Gigabyte Or Asus For C2D
- Thread starter Thebug
- Start date
They all talk about boards from the point of view as people who upgrade them
once a year or 6 months if like me you want your board to last at least
3 years i'd say get an abit quad gt or commando.
It's all very well the other boards hitting 520 fsb "most of which the recommended hit a wall at 450 fsb".Lets say you get a ds3 ok what happens in a year when you want to upgrade a cpu and want to overclock it and you cant because the ds3 hits a wall at 450 fsb.
If buying a board today look for one that at least can hit 550 fsb is just my opinion.
once a year or 6 months if like me you want your board to last at least
3 years i'd say get an abit quad gt or commando.
It's all very well the other boards hitting 520 fsb "most of which the recommended hit a wall at 450 fsb".Lets say you get a ds3 ok what happens in a year when you want to upgrade a cpu and want to overclock it and you cant because the ds3 hits a wall at 450 fsb.
If buying a board today look for one that at least can hit 550 fsb is just my opinion.
geff_r said:
Well, I've got nothing in my home office over 8 months old, and a lot of it is new since January, so I walk the walk as well as talking the talk. I've got 8 DS4's with E6600s, an EVGA 680i with an E6600, an ASUS P5N-E SLi with an E6400 and an ASRock 775i65 with an E4300 in it.
You cannot 'future-proof' a PC. It's impossible. Not only will we see at least one or two new processor families in the next 36 months, we'll also see the move to DDR3 and doubtless some new standard that will require a thorough upgrade.
geff_r said:
As far as I'm aware, the S3/DS3/DS4/DQ6 all comfortable exceed 450FSB with processors that are capable of doing so. I've got plenty of validated DS4 CPUz certificates showing 500FSB+ on 6x and 7x multipliers. Where there is a problem with the Gigabytes is they have an inopportune strap change so that between 425MHz and 465MHz FSB they are underclocking the Northbridge so much the system runs slower than it did at 400FSB. Once the Northbridge comes out from the underclock at 465-470FSB it then runs fast again. The big advantage the Abit BIOS's (and some ASUS BIOS's) have is they allow you to pick your strap manually so you can pick where you want the underperformance to occur.
geff_r said:
Every motherboard I have in the office here can hit 550FSB with a good processor. I think your issue isn't whether or not the board is capable of 550FSB, but whether your processor is capable of 550FSB. I have an L628B E6600 that will run 600x6 but I don't because it will run 424x9 instead and that runs a whole lot cooler and the only RAM i have that PC9000 is a 1Gb set of OCZ that requires active cooling. It will run that speed in any board I have here, except the ASUS P5N-E SLi, where it will only do 560FSB (and not stable at that in all honesty).
When you actually get your board, processor and RAM I'll look forward to seeing your 550MHz overclocks.
I'm only going buy what i have read up on about the ds3 and 4
and most people seem to be hitting a wall at 450 fsb a mere google search for
boards that will go 550 fsb does not return results with any of the boards you've mentioned.They may well do but they are at the absolute limit with the bridge probably at 70 celcius.Yes you can kind of future proof a pc for at least 3 years.
Lets say you start with a 6300 and work your way upto the best current quad core surely you would be better off with a board that isnt breaking sweat
pushing 550 fsb with less voltage say 1.4 on a quad gt? as everyone knows more heat = less lifespan.Well i am sure you know more than me of the finer details and the strap is one reason i'm getting the quad gt. But it is good to question things and i don't think i am wrong in my way of thinking.
Anyway my shopping list is:
2 gig of Micron D9GMH (B6-3) ddr2 ram
Abit ab9 quad gt
Tuniq tower 120
Corsair 520 watt psu
Serial ata dvdrw
cpu undecided either 6300 or 6400.
Nvidia 8800.
My current pc runs most games perfectly well apart from supreme commander
albeit not at 1600-1200 with max AA.
And most of it is over 3 years old only newish component is a 7600 gs.
All of the above is changable apart from the tuniq already got that ordered from ocuk i am posting above my station i know but am only going by what i have read up on last few months.
Knowing me i'll end up getting a ds3 and 6300.
and most people seem to be hitting a wall at 450 fsb a mere google search for
boards that will go 550 fsb does not return results with any of the boards you've mentioned.They may well do but they are at the absolute limit with the bridge probably at 70 celcius.Yes you can kind of future proof a pc for at least 3 years.
Lets say you start with a 6300 and work your way upto the best current quad core surely you would be better off with a board that isnt breaking sweat
pushing 550 fsb with less voltage say 1.4 on a quad gt? as everyone knows more heat = less lifespan.Well i am sure you know more than me of the finer details and the strap is one reason i'm getting the quad gt. But it is good to question things and i don't think i am wrong in my way of thinking.
Anyway my shopping list is:
2 gig of Micron D9GMH (B6-3) ddr2 ram
Abit ab9 quad gt
Tuniq tower 120
Corsair 520 watt psu
Serial ata dvdrw
cpu undecided either 6300 or 6400.
Nvidia 8800.
My current pc runs most games perfectly well apart from supreme commander
albeit not at 1600-1200 with max AA.
And most of it is over 3 years old only newish component is a 7600 gs.
All of the above is changable apart from the tuniq already got that ordered from ocuk i am posting above my station i know but am only going by what i have read up on last few months.
Knowing me i'll end up getting a ds3 and 6300.
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One of the reasons I have stuck with the OcUK forums, despite the very tight rules, is that there are very few spoofers on here. Generally, anyone who says "I've got x or y" and "I've done x or y" will be challenged very quickly so people just don't do it. There are also a large number of early adopters so generally we know up front (often before the reviews) what the kit performs like in OUR hands. There is a certain amount of "buy what I bought" but usually folks are open about their mistakes and keen to stop others following them. Some have become almost evangelical about stopping people buying expensive kit that doesn't actually perform that much better than cheap kit.
Personally, I've bought 26 motherboards in the past 12 months, 14 different types in total. In each case I usually test them and either blow them up or sell them on. That allows me to talk with certainty about certain pieces of equipment because in a funny way I (and other early adopters) are beta testing these devices for everyone else.
I don't think there is any such thing as "posting above one's station". There are a couple of people on here - James32 and Starfall for example - who have low post-counts but who scare the living daylights out of me with their ability to explain why changing a resistor or a capacitor or a BIOS RAM setting has a catastrophic or miraculous effect on performance. Luckily they are willing to share and are tolerant of non-professionals so you don't get a shower of derision if you question them.
8 months ago all the long-term Intel owners were very unhappy with the motherboard manufacturers because if we wanted Core2Duo we had to bin our existing S775 motherboards and buy new ones. Simply because the PWM requirements of the Core2Duo were different. Intel could have kept them the same, but they decided to change. If they decide to do so again, then the best laid plans won't stop them. EVGA are currently biting the bullet and swapping THOUSANDS of 680i motherboards because they sold them on the basis that they would overclock Q and QX processors, but when the Quad-Cores arrived, there was a previously unknown hardware problem that prevented strong overclocking. Kudos to EVGA, but they are the exception, not the rule. We don't know what the next new processors will need and whether or not our current equipment will support them, because we are at the whim of the manufacturers. That's why I say you should buy for your requirements today, not for what you might be able to do tomorrow.
I genuinely hope that in three years you will have the same kit you buy today, I do have my doubts though
. One nice thing is that generally folks on here do tend to stay and build up big post-counts so we can resume this debate in 3 years and see which of us was closest to our stated aims.
And anyway - isn't your real decision between the AB9 QuadGT and the P5B-E rather than the Commando?
Personally, I've bought 26 motherboards in the past 12 months, 14 different types in total. In each case I usually test them and either blow them up or sell them on. That allows me to talk with certainty about certain pieces of equipment because in a funny way I (and other early adopters) are beta testing these devices for everyone else.
I don't think there is any such thing as "posting above one's station". There are a couple of people on here - James32 and Starfall for example - who have low post-counts but who scare the living daylights out of me with their ability to explain why changing a resistor or a capacitor or a BIOS RAM setting has a catastrophic or miraculous effect on performance. Luckily they are willing to share and are tolerant of non-professionals so you don't get a shower of derision if you question them.
8 months ago all the long-term Intel owners were very unhappy with the motherboard manufacturers because if we wanted Core2Duo we had to bin our existing S775 motherboards and buy new ones. Simply because the PWM requirements of the Core2Duo were different. Intel could have kept them the same, but they decided to change. If they decide to do so again, then the best laid plans won't stop them. EVGA are currently biting the bullet and swapping THOUSANDS of 680i motherboards because they sold them on the basis that they would overclock Q and QX processors, but when the Quad-Cores arrived, there was a previously unknown hardware problem that prevented strong overclocking. Kudos to EVGA, but they are the exception, not the rule. We don't know what the next new processors will need and whether or not our current equipment will support them, because we are at the whim of the manufacturers. That's why I say you should buy for your requirements today, not for what you might be able to do tomorrow.
I genuinely hope that in three years you will have the same kit you buy today, I do have my doubts though
. One nice thing is that generally folks on here do tend to stay and build up big post-counts so we can resume this debate in 3 years and see which of us was closest to our stated aims.And anyway - isn't your real decision between the AB9 QuadGT and the P5B-E rather than the Commando?
I have various mobos.
DFI infinity
bad axe
P5W DH
680i
best out the lot is DS3
Thats why I have it now
DFI shoddy with RAM (early tester)
BAD AXE odd behavior in prime at 3.8ghz
P5W DH wanted 4ghz (not capable)
680i (4ghz achieved) But 2T RAM and Quad limitation....Oh and ran out of FSB at 487 with 6400.
now DS3 6400@ 3.8ghz prime stable
DFI infinity
bad axe
P5W DH
680i
best out the lot is DS3
Thats why I have it now
DFI shoddy with RAM (early tester)
BAD AXE odd behavior in prime at 3.8ghz
P5W DH wanted 4ghz (not capable)
680i (4ghz achieved) But 2T RAM and Quad limitation....Oh and ran out of FSB at 487 with 6400.
now DS3 6400@ 3.8ghz prime stable
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geff_r said:
My wife is running a Biostar 200N with an XP3200, 2Gb of Mushkin Cas2.0 and an AGP X1950Pro and that's almost unbelieveably quick in real life, but it does struggle with some games and it's beaten in some benchmarks by a similarly equipped 4GHz Celeron/865 based machine.
geff_r said:
In that case - can I suggest you spend extra on 4Gb of RAM as 2 x 2Gb sticks - like these;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-021-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813
That looks expensive, but it wouldn't have been any more expensive in relative terms than buying 1Gb of RAM 3 years ago, I reckon. I think you will want 4Gb when the X64 generation of Vista finally gets itself sorted out. It's a waste at the moment, but if you genuinely don't plan on any other hardware upgrades, that's most likely the thing that will stifle or blunt your performance in games.
personally i wouldnt know, i feel if im making a system for someone else, a reasonable overclock which you know is going to run 24/7 is enoughgeff_r said:
i for one dont want people bringing them back
for the likes of us, who want to push the clocks to the extreme then obviously you need the tackle to do that
ps
those new vista x-fi drivers have'nt made an apath of diff over the betas
for anyone interested
geff_r said:
Just found this - says your cooler fits but you need to take off the optional asus cooler
http://www.futuremark.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37803