Need a motherboard suggestion for overclocking intel core 2 quad q6600

[Raj Desai]

Recently I bought a new GPU and PSU for my sister but unfortunately found that her motherboard is a POS and due to which the GPU is unable to fit into it, actually the capacitor is blocking the way.
Although the motherboard is creating the problem with the GPU I was as it is planning to upgrade the motherboard with a new one. Now I am in search for a good motherboard and a case, the motherboard should be able to handle a good overclock. I have no idea about overclocking so therefore please suggest me the best motherboard that not only fits the GPU inside it but also can overclock my quad q6600 processor and keep it stable at ~3ghz. I have also a separate set of DDR3 ram and DDR2 is already installed in it.

[Skullnit]

I would simply suggest you to go for either an ASUS or a Gigabyte P35 chipset LGA 775 gl. I have heard about this quad q6600 processor that it can easily overclock and get stable at ~3ghz quite well. You can get 3 ghz without even touching the voltage. Just let me know whether your processor go stepping. If its so then without facing any issue you can simply get up the FSB and watch Ram frequency and get 3 Ghz.

[LavinaD]

I have certain options with me from which you can probably choose the best one. You can go for:

• Asus P5G41T-M/CSM LGA775
• MSI G41M-P34 LGA775
• MSI P45 NEO3 – FR

You can also go for a p45 and p43 boards, more over that the 4x boards don't even have the voltage fluctuation problem but some p3x boards have it. And if you are planning to go for a p35 chipset let me tell you that currently you wont be finding a brand new p35 available in the market anymore.

[crook]

I would like to comment on this p35 board, if you are really planning to go for a p35 platinum then let me tell you that this p25 platinum was truly the worst one I have ever come across. The worst thing was that it was not overclocked properly and also even after having a heatsink the board use to get too hot. The southbridge however possibly made the fitting of the gtx280 very much impossible without even hacking off half of the southbridge heatsink. Other than this you can simply go for any of the boards and the most recommended one would be MSI but not p45 too as I am already having it and I must say it didn’t really impressed me.

[Marquise]

I have a good experience with the IP35-pro but then I opted for an Asus for some extra features. However the IP35 use to overclock my processor at its best, and let me tell you that I too had the same Quad q6600 processor.
Other than this pairing it with a Radeon HD4870 GPU it would be much better at 3.0 or 3.1ghz rather than anything less than that.

[Leslie f]

I would strictly suggest you to get aways from all other motherboard brands except for:

• ASUS
• Gigabyte

I don’t know about other but p35 board was really not the best one for me, especially if you own a Q6600 and need to overclock it. Must be the reason is that I bought some bad board but however the Abit IP35e had a worst vdroop of about 0.1 v and my EP35 DS3L had something similar. If I would have been in your place, i would got a best P45 or x48 chipset, heard that Gigabyte P45s are currently the best one.