Asus or Gigabyte?

[VSD]

Conroe system.
Asus P5B Deluxe or Gigabyte GA_965P_DQ6.

Regards

 

[The_Prophecy]

Go for the Gigabyte. It was designed to also support Kentsfield (Intel's upcoming quad core CPU).

 

[dimas]

Both suxx because of lack of support 7950GX2

 

[The_Prophecy]

Both suxx because of lack of support 7950GX2

Did the OP say he wanted a 7950GX2? No... so don't say they suck just because they don't support 1 specific video card.

 

[dimas]

Well, from my point of view, if ASUS charge you 269$ for a MB and state that it is high-end MB -- it MUST support the FASTEST single-slot videocard available.

Otherwise it should not be high-end.

p.s. I almost ordered ASUS p5w dh deluxe. Then I found out about its incompatibility with 7950 and it really pissed me off.

 

[The_Prophecy]

It's a high end board because of the other features, not just based on what video cards it supports...

 

[dimas]

It's a high end board because of the other features, not just based on what video cards it supports...

Well... Could you define a set of features that must be in high-end?

 

[Nitro350Z]

8 phase power
Firewire
dual gigabit lan
fanless cooling
ddr2 800 support
overclocking features(most if not all settings unlocked -Vcore, Vdimm, PCI-E frequency, 200-400mhz fsb in 1mhz incriments)
eSata
8 ch sound
intel 975X northbridge


Don't those features look a bit high-end?

 

[The_Prophecy]

8 phase power
Firewire
dual gigabit lan
fanless cooling
ddr2 800 support
overclocking features(most if not all settings unlocked -Vcore, Vdimm, PCI-E frequency, 200-400mhz fsb in 1mhz incriments)
eSata
8 ch sound
intel 975X northbridge


Don't those features look a bit high-end?

They look pretty high end from here.....

 

[dimas]

8 phase power
Firewire
dual gigabit lan
fanless cooling
ddr2 800 support
overclocking features(most if not all settings unlocked -Vcore, Vdimm, PCI-E frequency, 200-400mhz fsb in 1mhz incriments)
eSata
8 ch sound
intel 975X northbridge


Don't those features look a bit high-end?

They look pretty high end from here.....

Ok let's take a look:

8 phase power

Agree

Firewire

Well it's nice to have but I don't think it is a MUST. If I need it I could buy 12$ PCI card for FireWire. But it is convenient.

dual gigabit lan

May be you could tell me why I need 2 network cards? I have a separate router and have no idea why would I need the second net card if I'm not going to use PC as a server or router ... And I don't associate high-end solutions with server solutions.

fanless cooling

That is a great feature. Totally agree.

overclocking features(most if not all settings unlocked -Vcore, Vdimm, PCI-E frequency, 200-400mhz fsb in 1mhz incriments)

Agree

eSata

Agree about SATA2 too

8 ch sound

Come on! Do you really think that integrated sound will ever be the same 'low processor consuming' as a separate sound card?
As for me - this is a feature that will never be used.

intel 975X northbridge

No comment

Above list of course lack of something important for high-end. May be it is ok for Linux workstation or some kind of enthusiast server.
But how about the ability to use powerful graphic system? Doesn't the ability to run such perfromance hungry applications as Oblivion describe the system as high-end?

And why should I consider the MB as high-end if it doesn't provide me with ability to use quad-SLI, SLI or at least SLI in one PCIe slot(7950) ? Don't tell me about hot, loud and expensive solution from ATI.

 

[kwalker]

Im sure if you look there are claims the 7950 gpu works.
even then I would almost bet there will be support in the very near future to make this transition more user friendly

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20060722155910469&board_id=1&model=P5W+DH+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1155926#1155926


sorry wrong board

 

[The_Prophecy]

May be you could tell me why I need 2 network cards? I have a separate router and have no idea why would I need the second net card if I'm not going to use PC as a server or router ... And I don't associate high-end solutions with server solutions.

There are a couple good reasons to get a board with dual gigabit LAN ports.

1. Just in case you ever run out of ports on the router and need to hook up another system.

2. In case one of the ports dies, you have another one onboard and don't need to go out and spend $10-15 on another LAN card.

 

[zeapoorte]

I suggest Asus ,it's faster

 

[IcY18]

if you want to get it RIGHT now then i would suggest the Asus since its on the 975x chipset, the gigabyte is on the 965 chipset which basically sucks in all areas...if you can just wait a couple weeks for the good boards to come out, like the nf500 series chipsets

note that the 965 chipset is terrible at overclocking period...

check out this topic also

Core 2 Duo compatible mobos?

especially mine :lol: tells you which conroe mb you would want

 

[IcY18]

Go for the Gigabyte. It was designed to also support Kentsfield (Intel's upcoming quad core CPU).

any cpu that supports conroe is supposed to be kentsfield capable also, i doubt that any of these boards will be kentsfield approved though for some dumb reason so intel makes us get there new conroe chipset that is coming out

 

[scorch]

I have used a lot of asus boards on builds and have not had a problem. If there is and issue with a certain video card there may be a bios update or a board revision if it is a big enough issue.

 

[IcY18]

just read this in regards to the mbs...or if you want to come to conclusion your self read Conroe Buying Guide: Feeding the Monster

Is there any reason why enthusiasts shouldn't choose an NVIDIA chipset over an Intel one for a Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Extreme system configuration?

you would choose and nvidia chipset for an SLI setup or an ATI one for a crossfire setup...

Socket 775 mobos with 965 and newer 975x chipsets for Intel and Crossfire and Nforce 590 for Nvidia.

at this time there are no crossfire boards available for conroe and the nvidia 500 series mobos aren't available for conroe either...

NVIDIA has also shown Conroe chipsets, but they will not be launched for at least several weeks. NVIDIA chipsets will support SLI on Conroe, first as dual X8, which is being shown today with the ASUS P5N32-SLI, which is an updated nForce4 chipset board for Conroe. There are not any NVIDIA nForce 500 boards available at this time that support Conroe, but they are reported to be coming in early August - in both dual X8 and dual X16 flavors.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=2

if you read the article you'll basically find out a few things...

1) the 965 chipset is crap, the 975x still performs better even though it was said that the 965 has a better memory controller and blah blah, but in the end the 975x was better than the 965,
2) the ASUS board is the best board offered, has great overclocking and is based on the 975x chipset

The board we would choose for our own Conroe system is the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe. Performance is rock solid and the feature set is superb. It is the best overclocker of the eight boards here and it is based on the 975X chipset, which allows the X6800 to be set to both higher and lower multipliers. You cannot set higher multipliers on the P965 and 965 overclocking is poorer on every board we tested than 975X overclocking.

3) and lastly they said that value memory is a good choice as it has decent overclocking ability at a very cheap price compared to the high end ddr-800(like XMS) or such...

The Value DDR2 tests comparing seven 2GB DDR2 kits at less than $200 provided quite a few surprises. ALL of the seven brands reached DDR2-800 with a voltage increase to around 2.2V. This performance was a complete surprise for DDR2 memory kits rated at DDR-533 or DDR2-667. Most of the value kits also reached DDR2-800 memory timings of 4-3-3. This is only slightly slower than our High-Performance DDR2 group at DDR2-800 3-3-3. This means performance of this group is almost exactly the same at DDR2-800 or DDR2-667 as the High-Performance DDR2 - at less than half the price! We will have additional Conroe performance test results from this group in a future article.

 

[Mobius]

Gigabyte.

 

[The_Prophecy]

note that the 965 chipset is terrible at overclocking period...

No it's not.... the 965 will be just as good as any other Intel chipset for overclocking, the 975 is simply better.

 

[IcY18]

alright well then you tell me what you think

You cannot set higher multipliers on the P965 and 965 overclocking is poorer on every board we tested than 975X overclocking. We could recommend the 965 if it were cheaper, but the ASUS P5W-DH costs $269 on-line, the ASUS P5B is the SAME price, and the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 is $269. If you don't plan to aggressively overclock the Intel 975XBX is fast at stock and solid at about $250 to $260.

well when something is the same price and performs worse in benchmarks, doesn't allow you to change the multiplier and has a lower max fsb, then well that is what i would call terrible at overclocking period...


AnandTech: Conroe Mobos

 

[The_Prophecy]

One thing I should point out.... the P5B is not the same price as the P5W DH Deluxe, it's actually $100 cheaper.

Yes, 965 boards aren't as good as 975 boards for overclocking, but it's not like there are only preset's for OC'ing (like being given the choice between a 1% and 10% OC though the BIOS), or no OC'ing options at all. I would call that a terrible overclock. The locked multipliers aren't an issue either because Intel will be locking the multiplier on all of the Core 2's except the X6800. I don't know anyone who has ever wanted to adjust the multiplier when OC'ing anyway.

 

[dimas]

May be you could tell me why I need 2 network cards? I have a separate router and have no idea why would I need the second net card if I'm not going to use PC as a server or router ... And I don't associate high-end solutions with server solutions.

There are a couple good reasons to get a board with dual gigabit LAN ports.

1. Just in case you ever run out of ports on the router and need to hook up another system.

2. In case one of the ports dies, you have another one onboard and don't need to go out and spend $10-15 on another LAN card.

1)In case I run out of ports on router (I can't imagine why could this happen, I use it at home, not in office) I could connect a hub to existing router to build a stack. In any case it is always possible to connect wireless.
2)By this logic I need two ICH7R on board. If one dies I could still use MB with the second one
Come on, it is just one of the things you have to pay for but don't really need. I still remember how manufactures tried to make extra buttons on keyboard for 'sleep' and 'power' and promoted this as a benefit. And integrated video, modem or AC97 on board...
All these are just blows and whistles.
What I really need is reliable, adjustable(read OC ready) and able to support latest and fastest hardware motherboard.
I would prefer to buy ASUS if I was sure that they will provide me with all my requirements.
May be there is a way to press them?[/code]

 

[carpcmelee]

Conroe system.
Asus P5B Deluxe or Gigabyte GA_965P_DQ6.

Regards

The P5B Deluxe is $215 on Ewiz.com.
The DQ6 was on ewiz 2 days ago for $219, but then mysteriously disappeared. For durabilty and quality gigabyte, for peformance+feature set(wi-fi is a nice one) asus

 

[mickeddie]

Conroe system.
Asus P5B Deluxe or Gigabyte GA_965P_DQ6.

Regards

The P5B Deluxe is $215 on Ewiz.com.
The DQ6 was on ewiz 2 days ago for $219, but then mysteriously disappeared. For durabilty and quality gigabyte, for peformance+feature set(wi-fi is a nice one) asus

The DQ6 at Newegg went up to $279!!!

 

[chuckshissle]

For overclocking I would choose the Asus and for stability I'd pick the Giagabyte. Both great motherboards but for the first choice I would say Gigabyte.