Pentium D 805 with ASRock ConroeXfire???

jayhabib

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From what I've read, D 805 can be a solid processor when overclocked.

ASRock ConroeXfire is also supposedly a good budget motherboard if you want to upgrade to Conroe later (which is what i intend to do), and support Crossfire. But this has limited to no overclockability without some modding.

I was wondering what Motherboard I should use with my D 805 to get the best-possible performance, keeping in mind I can only spend ~USD100 on the mobo.

I welcome all your recommendations.
 

shadowduck

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From what I've read, D 805 can be a solid processor when overclocked.

ASRock ConroeXfire is also supposedly a good budget motherboard if you want to upgrade to Conroe later (which is what i intend to do), and support Crossfire. But this has limited to no overclockability without some modding.

I was wondering what Motherboard I should use with my D 805 to get the best-possible performance, keeping in mind I can only spend ~USD100 on the mobo.

I welcome all your recommendations.

Overclocking an 805 is a total waste in practice. You are not going to find a good board under $100 that is going to support an 805 overclock very well, without lots of extra cooling and power. Get the 930 instead.
 
If this is going to be a gaming rig.... don't get the 805.... it sucks for gaming. Since you want to go Intel (to eventually move to a Conroe chip), go for a 930 for now.

Yet again we think just alike :p

For some odd reason.... it seem to work out that way doesn't it.... :p

Congrats on hitting 1000 posts btw....
 

Mondoman

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You are not going to find a good board under $100 that is going to support an 805 overclock very well, without lots of extra cooling and power. Get the 930 instead.
Although I agree in general, if you are diligent and patient, every now and then there are bundles/specials/closeouts where you can pick up a decent MB for $50 or so. It won't run Conroe, but will have potential with an 805D if minimum cost is your goal.
 

techie333

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Hey guys, I'm a noob to this site this is my first post, but not a noob to the computer building. My vote would have to go for a YES, go for the Pentium D 805 and ASROCK ConroeXfire. I'm building a computer with that setup either today or tomm. Reason being, 1st of all, yes you have conroe support so you can easily go with an upgrade in the future. Also in order to OC the Pentium D 805 which runs at a 133MHZ FSB, I really don't think you need a motherboard that is too high-end seeing as to how you won't be able to hit 200mhz FSB anyways, because of CPU speed limits. i.e. 200mhz x 20 multiplier = 4000mhz pentium d 805 (which would probably require liquid cooling). Second of all, I also bought a Ninja Scythe heatsink off newegg which should allow me to OC this sucker, but when you upgrade to your conroe, you can use the same HSF, so it's not really an extra expense just for your Pentium D 805. Why go with a 930 for $50 or $60 more bucks or whatever, if you are just going to upgrade to a Conroe in a couple months anyways? It's basically switching out the processor only, and if Pentium D's aren't good for gaming why spend $50-$60 more on a chip that won't run games as fast as the AMD X2's anyway? Just something to think about.......I am interested in more ppl's opinions also as I am building a similar system. Thanks and it's good to be a part of Tomshardware forums.
 

jayhabib

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techie333, i will also be buildng my system in the next couple of days. i've been reading a lot about these processors and motherboards lately, in order to get the best possible i can with my budget. may be we can compare notes.

The ASRock ConroeXfire is not very overclockable from what i've read. you have to solder some variable resistors to the mobo to make it more overclockable. something i'm not sure i cannot do. 805 is only good if you overclock it. right?

so, besides the ASRock ConroeXfire, i'm looking at the following:

Gigabyte GA-965-DS3 - around $150 or so. supports Conroe and is supposed to be very trustworty.

Asus P5ND2-SLi - slightly cheaper than the gigabyte. mid-range type of motherboard. good overclocking and good reviews everywhere.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA - mobo used by tomshardware to build their $750 D 805 rig.

ECS C19-A - nice mobo from what i've learned from reviews. but people say that ECS cannot be trusted.

I think that if we pair a solid mobo with the D 805, we can easily push it to 3Ghz+ and still have it be stable.

There is a fairly cheap (~$90) liquid cooling system - Kingwin Arctic AWC-1 that should do good to keep the 805 cool.

A good Case with PSU can be: Broadway.com 500W Mid Tower ATX w/OKIA 550 ATX P4 & AMD ready PSU ($67.49 to $40). This is also the one used by tomshardware. i was able to find it for $40 on google. http://www.supergooddeal.com/Broadway_Com_500W_Mid_Tower_ATX_Micro_ATX_PC_Case_p/bcc888-khacw-ss.htm

let me know what you guys think. especially about the mobo choices.

techie333, please let me know how your experience goes with the ASRock ConroeXfire, if you build yours before me. I will do the same. Thanks. :)
 

Mondoman

Splendid
Just remember that it's not just the CPU you need to keep cool when OCing the 805, but Northbridge, voltage regulators, etc. Take a close look at the MB - you may need to add heatsinks or fans to these components, or more general fans to ensure airflow over any existing heatsinks. The CPU cooler is important for this, too. Some (like the OEM) blow air out in all directions from the CPU, which can help cool components to the sides. Others blow only in one direction, which can leave nearby components uncooled.
 

techie333

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UPDATE: I am posting from my ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 mobo and seems like you guys were right. I overlooked the fact that you cannot adjust the cpu vcore voltage with this mobo in the bios. I got a high quality Intel 805 D because it runs at a real low voltage stock, always under 1.3V; now this comes back to bite me in the arse when I try to up the clock speed. Since vcore is fixed, I cant even get to the 3.2GHz mark, it won't boot anything past about 3Ghz! Really sucks because temerature stays low with my Scythe Ninja and I know this badboy can do a lot more! Since I am a third year EE (LOL, doesn't do much but still), I am going to look into soldering a 20k variable resistor or POT onto the necessary areas to UP the vcore voltage. Stay tuned guys, and if you know any other tricks or things that might be the problem besides VCORE, let me know! Thanks!
 

jayhabib

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this following link contains some basic info about changing the vcore: http://www.vr-zone.com/print.php?i=3779

please look under the section labelled: "More Voltage? Easy Modding " - it's a fairly big page otherwise.

i don't know what pencil modding it, but then again i have no experience in such things. you will probably know a lot more.

good luck!
 

techie333

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Yea thanks I've already seen that. Also anyone have any idea what this ASRock tech support guy was trying to tell me when I asked him if there's any support for vcore overclocking:

"Dear ASrock Costumer,
The ASrock mainboard unfortunately does not have the option under BIOS to adjust the CPU core voltage.
Even ASRock does not recommended to over clock the option is given by the funtion called Hyper Booster (safe over clocking)
Under Safe Over Clocking the adjustment can not be over the 5 or higher porcentage of the CPU.

Support"
 

LPS

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UPDATE: I am posting from my ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 mobo and seems like you guys were right. I overlooked the fact that you cannot adjust the cpu vcore voltage with this mobo in the bios. I got a high quality Intel 805 D because it runs at a real low voltage stock, always under 1.3V; now this comes back to bite me in the arse when I try to up the clock speed. Since vcore is fixed, I cant even get to the 3.2GHz mark, it won't boot anything past about 3Ghz! Really sucks because temerature stays low with my Scythe Ninja and I know this badboy can do a lot more! Since I am a third year EE (LOL, doesn't do much but still), I am going to look into soldering a 20k variable resistor or POT onto the necessary areas to UP the vcore voltage. Stay tuned guys, and if you know any other tricks or things that might be the problem besides VCORE, let me know! Thanks!

Techie333,

What PSU are you using?

What RAM did you get?

I was able to get to 3.6 on a test board Asrock 775Twin-HDTV R2.
 

techie333

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I am using Ultra Products XConnect 500watt Power Supply along with PQI Turbo PC800 DDR2 1GB singal stick of ram, was planning on expanding with another stick to make it dual channel later. What is your stock VCORE? Did you up the voltage?
 

LPS

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Did nothing because like yours, nothing available to change.

All I did was set the ram (Corsair XM2 5400) to 667 and set the Dram Volts to high.

Change the FSB on the CPU to 180 and reboot the system sevral times.

Each time no issue to enter bios which showed CPU at 3620.

Tried 190, but had boot issues.

Also took the ram timings off auto and set them to factory settings