Hi, I'm looking to scale down my budget for my new C2d build, and I was wondering what the best price/performance board was. I guess I'm looking at the price range around 150$ Canadian, give or take. I probably only need limited overclockability, SLI unnecessary if it's going to be bringing the cost up too much. Basically just a solid board with good performance. Anyone have any recommendations?
Hey. I would got with a C2D E6300, but are you wanting the motherboard and CPU all in the $150 budget?!?!, i think that might be abit tricky to fit in. **Edit** oh stupid me, not reading thigns correctly. Those motherboards BigB listed are going to be satisfactory though.
A good motherboard option would be this MSI P965 Neo-F or the Asus P5B. If you'd like SLI, then the Asus P5NSLI is an option.
I had originally been looking at the P5B, but I wasn't really sure. Yesterday I read an extremely good review of the MSI p965 Platinum on tomshardware, but how does the Neo-F compare to that for about 40 bucks cheaper? Is it basically the same with scaled back features, or is it just a lower quality motherboard? Also, what of the 650i, the mid-range version of the 680i, any word on how good it is? I heard there were some problems with the older nvidia chipsets for C2d.
The Platinum boards are the tricked out version. Their NEO series are usually about the same, but with less overclocking options and less accessories in the box---basically, just the bare minimum to get going.
