OcUK: Best Conroe Motherboard selection on the web!!!

Gibbo

Gibbo

Gibbo

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HI there

To clarify OcUK now has the following Conroe boards in stock:-
Abit AB9
Abit AB9 Pro
Asrock Crossfire
Asrock 945 DVI
Asus P5B
Asus P5B Deluxe
Asus P5W DH Deluxe (Now with new BIOS)
2-3 other cheaper Asus SKU's (They mention in features Core 2 DUO support)
DFI 975X
Gigabyte 945 S3 (Not yet on site but in stock)
Gigabyte 965 S3 (Not yet on site but in stock)
Gigabyte 965 DS3
Gigabyte 965 DS4
Gigabyte 965 DQ6
MSI 965P NEO
MSI 975X PowerUP Edition


The only boards we are waiting to come into stock now are the Intel 975X and 965 boards. But I think you will agree the current in stock range is fantasic and easily the best selection on the web. :)

We've also got a great range of DDR2 products in stock, Crucial, Corsair, GeIL, G.Skill, OCZ are just a few. :)
 
On the OC website it doesnt mention the Asus P5W DH Deluxe having a new BIOS. Infact, it has the rather worring statement:


Note: In order for a Core 2 DUO (Conroe) processor to work with this mainboard you may require to perform a BIOS update which will require an older processor or contacting Asus for a new BIOS chip. OcUK does not provide a BIOS flashing service and will not accept used product back unwanted as this board does support Conroe with Asus latest BIOS.
 
All new P5W DH already have the update and if they dont I do believe there is a cd image that will boot and update the bios with the conroe.
 
eh? said:
On the OC website it doesnt mention the Asus P5W DH Deluxe having a new BIOS. Infact, it has the rather worring statement:


Note: In order for a Core 2 DUO (Conroe) processor to work with this mainboard you may require to perform a BIOS update which will require an older processor or contacting Asus for a new BIOS chip. OcUK does not provide a BIOS flashing service and will not accept used product back unwanted as this board does support Conroe with Asus latest BIOS.
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Looks like that statement has now been removed.
 
Witcher said:
Looks like that statement has now been removed.
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So I'm assuming that this means that all Asus P5W supplied by OcUK are now completely compatible with Conroe?
 
I ordered a Conroe 6600 and £30 celeron chip which should be arriving monday. Guess I can send the celeron back for a refund as it won't be needed to update bios!
 
A friend of mine ordered the AB9 vanilla this week Witcher. She's a first time builder so it'll be a nice test to see how easy it is to work with. The manual for it seems excellent for first time builders and veterans alike.

She's ordered the E6300 Retail with it but I don't think she'll be overclocking.
 
Witcher said:
Has anyone had any experience of the Abit AB9-Pro?

Was reading the review at

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2799

and wondered if anyone had used it.
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Mine has the issue of running 800mhz ram at CL3 instead of its proper value.. lucky for owners it boots ram in 533mhz instead of 800mhz on first boot so you can get in to change the mhz to stay at 533 for the time being until theres a bios update to fix this

And half the sata ports are dead :( rma :rolleyes:

Its a nice board though once the bios matures :)
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't actually need a Conroe but when did that stop anyone from buying anything PC wise :) I thought the review was not bad, appreciate any build feedback on it Imy, thanks. I was reading about the new intel boards on Anandtech and will hold off being extravagant until there is a wider choice, but it seems people are seeing a performance improvement over AMD in some of the things I work in so we shall see.
 
Witcher said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't actually need a Conroe but when did that stop anyone from buying anything PC wise :) I thought the review was not bad, appreciate any build feedback on it Imy, thanks. I was reading about the new intel boards on Anandtech and will hold off being extravagant until there is a wider choice, but it seems people are seeing a performance improvement over AMD in some of the things I work in so we shall see.
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I never needed a conroe :D i just wanted one so bad :p

If ya get a AB9 ya gotta watch that the IDE port is at the pci slot areas and luckily in the P180 the pci bays are closer to the dvd slots thanks to the board being over the psu instead of under it
 
Graeme43 said:
If ya get a AB9 ya gotta watch that the IDE port is at the pci slot areas
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Yeah I noticed that but if you're buying everything new then you might as well get SATA everything.

Its a shame you can't get SATA floppy disk drives - or can you?
 
the included floppy cable is uber long and can be wired very easily :) i just don't use floppy drives :D I was amazed at 10 sata cables with the board! usually i only get 1! theres also a sticker to go on the inside of your case showing you what all the jumpers do and where they are (handy!)

Its nice to see them get rid of them nasty printer parallel porst :D

Even though the P180 has the slots nearer, the cable is still maxed out with the 2 dvd drives at the lowest slot

IMHO they should get rid of the floppy port before IDE :rolleyes:

Its got a pink bios! :mad:
 
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Graeme43 said:
I never needed a conroe :D i just wanted one so bad :p

If ya get a AB9 ya gotta watch that the IDE port is at the pci slot areas and luckily in the P180 the pci bays are closer to the dvd slots thanks to the board being over the psu instead of under it
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Cool. They did say in the review that the layout was a bit poor.

I don't know if you can get SATA floppies, you can get opticals with it now but floppies have been 'on the way out' for years while loads of people use them still :)
 
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