High-end Conroe Mobo

[bumblebee13]

I'm just finalising my system and have one more part to get, the mobo.

I'm looking for a very nice conroe mobo that must support 800mhz ddr2 memory so, so far i've mainly been looking at asus and am trying to decide between these two mobos:

Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)

Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-150-AS)

Apart from the top one being £20 more expensive i'm failing to see any difference betweewn them and am leaning towards the cheaper P5B deuluxe but at the end of the day if there's a good reason to get the P5W i'm open to your comments Also if you reckon that i should get a different mobo, let me know as it's the one area i'm kind of clueless on, so thanks for any tips and advice you may have

 

[bumblebee13]

Also, and please don't mock me :lol: but what's a front-side bus? what does it effect etc? As i have absolutly no clue what it has to do with anything.

 

[bumblebee13]

Sorry for the continuous barrage of questions, but one last thing, i know that atm the P5W DH offers xfire support, not SLI. But, in the future, do you reckon that some drivers or something (again mobo stuff not my speciality but i hope you know what i mean) will come out that will mean i'll be able to run SLI on this motherboard?

 

[derek2006]

Also, and please don't mock me Laughing but what's a front-side bus? what does it effect etc? As i have absolutly no clue what it has to do with anything.

Click here to find out. Ok serious this time.

 

[TheHammer]

The two boards have different chipsets as well. The P5W has 975x, while the P5B has the p965. The 975x is supposed to be better for overclocking, so if your into to that, get the P5W, otherwise get the P5B. Crossfire and SLI are overrated anyway.

 

[The_Prophecy]

ya... crossfire and sli really are overrated. If you really want a high end Conroe board, have a look at the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6. Supports Kentsfield as well.

 

[bumblebee13]

Ok, thanks, sounds like the P5W is better then, only one thing worrying me though.

If you look at this link:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Asus_177.html

There's a note below the P5W saying....

'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.'

Is there any way i can get around this without having an older processor? As i don't want to go through this whole painful sounding proccess, thanks.

 

[derek2006]

Why dont you just wait until better mobos are released around the time conroe is released I hear the ATI RD600 is going to be a really good board and I think it is supposed to be cheaper.

 

[bumblebee13]

Mainly because i'm a big asus fan, plus i've heard that this board is actually meant to be very good

 

[Brutus506]

by the way... when is ATi's board RD600 due out?

 

[derek2006]

by the way... when is ATi's board RD600 due out?

I would like to know the same thing, but ive read that it could be anywhere from a few days all the way to january so I dont think anyone knows

 

[Bannon]

I was going to ask about motherbord recommendations too. My Core 2 Duo Extreme processor just arrived and the only thing holding me back from building a new system is deciding which motherboard to buy. I've been hoping the new nVidia nForce 500 series boards would be out by now but they're nowhere in sight. A concern I have about the Intel chip motherboards is exactly how nVidia video card friendly are they? I see they support Crossfire but SLI support is not available. ANyway, knowledable recommendations will sure be appreciated.

 

[derek2006]

Where did you get your conroe at? I thought you could only do preorders. Also you can use a nvida card in it but I dont think you can get sli. I would just get a x1800xt or x1900xt and in the future your old card can be used as the physics processer and your new (probly dx10) card can do the video.

 

[Bannon]

AntaresDigital had a few of the processors in stock this past Monday and I was lucky enough to catch them in time.

 

[derek2006]

<!-- edit : sorry posted in wrong thread -->

 

[The_Prophecy]

I was going to ask about motherbord recommendations too. My Core 2 Duo Extreme processor just arrived and the only thing holding me back from building a new system is deciding which motherboard to buy. I've been hoping the new nVidia nForce 500 series boards would be out by now but they're nowhere in sight. A concern I have about the Intel chip motherboards is exactly how nVidia video card friendly are they? I see they support Crossfire but SLI support is not available. ANyway, knowledable recommendations will sure be appreciated.

It doesn't have SLI support, but the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 should be good.