Which MotherBoard is better?

bump !

Here's a side-by-side - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submi...|13-131-399^13-131-399-TS,13-131-615^13-131-615-TS,13-131-602^13-131-602-TS,13-131-650^13-131-650-TS

The answer depends on what you have now: CPU & RAM primarily, edit: but also your HDD & ODD connections. The link is in your approximate budget. I or anyone will need to know what carry-over parts you currently need to 'fit'. However, in general stay with ASUS.

^ I was trying to stay in the OP's budget of ~$60. I 'fixed' the link and searched all 3 MOBO's listed.

The ASUS P5Q-EM was/is deactivated, but the one I saw @ Amazon is $138... Better, yep.

I'm having 2 stick of DDR2 PC-800 KINGSTON CL6 2GB , A SEAGATE 7200RPM 500GB ,
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD 2.66GHZ 1333MHZ FSB 4MB Q8400 , Single slot Radeon HD4850 . THAT's all im transfering.
Im using win XP but im getting 7 soon (does this matter ?)

the asus mobo support : http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/models...

i dont get it what is kit of 2 , i bought 2 stick of DDR2 PC-800 KINGSTON CL6 seperately so can you help me ?

I'm gonna agree with malmental.
A simple reason.
4 pin CPU power.

Decent quad cores need more power.

What's a 4 pin CPU Power ?
Sorry im not good in this kind of stuff.

Anyway , i already had 2 stick of 2GB DDR2 ?  

The boards you mentioned had 4-pin sockets for the CPU power (think P4 connectors). My Q9550 for example will throttle down (or switch off) if it gets to 50-55C under load.

The alternative is an 8-pin CPU power socket for example these boards:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161010

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p5q-pro-turbo-intel...(x16)-ddr2-1300-1200-1066-sata-3gb-s-sata-raid-atx

is the 4 pin enough ?

Best answer selected by lasers414.

Now im all done , just waiting to save and get a window 7 oem and install it in and start the computer , thanks alot guys.

The OP's CPU Core 2 Quad Q8400 is 95W and 4-pin is indeed adequate. NO CPU should throttle down @ 55C; thermally in the upper 80C~lower 90C it will become unstable and thermally shutdown - otherwise it's a sign, new to me, of a bad CPU or BIOS setting f'up. BTW - an i7 can run off a 4-pin.

The ASRock P43DE P43 'is' a cheap version of the ASUS {same company}, and if the chosen by 8-pin alone then - IDK. Power {phases}, quality & etc I still recommend ASUS.

@jaquith. I'm afriad that is incorrect.
Please examine the following pages

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/896/12/
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-2...
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2394&p...

The rating in Watts specified with Intel processors is the MAX TDP (thermal design power) which is cooling information. So th Q8200 needs 95W of cooling. AMD CPUs do however show the power consumption and I believe this is where the confusion lies. Here is an article from SilentPCReview That explains the difference.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article169-page3.html

I don't know much about the power specifications of the I7 however as it is a different socket, more power may be given through the socket itself.

Yes, [part 1] I know exactly what TDP means {ψca = (Tc– Ta) / TDP}, and [part 2] still ---> the 4-pin ATX 12V connector is indeed adequate to POWER the Core 2 Quad Q8400 - http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=38512

TDP for those who 'care' to know - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_design_power

So if you're attempting to 'prove' anything then please illustrate where the Core 2 Quad Q8400 won't run off a 4-pin.

You're confusing my 'standardized' CPU description as a POWER consumption. An 8-pin on an Core 2 Quad Q8400 is fine, but overkill.

Sorry I misunderstood what you meant. I though you were stating its 95W as a relavent point. My mistake.
I was not specific enough in my first post for which I shall appologise.

I have found in the research of my aformentioned problem that A) My CPU is not faulty (been tested in better MOBOs and B) My MOBO is not faulty, tried lower powered CPUs.

I have also found previously that there have been many similar problems. Although theoretically the 4 pin power supply and socket should provide more enough power for a C2Q to run to its full potential, this however depends on the implementation.
The similar problems I have discovered were at the time all on budget boards with 4 pin power. This did happen with AMD and Intel. Asus was the main culprit but a few other manufacturers were mentioned. I had not come accross this issue with any 8-pin power boards, although I suppose this does not mean it does not happen.

It has been suggested this is to do with the quality of motherboard components but who really knows. I should have been clearer on why I don't think a budget 4-pin LGA 775 board can properly use a C2Q, but the older cheaper ones were not designed to give good performance, just to trundle along.

^ Typically, the MOBO's list the supported CPUs with more info including TDP wattage:
Intel Core™ i7-870 2.93GHz 8MB Lynnfield 45nm B1 95W 133 F1
Intel Core™ i7-870s 2.93GHz 8MB Lynnfield 45nm B1 82W 133 F1

Regarding power, no argument with an extreme OC that an 8-pin would be useful, but only if the Phases are equally higher to utilize the additional power from the 8-pin. The ASUS MOBOs, on average, are very good with Phases.

Your drop-off in performance @ 55C would concern me, I too would look at other temps e.g. NB temps. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

I recommend both HWM & CT - they do a both the same. IDK maybe environmental try Diagnostic otherwise look hard at your RAM - verify Certified or Tested w/RAM Mfg against your ASUS. 55C 'normally' with not make a C2Q unstable or 'throttle down.'

Start a post...

I have tried 3 different sticks of RAM, Hardware monitor states about the same as Sandra and I even tried everest. My RAM has been tested too and its on the QVL. Well, 2 of the sticks are. The board id low quality and its not the only one.

This topic has been closed by Maziar