one with all the BIOS and Firmware issues addressed plus Quad Core
ready and solid capacitors to boot. Make sure if you search out this
board you locate the 3.3 version.

Thumbs up! (h5)

 

[R. McCarty]

The Asus P5W DH is an excellent board. The cooling is very good, with
the Heat Pipe structures. The P5W has some extra features that many
users won't need ( Remote Control...)

I personally use a Intel DG965RY board. A good mix of features verses
cost. Only issue I've had with them is less than adequate heatsink contact
on the Northbridge/Southbridge. On mine, I replaced the factory heatsinks
with a Thermaltake "Extreme Spirit II" copper heat-piping assembly.

I've also used a less expensive Asus board ( P5L-MX ) for an entry level
Core 2 Duo system. The system ran very well and I've not had any reports
of problems from the customer.

Intel will soon release the new P35 chipset, but I don't believe it will be
available for a while.

 

[Buggs1a]

The Asus P5W DH is an excellent board. The cooling is very good, with
the Heat Pipe structures. The P5W has some extra features that many
users won't need ( Remote Control...)

I personally use a Intel DG965RY board. A good mix of features verses
cost. Only issue I've had with them is less than adequate heatsink contact
on the Northbridge/Southbridge. On mine, I replaced the factory heatsinks
with a Thermaltake "Extreme Spirit II" copper heat-piping assembly.

I've also used a less expensive Asus board ( P5L-MX ) for an entry level
Core 2 Duo system. The system ran very well and I've not had any reports
of problems from the customer.

Intel will soon release the new P35 chipset, but I don't believe it will
be
available for a while.

Thanks guys. I'm still trying to get more feedback from the web and posts in
here. I really appreciate this.

 

[Pecos]

Thanks guys. I'm still trying to get more feedback from the web and posts
in here. I really appreciate this.

Another way you could narrow down your motherboard choices would be to
determine the chipsets you want for the Northbridge MCH (Memory Controller
Hub) and the Southbridge ICH (I/O Controller Hub). Once done, you can
essentially eliminate half of the the motherboards out there right now.

This website has a table comparing the chipsets:
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2-chipsets/index.x?pg=2

Northbridge: The two main choices for Vista would be the 975X Express or
the P965 Express. The 975 chipset has been available since late 2005 and is
considered a 'premium' chipset. It is more stable and mature versus the 965.
The 975 chipset does not officially support DDR2 800 MHz memory and often
requires overclocking to achieve those speeds, though my relatively new OCZ
Platinum Ver 1 memory shows as 800 MHz now with no additional BIOS changes,
but don't ask me how they did that. The 975X supports Crossfire mode
when using multiple video cards.

The P965 Express Northbridge chipset was available in mid 2006 and is newer
than the 975. The 965 also officially supports 800 MHz DDR2 memory.

Southbridge: Consider a chipset ending in 'R' if you want the built-in
Intel Matrix RAID. The ICH8DH and ICH8DO also support RAID. The Intel
Matrix RAID only works with SATA drives.

The Southbridge chipsets used on the 975 Northbridge MB's support 4 SATA
drives, 8 USB ports and 1 ATA (IDE) channel for two devices.
The Southbridge chipsets used on the 965 Northbridge MB's support 6 SATA
drives, 10 USB ports and *no* ATA (IDE) channels.

Motherboard manufacturers often add one of the JMicron chips to add ATA and
RAID, but my research shows that the Intel Matrix RAID is preferred over the
JMicron RAID by users that know more about this than I do. If you need ATA
RAID, you will have to use the JMicron RAID.

Most motherboards available now are based on the Intel chipsets. You can
look at the NVIDIA chipsets if you expect to do high end gaming.

Since you specifically asked for Vista and this is a Vista group , you
should check the manufacturers webites and see if they have Vista drivers
for the peripherals, especially for printers and scanners. eVGA has had
their Vista drivers available for quite some time now.

I remember reading in the requirements for Vista quite a long time ago that
SATA NCQ, (Native Command Queuing) was recommended so you might want to make
sure that your motherboard supports this.

This website has an interesting forum discussion and guide to selecting a
motherboard:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/printthread.php?t=710828&pp=60

Happy reading!

--
Alan Norton
Reviews Including ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H
Motherboards
Guide to Choosing the Right Version Of Vista For You - Vista Confusion
Article
Arizona Pics
No Spam - Just a gratuitous plea for more hardware to test
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[007]

Another way you could narrow down your motherboard choices would be to
determine the chipsets you want for the Northbridge MCH (Memory Controller
Hub) and the Southbridge ICH (I/O Controller Hub). Once done, you can
essentially eliminate half of the the motherboards out there right now.


Southbridge: Consider a chipset ending in 'R' if you want the built-in
Intel Matrix RAID. The ICH8DH and ICH8DO also support RAID. The Intel
Matrix RAID only works with SATA drives.


I remember reading in the requirements for Vista quite a long time ago
that SATA NCQ, (Native Command Queuing) was recommended so you might want
to make sure that your motherboard supports this.

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

No.

ss.

 

[Pecos]

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

According to this website it doesn't:
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2-chipsets/index.x?pg=2

And another from Tech Report that compares the budget priced Foxconn's
P9657AA-8KS2H with the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 also says the ICH8 chipset does
not support AHCI/NCQ and RAID.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/foxconn-gigabyte-p965/index.x?pg=1

When in doubt, go to the source:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/cs-012304.htm

The ICH5, ICH5R, ICH6, ICH7 and ICH8 chipsets do not use AHCI which is
required for NCQ.

If the motherboard has an on-board JMicron chip (which most 965 series
boards do to gain ATA support), it may have SATA and AHCI/NCQ support. The
trick there is to find the SATA ports on the motherboard that are controlled
by the JMicron chip.

--
Alan Norton
Reviews Including ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H
Motherboards
Guide to Choosing the Right Version Of Vista For You - Vista Confusion
Article
Arizona Pics
No Spam - Just a gratuitous plea for more hardware to test
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[Pecos]

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

According to this website it doesn't:
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2-chipsets/index.x?pg=2

And another from Tech Report that compares the budget priced Foxconn's
P9657AA-8KS2H with the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 also says the ICH8 chipset does
not support AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface)/NCQ (Native Command
Queuing) and RAID.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/foxconn-gigabyte-p965/index.x?pg=1

When in doubt, go to the source:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/cs-012304.htm

The ICH5, ICH5R, ICH6, ICH7 and ICH8 chipsets do not use AHCI which is
required for NCQ.

If the motherboard has an on-board JMicron chip (which most 965 series
boards do to gain ATA support), it may have SATA and AHCI/NCQ support. The
trick there is to find the SATA ports on the motherboard that are controlled
by the JMicron chip.
--
Alan Norton
Reviews of ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H MB's
Vista Confusion, The Missing Post Mystery and Playing the Rebate Game
Articles
Arizona Pics
No Spam - Just a gratuitous plea for more hardware to test
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[Pecos]

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

The ICH5, ICH5R, ICH6, ICH7 and ICH8 chipsets do not use AHCI (Advanced Host
Controller Interface) which is required for NCQ (Native Command Queuing) .

If the motherboard has an on-board JMicron chip (which most 965 series
boards do to gain ATA support), it may have SATA and AHCI/NCQ support. The
trick there is to find the SATA ports on the motherboard that are controlled
by the JMicron chip.
--
Alan Norton
Reviews of ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H MBs
Vista Confusion, Missing Post Mystery & Playing the Rebate Game Articles
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
No Spam - Just a gratuitous plea for more hardware to test
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[Pecos]

Does ICH8 (plain) support SATA NCQ?

When in doubt, go to the source:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/cs-012304.htm

The ICH5, ICH5R, ICH6, ICH7 and ICH8 chipsets do not use AHCI which is
required for NCQ.

If the motherboard has an on-board JMicron chip (which most 965 series
boards do to gain ATA support), it may have SATA and AHCI/NCQ support. The
trick there is to find the SATA ports on the motherboard that are controlled
by the JMicron chip.

--
Alan Norton
Reviews of ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H MBs
Vista Confusion, Missing Post Mystery & Playing the Rebate Game Articles
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

 

[Pecos]

To the group: I apologize for the multiple posts.

I am using MS Mail (RC1 5600) and my posts were not showing up on the
server. I waited hours before reposting figuring that they would never show
up. Now 2-3 days later - there they are!

I noticed that when I had to login to MS Communities, the posts would not
appear. After shutting down the computer and restarting, I was not required
to login to MS Communities and the post showed up in a few minutes like it
should.

Might be a bug there somewhere.....
--
Alan Norton
Reviews of ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H MBs
Vista Confusion, Missing Post Mystery & Playing the Rebate Game Articles
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/