Hi all, long time listener, first time caller.
I'm finally upgrading my box from an old P4 to a dual core E6300. The last piece of the jigsaw is the motherboard. I don't have a whole lotta cash to flash around, so at the moment my choices are between a GA-965P-S3 or an Intel DP965LT - or the third option, which is to ask my local retailer whether he can maybe get another board in my price-range into stock (it's a small-ish operation but they are generally quite reliable and helpful).
I've seen a previous post that said that the GA-965P-DS3P was a good board and to avoid the plain 'ol S3 version but no reason was given. To the naked eye there doesn't seem to be much between them - the DS3P has 2 PCIe 16 slots vs 1 (but I'm not going to SLI), better RAID capability, a slightly different version of Realtek audio ... but the BIOS for the DS3P is refered to as a QuadBios vs a Virtual Dual Bios for the S3. Can anyone comment on whether the difference is significant? Has anyone had problems with the DS3P?
The Intel is in there as a wildcard - I can't find anyone complaining about their reliability, so it seemed like a useful (and cheap) alternative, even though it's lacking in the RAID department.
The rest of the package:
E6300
1 Gb ram DD2 533Mhz
Inno3D 7900GS
160Gb Seagate SATA2
200Gb ATA (from my old box)
DVD write, FDD, yadda yadda ...
Any advice greatly accepted, thanks.
I'm finally upgrading my box from an old P4 to a dual core E6300. The last piece of the jigsaw is the motherboard. I don't have a whole lotta cash to flash around, so at the moment my choices are between a GA-965P-S3 or an Intel DP965LT - or the third option, which is to ask my local retailer whether he can maybe get another board in my price-range into stock (it's a small-ish operation but they are generally quite reliable and helpful).
I've seen a previous post that said that the GA-965P-DS3P was a good board and to avoid the plain 'ol S3 version but no reason was given. To the naked eye there doesn't seem to be much between them - the DS3P has 2 PCIe 16 slots vs 1 (but I'm not going to SLI), better RAID capability, a slightly different version of Realtek audio ... but the BIOS for the DS3P is refered to as a QuadBios vs a Virtual Dual Bios for the S3. Can anyone comment on whether the difference is significant? Has anyone had problems with the DS3P?
The Intel is in there as a wildcard - I can't find anyone complaining about their reliability, so it seemed like a useful (and cheap) alternative, even though it's lacking in the RAID department.
The rest of the package:
E6300
1 Gb ram DD2 533Mhz
Inno3D 7900GS
160Gb Seagate SATA2
200Gb ATA (from my old box)
DVD write, FDD, yadda yadda ...
Any advice greatly accepted, thanks.