Motherboard suggestions for Q6600 & PC8500 DDR2 RAM

[IceT-Bag]

Hi Ho,

Would anyone like to suggest a good motherboard for an Intel Quad-Core Q6600 CPU which supports DDR2 PC8500 ram?

I've seen the Gigabyte Ga-X48-DQ6 but its a bit pricey. I doubt I'll need a mobo with the Intel X38/X48 chipset as I think they're mainly for SLI/X-Fire and DDR3 uses...which I wont be needing, so any Intel P35 chipset mobo's are fine.

[Sky]

One from the Asus P5K range

[IceT-Bag]

Im a bit unhappy with Asus at the moment. I currently have an Asus P5KC which claims to support PC8500 ram - however it doesnt and despite all the threads on their support forums they still havent released a BIOS to fix the problem.

Apart from that its a good board, and I've never had problems with previous Asus boards in the past - but this 'it supports PC8500 when it really doesnt' crap peeves me off.

So, Im trying to avoid Asus if possible, unless there is a P5K* series that does fully support PC8500 that has got by my radar (though it seems to be across the boards).

Just been reading up on the DFI LanParty LT X38-T2R, but the DDRs slots look a little close to the PCI-e X16 slot to accomodate my Radeon 2900XT (which is a big bugger!)

[Sky]

What PC8500 ramdo you have? there seems to be lots of compatibility issues with P35 chipset boards

[IceT-Bag]

Crucial Ballistic Tracer PC2-8500 (BL2KIT12864AA1065).

You can only get it to run @ DDR2 800 speed (4-4-4-12 @ 400Mhz) if you want it to boot

Trying 5-5-5-15 @ 533Mhz (the settings for this 8500 DDR2 ram) and it wont boot.

Anyhow, basically my bro wants to upgrade his PC, so Im thinking I'll get a Quad Core and mobo that supports my 8500 ram, then he can have my Dual Core and Asus P5KC and I'll get some DDR800 for it - he ends up with a nice dual core, I get a quad core and a mobo that fully supports my ram

[Sky]

google crucial pc8500 and p35, it ain't good. Have they got LEDs?, seems to make worse.
You may have to aim for X38 instead

[IceT-Bag]

Yeah I've been looking at mobo's with the X38 chipset.

[Sky]

Yeah I've been looking at mobo's with the X38 chipset.

Or you could buy some good ram pc8500 seems to be a bit of a lottery even from crucial

[GrumpyOG]

Or you could go AMD, the 9850BE is not tooo shabby v the q6600 and all the 790FX MB's support 8500

[IceT-Bag]

Or you could buy some good ram pc8500 seems to be a bit of a lottery even from crucial

I've never had problems with Crucial memory before mate with regards to being unstable at advertised speeds.

In fact, Crucial is owned by Micron, Micron supply chips to Corsair - so I doubt there is much if any difference between the 2 brands of 8500 ram.

I also remember seeing motherboard reviews in the past where the test setup used Crucial 8500 ram at full speed, shame I didnt bookmark them.

Or you could go AMD, the 9850BE is not tooo shabby v the q6600 and all the 790FX MB's support 8500

Thanks mate, but Im not convinced that AMD have caught up yet on the CPU wars so Im leaning towards Intel again.