Cheap replacement for GA-965P-DS3? Or new, futureproof motherboard?

[darcon]

Basically, my ds3 is dead, and i dont feel like going through the RMA hassle anyway since its always had cold boot issues.

So, is there a cheap (sub $100) mobo i could buy now and still easily keep my OC on, or is now a good time to get a newer board? Are there any future-proof boards out that would let me keep my current hardware now and then later easily upgrade to intel's and nvidia's new stuff next year, or should i just buy a cheapie now and wait till next year for a new board?

Please respond soon, and thanks so much!


PS - im typing this on my Wii now, so my responses may take awhile ;)

[aiya]

for sub $100 range, you can't beat the abit IP35-E.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Skusearch.hmx?scriteria=BA23929

its $86 before rebate, $66 after @ mwave.

[darcon]

I forgot to mention I'm using RAID.

[darcon]

Any other recommendations on what I should do?
I would like to make a decision fairly soon.

[Nicksterr]

Invest in a x38 ddr2 board? pci-e 2.0 compatible...

how exactly did you kill your ds3? i've put mine through hell and back messing with voltages and options zillions of times and it's still chugging.

[darcon]

Are the x38's pretty futureproof? Do they perform and OC reliably?

And I'm not sure how my DS3 died, I think it may have been a bad flash as I was trying to resolve the cold-boot issues. I've taken the whole thing apart and let the CMOS clear for a couple of hours, but it just power cycles over and over. I don't really care about fixing at this point either, as I have never liked the thing.

ps- wii typing sux ;(

[darcon]

Oh, one more thing I should mention...I won't be using dual video cards ever so 1 PCIE port is fine.

[aiya]

sorry didn't see that you needed RAID. doing a quick search on newegg comes up with DFI P35 blood iron board which is good for clocking and is the cheapest one that has RAID, $120 + s/h.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038

or

for $10 more you can the P35 equivalent of your DS3, P35-DS3R.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050

[Bail_w]

Just go for the DFI P35 blood iron. anyway, want to give me that dead DS3? :D

[darcon]

How does the future look for the P35 chipset?
Will the new 45nm Intel processors or new nVidia card be compatible with it?
Or is it too early to really tell?

I've read up a bit on both the boards and they seem to be great for my current CPU or a quad-core in the future, but the reason I'm asking so many questions is that I like to upgrade when the tech looks like it will last a while, and when the performance difference is significant enough to justify it so I won't be wasting money. I would hate to buy the board now and then come next year (which is just a few months away) and have to buy a new board to use the new tech, but if it comes down to it I could work something out I suppose.

Thanks for all your help in this troubling time!

[Bobsama]

You could use an IP35--they're the IP35-E with 2 more SATA, 2 Firewire, and an ICH9R southbridge. Here's what you could get...

DFI Blood Iron P35-T2RL - $120
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R - $120
Abit IP35 - $130

That's all the P35 boards, from a good manufacturer, under $140 shipped that have onboard RAID.

[Brother Esau]

Future Proof Motherboard....LOL.....whats that?:rofl:

[Nate P.]

Future Proof Motherboard....LOL.....whats that?:rofl:
Haha, true...

[darcon]

DFI Blood Iron P35-T2RL - $120
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R - $120
Abit IP35 - $130


Out of these three, which one would you all recommend having the least amount of problems getting a stable OC or with memory?

Also, are there any significant differences between the DS3R revisions that you would prefer one over the other?

Thanks again.

[Kougar]

Just keep in mind, no Nehalem chips that are planned for release 15 months from now will be compatible with any boards out today. Intel is just trying to bleed the the people that can afford it dry with their X38, X48, and P45 upgrades to the P35, before outdating all of it overnight with Nehalem.

I don't know about those other boards, but if looking at DS3 boards I would suggest the DS3P over the DS3R, even if just for replacing that aluminum slug for a heatpipe + copper fin cooler. BTW, did you manually reset the BIOS to fail safe defaults after flashing it? Doesn't sound like a dead board to me... :)

[darcon]

Just keep in mind, no Nehalem chips that are planned for release 15 months from now will be compatible with any boards out today. Intel is just trying to bleed the the people that can afford it dry with their X38, X48, and P45 upgrades to the P35, before outdating all of it overnight with Nehalem.

I don't know about those other boards, but if looking at DS3 boards I would suggest the DS3P over the DS3R, even if just for replacing that aluminum slug for a heatpipe + copper fin cooler. BTW, did you manually reset the BIOS to fail safe defaults after flashing it? Doesn't sound like a dead board to me... :)

15 months is definitely far enough away for me not to worry about. I was thinking more of the beginning of next year with the 45nm chips and such, but I see now the P35 will support them.

As for my board, I loaded the fail-safe defaults before the flash, and immediately after the flash the board will endlessly power on for 3 seconds and power off. Clearing the CMOS for several hours had no effect.

But like I said, I'm done with this board and its issues, which leads me to my next concern...I'm leaning towards the P35-DS3, but I'm also worried about it having issues as well. Does it have any severe issues like cold booting or problems with memory timings and such?

[Kougar]

I couldn't tell you with any definite certainly... I've had no issues with the P35-DQ6 using the same RAM, but I never had those issues with my old Rev 1 965P-DS3 either. The board was temperamental with either 1GHz+ or 2.2v+ RAM settings, but that was it. The P35 does seem better as it doesn't seem to care with RAM settings at all, and doesn't have the 1100MHz ram limitations my 965P-DS3 did. I upgraded though mostly since the Rev 1 boards only had 3 VREGs on them, would of blown out the board trying to use a OCed Q6600 in it.

[darcon]

If I order a DS3R from newegg, is it pretty much guaranteed that I'll get a rev. 2?

[Kougar]

As long as they state it is a rev 2 in the title, then yes. Just make sure ya check for that, some of those online stores sell multiple revisions at the same time on different pages.

[darcon]

Alright, I bit the bullet on the DS3R. From what I've read the only major "problem" it tends to have is vdroop, which is to be expected anyway. Hopefully this board will carry me through next year as well, since it's 45nm compatible.

Anyway, thanks to everyone that helped me decide!

[swaaye]

DS3R 1.0 works very well for me. The only difference between it and 2.0 is that 2.0 has USB ports instead of the serial and parallel ports. I built a 2.0 about a week ago, for my bro. It even uses the same BIOS files as 1.0, AFAICT. I actually use parallel, so I prefer 1.0. :)

What's most amazing to me is how much less annoying it is to overclock P35-DS3R than it is 965P-DS3. No damn reboot loops, no clearing the BIOS with the jumper for 1 in 3 overclock attempts, etc. It is a lot better at recovering from an unhappy BIOS setting, reseting to defaults and booting right back up.