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Currently running an ASUS P5LD2 Mobo with a crappy P4 processor. Managed to get hold of a dirt cheap Q9400 CPU as apparently it's compatible with my Mobo, guess what, the boards so old it doesn't support my new chip. Doesn't even post when switched on.

So the question is who could recommend a good Mobo that won't break to £100 mark and can take up to 4Gb of RAM and has plenty of PCIe slots? It's a minefield out there and me being a bit thick would like to get some thing that works!!!!

Want to keep my 8800 GTS and X-Fi cards.

Have you tried a BIOS upgrade? As P4's were about 90nm and the Q9400 is 45nm, the board will most definitely need an update.

Go HERE, choose your OS and look for the latest BIOS.


Not sure how the older Asus boards support BIOS Flashes, but look in your manual/BIOS for the EZ Flash utility and that makes it a lot easier (If you have the manual, just consult that)


Note that BIOS flashes, if done wrong, can render your motherboard dead, so do these at your own risk.

Tried that already. Mine was the first revision of the board and that CPU will only work on later revisions.

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

P45, strong Chip, good brand, great over clocking potential.

Shop around for decent deals though

'[R-COM wrote:Robbi187;1091962']Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

P45, strong Chip, good brand, great over clocking potential.

I'm running a q9400 on a similar motherboard, worked out of the box, very good quality and good value for money - nice energy saving features too.

AquaticPenguin wrote:I'm running a q9400 on a similar motherboard, worked out of the box, very good quality and good value for money - nice energy saving features too.

I disagree here, while that may be a decent board for the processor, look at the PCI-e slot... It's only a 4x and has 1 1x slot. Thats bad for a graphics card. You need to find one with a 16x slot so it won't bottleneck your Graphics and THIS one actually has 2 16x slots, great NB cooling, and it's only $119 USD! You will be much happier and will have a board to last a while. Not to mention its EVGA so if you OC and blow it up, it's covered under warranty.

What are you on about Harrison, that board has a 16x PCIe and 2 8x

- Graphics Interface: PCI-Express 2.0 (1x16/2x8 )
- 1x PCI-Express x4
- 3x PCI-Express x1
- 1x PCI

Plus the 4x etc etc

Plus the guy is UK based so newegg is pointless

[R-COM]Robbi187 wrote:What are you on about Harrison, that board has a 16x PCIe and 2 8x



Plus the 4x etc etc

Plus the guy is UK based so newegg is pointless

Oh, didn't see that! Oops! But the NB looks weak on cooling, no fans, just a HS pipe. If I had that board, case cooling would be a must.

Newegg won't deliver across the pond? Poor, UK'ers...

Yer, well the NB cooler being solid state is just as efficient, if not more so than a fanned one.

Gigabytes silent pipe cooling is among the best in the industry.

My old E8400 was at 4.0Ghz for a while with nay bother