Hi,

I'm building a new Intel based system and want to use one of the ABit IP35 based motherboards.

Not sure about the proc. yet, but will be either Q6600, E8400 or (if someone can convice me paying the extra is worth it) a Q9450.

I've never really had a serious go at overclocking, but this time round I quite fancy it, and I'd quite like to use 1066Mhz RAM.

Main question is this: The Abit motherboards I'm looking at only seem to support up to 800Mhz RAM, but I've seen people recommend using 1066Mhz in them, Scan themselves recommend a Abit IP35 PRO with a Q6600 and 1066Mhz RAM.

SO how dose this work? Has the mobo enough head room to be overclocked to use 1066 RAM?

I'm a bit confused.

The other motherboard I like the look of is this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=770372

But apparently it's not as good at overclocking as the Abit, even though on paper it looks a better spec.

u should worry about your OS, Will it work in your new board???
This is not a joke!!!

Yes, it will support DDR2-1066 RAM, you may have to adjust some BIOS settings to get it to run at that speed though. This usually applies for most motherboards, whether they advertise DDR2-1066 support or not. It also depends on what the RAM tells the motherboard to default to. But yes, the Abit should be fine, as long as you feel comfortable in the BIOS changing a few things to get the ram to run at its full speed. Abit's P35 boards are very good, I would have got a Abit IP35, but then DFI came along with a nice P35 based board.

Robert, any modern Operating System (2000, XP, Vista, Ubuntu and other Linux distros, OS X Leopard, etc.) should not be a problem running on any P35 chipset based board. I have heard of a few newer boards having problems with Windows 98/Me and earlier, but I don't believe anyone runs those operating systems anymore.

The intel DP35DP won't let you install Xp, because it requires a file from
SP2.
Of course you have to install XP SP1 first.
The way to get around it to slipstream XP SP1 and SP2 into one bootable
disk.
There are some articles in the internet how to
slipstream SP3 but I have not tried it.
see one of the sites.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

IMO the extra money for the Q9450 is worth it. you are getting the best of both worlds (Q6600/E8400).
the Q6600 and E8400 are easier and better overclockers but you should get the Q9450 to 3.2GHz fairly easy (8x400/ 1600FSB/ 3.2GHz). you get the SSE4 command set, which makes a difference in multimedia performance and the 45nm technology which runs quite a bit cooler and with less power then 65nm tech.

make sure that what ever board you get actually supports 45nm CPU's and specifically the Q9450. i have an asus P5K Premium and it supports 45nm CPU's but the current bios does not include the Q9450. still runs fine thou