ABit IP35 Pro or Asus P5E Intel X38

andymac

andymac

andymac

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I'm speccing a new computer with a Q6600 as the core,

I'm stuck on a motherboard. I intend to run one NVidia 8800GTX and 2GB of PC8500. I will not be overclocking it to extremes but would like a board with good clocking support.

I have read that many hear stand by P35, few are fans of X38.

Which is the better board and why?

Thanks

Andy
 
The Asus P5E is a good motherboard, not much more than the Abit IP35 Pro, the P5E is the one i would go for between these 2 boards...just waiting for the release of the Asus P5E WS Pro in the next few days for a new upgrade....

The P5E has PCI-E 2, plus the 2 x PCI-E slots are both a full x16. :)
 
X38's seem to offer no performance gains over P35 boards but they do sport two 16 lane PCI Express-2 slots if that's important to you.
To counter this the X38 BIOS will be immature compared to the P35 boards and expect to pay more for X38 ownership.

Abit IP35 Pro = tried & tested P35, works well with a Q6600, approx £120

Asus P5E = X38, no reviews, few comments, early days so who knows how it performs, approx £140
 
Just about to recieve a P5E as a replacement for my busted DFI R600 i sent in for RMA..... i'll get some OCing info up on it as soon as it arrives.

What is the advantage of the P5E WS over the P5E Vanilla?
 
I have just fitted an Asus P5E in my rig. Unfortunately i can't tell you how good it is as my bloody PSU packed up. :mad: Now i have a beasty of a rig here and can't use it untill i get the replacement (Antec Trupower Quattro 850w) which will be a week or so. :(

The heatpipe on the P5E is enormous. It's also very well glued on. God nows what they used but it took some gentle heating with a hairdryer to get it off. The heatpipe is in two seperate sections, SB to NB and then the Mosfets all around the cpu socket. Despite the colour it is not copper. Copper painted aluminium i think. It's way to light for copper.
 
pastymuncher said:
I am on water. It is easier to take off the heatpipes than strip down my watercooling setup to remove the NB block.
Click to expand...

you did it right by using a hairdryer ...

According to Clunk's review on the Maximus Formula SE the Asus cement used on the heatpipe assembly is extremely strong, it cures & hardens when it gets hot, so if you need remove the heatsink assembly for water cooling he recommends removing it before starting up the board for the first time. Either that or gently heat up the assembly using a hairdryer before removing it. One guy completely borked a brand new Maximus Formula board when he attempted to remove the heatpipe assembly to fit his water cooling kit. (see pic.) I imagine the cement used on the Asus P5E X38 is the same as the Maximus. ie very strong!

borked maximus:
http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1330&postcount=164
 
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Thats terrible ! u know I removed my P5K northbridge and it was a tad struggle to get it off but managed it fairly ok and it was just grey chewing gum underneath.

I dont know how the heat would have transfered at all thru all that mess !

And I had temps going towards 55c+

But it certainly didnt lift up the whole chipset, i twisted mine till it popped off !

Which ever board I get next I will definatly remove the crap underneat and put AS5 underneath... aint gonna risk high mobo temps again.
 
that board is FUBAR ... it would be cheeky to request an RMA! I love the way the guy says "what did I do wrong"
 
Am i the onluy one that seems a little confused as to how youi need to heat up the nb south bridge with a hair dryer to remove them when thety are ment to deal with heat as they are heat pipes :|
 
What good is 2x 16 slots if it's crossfire only though i'd get a p35 or a 680i board.
If i were building now i'd go with 680i 2x 8800gt sli.
 
C64 said:
What good is 2x 16 slots if it's crossfire only though i'd get a p35 or a 680i board.
If i were building now i'd go with 680i 2x 8800gt sli.
Click to expand...

meh, mine was a replacement for a much older board, you think i'm going to complain?

Anyway, RV670 looks tasty.
 
I bet that guy does get it RMAed ;)

tbh why not its Asus and all these manufacturers that charge £100+ for a quality board and then they fail to give good heat transfer this isnt the old days of Intel pentium III where chewing gum transfers worked.

Yeah big shame theres no SLI-Nvidia support or theres no real decent hack available for it, limits us severly to stick to buying Nvidia next gen cards rather then the ones inbetween which is still not a bad thing:)
 
8igdave said:
Am i the onluy one that seems a little confused as to how youi need to heat up the nb south bridge with a hair dryer to remove them when thety are ment to deal with heat as they are heat pipes :|
Click to expand...

That was his mistake :P he just whacked it off and it was like cement. Mainboard temps do take a few days to settle in but thats only cos its gotta melt thru that bubblegum 1st, mine was disgusting was just like a solid plastic thick paste inbetween the northbridge and chipset theres totaly no way I could see heat getting transfered across no wonder why it was just luke warm to the touch.
 
8igdave said:
Am i the onluy one that seems a little confused as to how youi need to heat up the nb south bridge with a hair dryer to remove them when thety are ment to deal with heat as they are heat pipes :|
Click to expand...

That stuff is literally like superglue. It is a nightmare to get it off. It's like a plasticised rubber and is rock hard. Getting the heatsink off is just the start. You then need to get the remnants off the NB IHS. It will not come off with TIM clean and i eventually had to use a stanley knife blade, very carefully too. When they build the boards they must apply the stuff hot and then fix the heatsink. When the stuff cools it must bond the IHS and heatsink together. It really is awful.

It deos work by the way. I did'nt bugger it up taking off the heatsink. Just have to wait for my new psu to come now. This is almost exactly the same board as the Maximus, just minus a few things.

That guy must have used some leveredge to rip the NB off. Common sense should have cut in when he found it would'nt budge. Bet he gets an RMA though.
 
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