Intel 975X Bad Axe or wait for rev 2

clone · 6 Oct 2006 at 09:24

From what ive been reading about this motherboard it`s very stable and good at overclocking.

Here are my system specs.

Intel Core 2 DUO Extreme Edition X6800
EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 SuperClocked
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400
OCZ GameXStream 700w
Tuniq Tower 120 Cooler

Now the question is should i buy the rev1 or wait till the rev 2 come`s out.
I only use my pc for gaming and video decoding, seeing as it`s a intel board im hoping it will be stable.

Thx

Echo toxin · 6 Oct 2006 at 10:08

When is the revision 2 coming out?

The Asgard · 6 Oct 2006 at 11:14

Depends when it comes out. Do you want to wait?

I have 2x Rev 305's and they work great. I'm currently running 6600 at 3.3G at default voltage with 450+ on the memory and its solid!

I have used the DS4, P5W DH, P5B and this board is head and shoulders about the rest.

clone · 6 Oct 2006 at 15:30

Cant really wait as im about to send my Asus P5W64-WS Pro back for a RMA, but was going to wait till some better boards come out,and BF2142 is almost among us :eek:

Flanno · 6 Oct 2006 at 23:13

The Asgard said:
I have used the DS4, P5W DH, P5B and this board is head and shoulders about the rest.

I am in the market for one of these. Is the Intel definitley trouble free ? Also I was wondering if it runs very hot as it does not seem to use heatpipes. So I suppose I could use it in an inverted case like a Lian Li without fear of overheating. And do you know if it will support quad core like some boards do ?

thanks

maddness · 7 Oct 2006 at 00:50

have a hunch it will be for november, some users are already testing them over at XS

Richdog · 7 Oct 2006 at 08:47

Shall I just get a cheapy Asrock or DS3 for now for my E6600 and then wait until November for the Bad Axe2 and RD600 to surface you reckon?

The Asgard · 7 Oct 2006 at 14:10

Flanno said:
I am in the market for one of these. Is the Intel definitley trouble free ? Also I was wondering if it runs very hot as it does not seem to use heatpipes. So I suppose I could use it in an inverted case like a Lian Li without fear of overheating. And do you know if it will support quad core like some boards do ?

thanks

Hi there,
This is the most trouble free board I have owned, period. It uses one big mother heatsink. I have it running at 400 at default MCH voltage. I use a V2000 and it works a treat. I do believe it supports quadcore.

Hope that helps

Devious · 7 Oct 2006 at 15:51

Corasik · 8 Oct 2006 at 00:22

It doesnt need heatpipes, the heatsink on the northbridge is simply huge, it doesnt have any overheating problems.

Flanno · 8 Oct 2006 at 03:44

Cheers,
Thanks for the info. I just read up on the various posts about it, and it looks like all I need to do is the conductive paint trick and I am sorted.

One other thing, I heard the retail board now comes with some accessories ? What do you get in the box ?

IT Troll · 8 Oct 2006 at 10:04

Flanno said:
One other thing, I heard the retail board now comes with some accessories ? What do you get in the box ?

Straight from the horse's mouth:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d975xbx/sb/CS-022038.htm

Bad Axe 2 is sounding promising, there is a preview on vr-zone:
http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4111

Corasik · 8 Oct 2006 at 10:11

I got a front panel that fits into a 3.5inch drive bay with USB, Firewire, and Sound connections. Handy for a case which has none like my old and trusty Coolermaster ATCS205. 4 nice shiny blue Sata cables, blue rounded cables for IDE, and Floppy. I think there was a label to stick inside the case like Asus normally supply to help you remember where jumpers/connecters are, but I never use those as I have a window on the side panel.

The build quality is superb, and I've yet to have a single crash. (XP 64 bit edition, Core2 E6700). I've not tried overclocking, but even without the debug thing painted over there were a fair number of options available. Its just compared to my [email protected] Northwood the 2.67 Core2 is so quick I have yet to feel the need to clock it. Probably clock it sometime in the future though.

Northbridge/Southbridge, and the power regulators are all passively cooled with large heatsinks. The Power regulators heatsinks are rather stylish with an anodised blue finish.

8 SATA connectors, but only 1 IDE. So I had to leave out my old CD rom drive, just installed the DVD, and my trusty 250meg Zip disk.

Mine is a rev 306, which was a suprise as I ordered a 305, but certainly not going to complain about that

. Great board imho.

The only downside is there is no cmos clr jumper. Not sure if you can short out the pads on the mb, I think you use a recovery disk in the event of overclocking too far. Perhaps someone else knows exactly how to recover these boards.

ROfu · 9 Oct 2006 at 20:29

Corasik, you how much ram you have installed? were upgrading a heap of workstations for windows64, as Maya8 3d software now has 64bit support.
Intel boards are normaly pretty solid and stable, just wondering what its ram support was like.. and if you have tried out 4gb or higher.

Cheers
ROfu

snowdog · 9 Oct 2006 at 23:01

Flanno said:
I am in the market for one of these. Is the Intel definitley trouble free ? Also I was wondering if it runs very hot as it does not seem to use heatpipes. So I suppose I could use it in an inverted case like a Lian Li without fear of overheating. And do you know if it will support quad core like some boards do ?

thanks

I agree with others above me the heatsink is big enough, theres always the option to add a fan in the most extreme case, but this mainboard wont need it from what ive read in reviews and told from owners.
Intels 975x mainboards seem one of the best.

Flanno · 9 Oct 2006 at 23:08

Trying to decide between the bad axe now and the ds 4 which is getting great overclocks. Just concerned the ds4 will not support the 7950GX2.

Flanno · 9 Oct 2006 at 23:11

The Asgard said:
I have used the DS4, P5W DH, P5B and this board is head and shoulders about the rest.

Seriously considering the bad axe from OcUK now. I have got a Conroe Core 2 Extreme. Will I need to do the conductive paint mod to get the fsb up over 400.

Also, the DS4 is getting great reviews in terms of overclocking. What makes the Intel better besides Xfire support ?

Jay_t · 10 Oct 2006 at 09:18

Flanno said:
Seriously considering the bad axe from OcUK now. I have got a Conroe Core 2 Extreme. Will I need to do the conductive paint mod to get the fsb up over 400.

Also, the DS4 is getting great reviews in terms of overclocking. What makes the Intel better besides Xfire support ?

The conductive paint job is not required for extreme edition CPUs & some engineering sample CPUs.

clone · 10 Oct 2006 at 10:27

Dam cant make my mind up now, get the badaxe or the Abit AW9D-Max, im thinking badaxe because it`s made by intel and sounds like it would suit my x6800, but then the Abit board look`s` good also :confused:

One question i need to ask is does the badaxe read the cpu temp correct?

Thanks.

The Asgard · 10 Oct 2006 at 11:30

clone said:
Dam cant make my mind up now, get the badaxe or the Abit AW9D-Max, im thinking badaxe because it`s made by intel and sounds like it would suit my x6800, but then the Abit board look`s` good also

One question i need to ask is does the badaxe read the cpu temp correct?

Thanks.

From memory the cpu temps were very good unlike the P5W and P5B. I use everest which monitors the cpu diodes so its spot on.

You really cant beat the Badaxe. My 6600 is running at 3.4 at default voltage and I'm sure it will go higher. Says it all