Please suggest MOBO for my Q6600

[rmdl51]

Hello everybody, I'm looking for a good MOBO for my new Q6600, I'm realy confused because there are so many that looks so good but then I found them lack a few options that I really need:

First, I really want ASUS since I've had 90% of good experiences with them, but I don't know I think MSI or GigaByte are ok either, well, I need the board to have SLI for my future gaming purposes, I need at least 1 eSata for my external HDD, those are the must, the optional but preferable would be 6 USB ports, 6 onboard SATA, and I need to install two PCI cards that doesn't interfere with the SLI cards, so what do you guys have in mind, I've searched but...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131225
I guess this one doesn't do SLI

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073
this one lacks the eSata port and I don't like the orientation of the internal SATA ports.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142
I think this one could do it but I'm not sure...

suggestions please! any help highly appreciate it! Thanks!

 

[Tedster]

go to tomshardware.com and read their reviews. Also google PSU calculator and add 30% to the results. Spend $ on a good PSU.

 

[rmdl51]

Oops! maybe I rushed a little bit because I got a deal on an Antec Basiq 500w Dual 12v rail 18A, I tought that might be enough but I guess not for SLI, well I won't be doing SLI right now, so maybe it will work with the single card in the meanwhile but thanks a lot for the info. Even tough I understand pretty much everything I'm not familiar with the chipsets, and I got confused by all these terms.

 

[nickc]

18A on the 12v rail is not much.

 

[rmdl51]

It's Dual my friend

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The ASUS P5N-E SLI and MSI P6N SLI Platinum are good choices. Your current PSU is, as the name implies, for basic purposes only. It won't do for even a moderately powerful SLI setup. What SLI-certified PSU you want depends on what cards you will use for the setup. IMO, the Corsair VX550W has enough power for an 8600GTS SLI setup, so it's your best choice should you go down that path. For 8800xx SLI, get the SilverStone Decathlon 750W or a similar PSU.

 

[nickc]

It's Dual my friend

and all that means is nothing that does not double the power and it is short.

 

[rmdl51]

and all that means is nothing that does not double the power and it is short.

again you are wrong or I'm getting you wrong, there's a lot of difference between Dual and non-dual PSU, i'm not saying is enough, since the first post I stated that I rush for not enough power with that PSU, but Dual 12v at 18A is more than enough if I'm not running SLI.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Your PSU puts out about 27A maximum on the +12V rails combined. That's not much, except if you'd want to SLI two 8600GTs or something similar.

 

[rmdl51]

Thanks a lot Rage for all suggestions and advice, after looking at all my options I guess I have to drop the SLI idea for the moment, I'm on a very tight budget and I can't spend about 1k on Dual 8800GT, PSU & MOBO, so I'll be gaming with just one video card, right now I choose this, but I'll upgrade video card with the 8800GT when I have the funds to do that,oh and for sure upgrade PSU because that Antec Basiq is already on my Case, and can't buy new PSU right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131196

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150229

I know the 8600 is not so good but I hope it let's me play a few games in the meanwhile and I need to do video edition too, but I really think I can do that with a single 8800GT, I hope I didn't choose wrong, I choose that MOBO because I really need those SATA & eSata (have 4 HDD and 2 SATA dvd-rw). please let me know what do you think, I'm open to your opinions, Thanks to you all for your time.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

If you need that many SATA ports, then the GigaByte GA-P35C-DS3R is a great choice with its 8 SATA ports. It also supports Penryn CPUs and has support for DDR2 and DDR3 RAM, in case you want to upgrade later, and is available for the same price as the P5N-E SLI.

 

[rmdl51]

Indeed a good one! but no eSata but I guess I can add a PCI card for eSata right? is very tempting for the DDR3 support, but then again DDR3 ram is too expensive, and talking about CPU's is it true that the Q6600 FSB can be overclocked to 1333Mhz?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

It supports DDR2 and DDR3, so you can use DDR2 right now and upgrade to DDR3 later. And yes, you can add a PCI card for eSATA support.