Motherboard Advice Needed

[y0himba]

Hello all.  I am looking for a new motherboard.  Here is the story.

I have(had?) a Dell Inspiron 530.  I removed the guts from it and put everything in a shiny new case.  I have upgraded and modified it by adding a 9800 GTX+, 4 GB DDR2 800, 2 1TB HDDs, 1000w power supply, and 3 fans.
I am still running the stock motherboard that came with it however.
I would like to upgrade that board.

The board needs to support the Intel Q6600 Quad Core, DDR 2 or 3(backwards compatible to 2) 800 and above, SATA, PCIe, Realtek HD (like ALC888 or so) audio on board, On board LAN, decent amount of USB ports, lots of places to plug in fans, 2 or more available PCI slots, 1066 FSB.

I know what I want but am having a hard time searching for it.

Any help is appreciated.

[Innuendo]

You need to take a look at Gigabyte motherboards. They are one of the few motherboard manufacturers that use Japanese solid-state capacitors. They have a varied line-up so I have no worries that you won't be able to find the perfect motherboard with the perfect match of features for you.

[mouser]

Choosing a motherboard is the perfect example of being overwhelmed and drowning in seemingly-impossible-to-evaluate features and choices.
So you have ddr2 memory, that narrows some choices down.  And all of your hard drives are sata, is that right? so you dont need IDE support?

[gexecuter]

After a newegg search i came up with this:

http://www.newegg.co...Item=N82E16813128372

Customers reviews seems to indicate that this a good product, maybe it's what you are looking for.

[mouser]

I don't know how i forgot to say what gexecuter just mentioned -- whether you like the board he recommended or not, go search on newegg for motherboards and read the reviews there!
The user reviews on newegg are very informed and it's the very first place i go to look for opinions about computer hardware.

[mouser]

One thing i've noticed about motherboard is that some tend to focus on features for overclockers; personally i dont do any overclocking it just makes my brain ache looking at all of the options for speeding up memory access etc, and worrying about stability.  so when i look for a motherboard i focus mainly on features and stability.  that's one thing that can help you narrow down your search.

[mouser]

I'll also mention that i've had some bad experiences with motherboard bios getting damaged or failing during a flash upgrade, so the motherboards with dual bios chips or other protections against such things are very appealing to me.

[y0himba]

MMM dual bios chips.  That is a GREAT idea.  I like to keep my BIOS updated and luckily have only bricked one motherboard since 1992.  gexecuter's board looks pretty good, I am worried that my HUGE video card will fit in the slot there with that heat sink so close.  Is there any more information I can give you folks to make sure the board is compatible with my hardware?  Did I mention Windows 7?

[JavaJones]

Usually I find that the boards with overclocking features, while often more expensive, are also potentially more stable as they're designed with wider tolerances. So even if you don't plan to overclock, they can be good to have. Certainly I wouldn't use that criteria as a deterrant for any particular board.

Anyway, what's the problem with your current board that you're trying to solve? Usually motherboard upgrade scenarios are one of 3 things - a broken board, wanting to upgrade hardware, or needing some more slots/plugs/whatever. It seems like the latter is your reasoning here, but it would be good to know the specific ports/plugs/or whatever features you want that you're currently lacking, since it does not seem like you're actually trying to upgrade your CPU and other hardware (which is the more usual reason in my experience).

- Oshyan

[y0himba]

I want to change it since there are not enough options in the Dell BIOS.  It seems they have disabled or dumbed down just about everything.

[steeladept]

I don't know if it is an option or if you are adventurous enough to try, but have you looked for or considered a 3-party bios?  I frequently find where arbitrary restrictions are in place, that someone has figured out a way around them.  I never looked for a motherboard, but I know 3-party firmware is common among video cards and some sound cards.

[gexecuter]

I want to change it since there are not enough options in the Dell BIOS.  It seems they have disabled or dumbed down just about everything.

-y0himba (December 11, 2009, 07:10 AM)

Maybe there are hidden? i have heard certain bios have an advanced menu that you can reach if you press certain keys while in the bios. No idea if that's your case i am just throwing it out there.

[4wd]

I know this may seem a rather dumb question but....

What motherboard form factor is required?

The Dell Inspiron 530 looks like it could be a mATX board and we don't know whether you transplanted it into a mATX case or a full ATX case.

Addendum: This picture I found for the Dell Inspiron 530 motherboard shows it to be mATX.

[f0dder]

I want to change it since there are not enough options in the Dell BIOS.  It seems they have disabled or dumbed down just about everything.

-y0himba (December 11, 2009, 07:10 AM)

Is this a case of not liking a dumbed-down BIOS, or actually needing additional options?

[y0himba]

Maybe there are hidden? i have heard certain bios have an advanced menu that you can reach if you press certain keys while in the bios. No idea if that's your case i am just throwing it out there.

-gexecuter (December 11, 2009, 08:13 AM)

Usually the key to expose advanced functions is a combination of Shift+F1, but I have tried every combination I found and researched the Dell bios options, can't find anything.

Is this a case of not liking a dumbed-down BIOS, or actually needing additional options?

-f0dder (December 12, 2009, 01:30 AM)

A bit of both actually.  I don't like it because I want more options.

I don't know if it is an option or if you are adventurous enough to try, but have you looked for or considered a 3-party bios?  I frequently find where arbitrary restrictions are in place, that someone has figured out a way around them.  I never looked for a motherboard, but I know 3-party firmware is common among video cards and some sound cards.

-steeladept (December 11, 2009, 07:17 AM)

From what I have seen this is hit and miss.  I am not exactly rich, so it makes better sense to buy an entire motherboard and transfer my hardware over, to me at least.  I really like my hardware, it is everything I need and rock solid, so I just want to move over.  (Originally my reply was going to be "EEEEK")I have a USB port PCI card, and PCI slot fan, so I don't need a lot of PCI slots, 2 or 3 is sufficient.  Other than that nothing out of the ordinary except an AverMedia USB DVD EZ Maker Gold and an internal card reader.  I have one side fan, one HUGE rear fan, a HUGE turbo fan in the front(sounds like a jet), and a blowhole fan in the top.  I added that one by using a Dremel to to cut the opening and fitting it there.  I was actually able to lower the case temp by 9-13 degrees.

[f0dder]

Is this a case of not liking a dumbed-down BIOS, or actually needing additional options?

-f0dder (December 12, 2009, 01:30 AM)

A bit of both actually.  I don't like it because I want more options.

-y0himba (December 12, 2009, 08:02 AM)

Which options do you want, though? If it's not that you need extra options, going out to buy a new motherboard just because the BIOS is a bit dumbed-down seems silly.

I do know where you're coming from, though - I feel handicapped when looking at my laptop BIOS options. At the same time, it's not like I'm missing anything, though.

[y0himba]

Not to mention the fact that Dell uses some non-standard wiring for audio coming form the motherboard so I had to remove the front panel from the Dell, cut the front of my current case, and attach it there.  I would like to just use the existing front panel on a case.  I do want some timing options with memory and would like a few more of even the standard BIOS settings.  There is literally nothing to set in the BIOS of this Inspiron.