Q9450 compatible motherboard?

Hi,

I am gonna buy a Q9450 (found a store in my country where it should be in stock according to other ppl ), but what motherboard is compatible with this CPU?

I have been looking at ASUS P5K/EPU, but will this support Q9450 out of the box? I currently have no old socket 775 CPU to boot up with to update bios.

I have looked at ASUS' site, and it looks like the support is there, but I just want to be 100% sure.

I hope someone can clarify for me

P5K EPU product support page.

http://support.asus.com/download/d [...] uage=en-us

CPU support list. The Q9450 CO stepping is supported out of the box. BIOS rev 0401 is required for the C! stepping version of that processor.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport [...] el=P5K/EPU

Thanks for your answers

It's getting a bit complicated though, since I can't be sure if I get C1 or C0?

That would probably mean I need to buy a X38 board to be sure of it being compatible?
On the other hand I heard X38 could overclock a bit worse than P35. Not that I'm gonna do heavy overclocking, since I'm first time builder, but I would like to have the opportunity of some OC'ing

no one able to help?

To tell the truth OP, there is no guarantee that a mobo will support a certain CPU out of the box. You may get lucky and get a mobo with a bit newer BIOS or you might get screwed with one that has an older BIOS. Only the newer X48 will probably have guaranteed 45nm support out of the box.

Shad0w,

If you buy the P5K and install the Q9450 It will bootup. It will say "Unknown CPU detected, BIOS update required to unleash its full power"

Then you can use EZ flash in the BIOS to update the BIOS after booting.

1Haplo

I installed my Q9450 in an Abit IP95 Pro.

According to the mobo's box it is Bios version 1.1, the 45nm Intel CPUs aren't officially supported until Bios version 1.2.

However, the Abit IP95 Pro instantly recognized it. Odd, maybe a later version was put in the box. Anywaste I'm gonna flash it to Bios version 1.6 pretty soon.