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Hi All,

 

I'm changing from my ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA for something else.

 

Preferably a recent chipset for my C2D that works out of the box.

 

Need something that can run IDE at a healthy speed as I have lots of left over drives.

EDIT: actually I just got a couple of those IDE/SATA adapters from Hong Kong for $4

each, that may take care of some that issue.

 

Have 7300GT graphics already.

 

Support HPET, Speedstep, Audio, Working Wifi,

 

Cheap and stable would be great.

any advice?

Well, the Gigabyte P35-DS3P seems like a good choice. Check this thread on it. It can overclock too. Or the Asus P5K-VM for a m-atx motherboard.

 

But those both have issues with pata drives. In which case I guess I will recommend the usual, a 945G based motherboard. (there are many). Easiest to get working.

 

For wireless, get a card with a Broadcom chipset. Works really well.

Thanks for the replies,

I don't think the shuttle is the way to go as I already have the box, drives, cpu, ram and graphics.

 

I might take a look down the older chipset path, it hadn't occurred to me but it makes sense in some ways.

 

Thanks on the Broadcom tip, have somewhere to start from now.

Wow Zurk

 

Thats a low Xbench. I'd assume it's the 950 onboard Video and the laptop hardrive hammering the score. I was looking at that Shuttle recently is it possible fit an pci-e card and a sata drive in there.

 

I'm all for small form factor + seems like Shuttle puts some extra workmanship which is often missing in PC land.

Wow Zurk

 

Thats a low Xbench. I'd assume it's the 950 onboard Video and the laptop hardrive hammering the score. I was looking at that Shuttle recently is it possible fit an pci-e card and a sata drive in there.

 

I'm all for small form factor + seems like Shuttle puts some extra workmanship which is often missing in PC land.

 

 

the shuttle will taqke a pci e card and sata drive. without the disk its 140 on xbench.

I don't know, I don't like shuttles...

 

I can recommend the $50-60 Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 motherboard. There's cheap and stable for you. And confirmed working 100% with OSX86

 

BTW what's wrong with the Asrock?

Yup, I'm not crazy on the shuttle thing as I have bits from larger computers that I am trying to make use of. The shuttle limits my imagination almost immediately, but it's not a bad idea.

 

My dilemma all started because the ASRock 4CoreDual uses a pt880 Ultra chipset, or possibly some subtle variation of it. As a result (unlike my other os x builds) the IDE drives run at about 1/5th of what they should. I have a lot of IDE drives left over from other upgrades to larger machines that I don't really want to simply throw out.

 

The only drivers that come close in Osx86 land are 'TheStevo' built ones for 775-VSTA on pt880 pro.

The drivers give access to SATA but they don't improve the IDE speeds.

 

Have done some fiddling with the VIA ATA kexts, but things don't really seem to get any better.

 

The other thing is that I'm just looking for a bit more stability, the ASRock is quite fast, OC's to a basic level and the Jas 10.4.8 patched with Stevo/Marcus works ok, in fact it's reasonably snappy.

But ultimately there are still some quirks that seem MB related.

 

Audio is possibly one of them.

i think the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 / GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 r good options for ur build.

 

a cheaper option available.

 

Open Box: BIOSTAR TForceP965 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...82E16813138039R

Thanks very much everyone.

That's 3 recommendations for the Gigabyte boards. (2 for older 945/965 chipsets, 1 for p35)

 

The older ones might have better IDE compatability, but no firewire, which seems a bit un-mac like.

From experience an Intel chipset is definitely the way to go, but I'm a bit paranoid about the ICH9R on P35 boards being just a bit too new for Osx86.

 

Can anyone confirm support for the HPET and Speedstep in my C2D chip on any of these boards?

Some have sleep running but no confirmation of IDE speeds on Gigabyte P35 boards.

 

Now that cheap is fast becoming the least important of my issues, lol!

 

I think it's coming down to the Gigabyte P35 or Intel Badaxe2

Does anyone have any firm opinions about what I should do?

 

Almost there...thanks everyone.

It's tough to make a decision, hey! Well at least all your choices are good now. What can I say, there are just too many products on the market.It really depends...on your budget and what you want to do with it. The Badaxe2 obviously rocks for OS X, it's just too expensive for my liking. Are you going to overclock? If not, get the 945G chipset, if so, then 975 or even better P35.They all have HPET and speedstep. Sleep seems to be a sporadically working thing, don't count on it working, is all I can say. That said, you might just!Don't put too much stock in the firewire thing, remember, you can just add in a cheap card, and it works 100%. So there, I didn't suggest anything. It's up to you!

 

One more thing. If you get a P35 based board, you gain support for the upcoming processors by Intel, which is pretty compelling for future upgrades. Well they're slightly faster.

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