Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 -or- ASUS P5N-D

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looks_like_dave

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Hello. I received one of each of these boards with 8GB of RAM and an Intel Quad 2.4 CPU, from a friend who was upgrading. The specs seem comparable. I know they are both older MBs, but they are newer than what I have and were free. Which is a better choice for speed and stability? I'm leaning toward the Gigabyte as it has more USB ports and SATA connections. Thanks!
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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The Gigabyte board is a bit newer and can accept faster RAM, albeit hard-to-find DDR2. (The Asus limits you to 800MHZ DDR2.) But if you are going to use SLI graphics, it only has X16, X4 PCIe slots... not very good. Stay with a single fast card for that board. The Asus has the capability of using 2 cards at X16, X16. But you will have to get the latest BIOS update. Something I'd recommend for either board. If you install a 2nd long graphics card in the Gigabyte board, you'll lose all but 2 SATA ports. If you install a 2nd long graphics card in the Asus board, you'll lose all your SATA slots. My choice would be to go with the Gigabyte board.

Go to the boards' websites to learn more about which processors they accept. You don't provide enough info on your processor for me to say.
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2744#ov
Asus P5N-D: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5ND/#specifications
 
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looks_like_dave

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Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, clutch. I really appreciate your advice. I'm a novice and still have a great deal to learn. Let me give you a little more info and maybe you can share some more of your thoughts.

Here is the hardware I have available:
- Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4
- ASUS P5N-D
- Intel '05 Q6600 2.4 ghz Core 2 Quad LGA 775 (aka Socket T), 2.4 ghz/8M/1066/05A, front side bus 1066 mhz
- Intel '06 E8400 3.0 ghz Core 2 Duo LGA 775 (aka Socket T), 3.0 ghz/6M/1333/06, front side bus 1333 mhz
- (four sticks of) Corsair cm2x2048 6400c5 2gb, DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
- (four sticks of) Corsair cm2x2048-8500c5d 2gb, DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
- (one) Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0
- Turbo-Cool 510 ATX-PFC 550w PSU
- Legacy IDE DVDROM and DL DVD Burner
- I purchased new - (two) Western Digital 320gb 7200rpm SATA HDDs

I was given most of these components for free. A couple I bought used and the HDDs are new. So far I have $300 into the machine and I'm trying to build the best budget machine I can with these components. Money is tight and my most current machine is a dell dimension 8300 from 2004. Based on my research I tried to assemble it like this:

- Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4
- Intel '05 Q6600 2.4 ghz Core 2 Quad
- Corsair cm2x2048-8500c5d 2gb, DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
- Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
- Plus the rest

That proves unstable. I install Win 7 x64 and it consistently locks up after a few hours and I do not know why. I have tried various BIOS settings including the fail-safe defaults. So far I have found two stable options:

(newer board with more sata slots and USB connections but only stable with slower ram)
- Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4
- Intel '05 Q6600 2.4 ghz Core 2 Quad
- Corsair cm2x2048 6400c5 2gb, DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) <-- Slower RAM, correct?
- Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
- Plus the rest

-- OR --

(older board with fewer sata slots and USB connections but works with faster ram)
- ASUS P5N-D
- Intel '05 Q6600 2.4 ghz Core 2 Quad
- Corsair cm2x2048-8500c5d 2gb, DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) <-- Faster RAM, correct?
- Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
- Plus the rest


Am I missing something? Is the speed of the RAM different enough that I should care? Thank you very much again. I appreciate your help.

 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Sounds like you have enough free stuff to almost build two machines ;) Since you got the boards free and I assume they are used, are you confident they are, in fact, any good? We'll assume so for now.
Test each stick of RAM individually by running Memtest at boot for at least one full pass. ( http://www.memtest.org/ ). I would suggest breadboarding the motherboards, but you appear to be able to boot up OK. Btw, yes, 1066 memory is faster than 800. I would use the less demanding 800MHZ RAM until you solve the issues.

Try restting the BIOS by removing the battery and jumpering the CLEAR CMOS pins for about 5 secs. Move the jumper back to the original pins and replace the battery. The BIOS should be reset to factory. You can use the boards' website I sent to download their manuals if you need help locating the CLR CMOS jumper.

Next, I would be sure you have the latest BIOS for those boards. Check the website again to see if you have the late enough version of the BIOS that is needed for each processor. If necessary flash the BIOS as per the instructions.

See if you get any improvement...
 
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looks_like_dave

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Thank you again for the great reply!

I've actually done just about everything you've suggested (including the clearing the CMOS on both boards and doing the memtest) short of making sure the bios is up to date. I'll try that next. Both set-ups have run smoothly without issue (breadboarded with fan blowing on them for 48hrs) until I put the 1066 ram in the Gigabyte board. That's the set-up I want to go with, but it leads to system instability. It always ends in a kernel 41 power error in the system log.

I believe all the individual components are in working order. It just seems some components don't want to play nicely together. Maybe a bios update will help. If that does not solve the issue, with all the other components being equal (CPU, graphics card, etc.) would you recommend:

a) using the older ASUS board with the faster memory
- or-
b) using the newer Gigabyte board with the slower memory

I'm unsure how big a difference exists between the memory speed. Again, thank you very much - it is really nice to get some knowledgeable perspective.

- Dave
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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I see that the Gigabyte Board only needs up to the F4 Bios to work with either the Q6600 or E8400 processors, so you probably have the late enough BIOS for that board. I just noticed that while the Q6600 requires the 0107 BIOS in the Asus board, the E8400 needs the later 0701 to be recognized and work. So you'll want to upgrade to that BIOS if it isn't already.
If you can get the Gigabyte board stable with the 800 MHZ DDR2, you could use that until you can come up with a solution. The faster memory won't be noticable in everyday tastks. It may be advantagous when keeping up with the faster memory of a new video card, but shouldn't be an issue with the card you have now.

The reason the Asus board works with faster RAM than it is designed for, is probably because it's only able to run it at 800MHZ. The Gigabyte board shouldn't have a problem with the faster RAM, so I lean towards it possibly having a failing component. Or it just doesn't like that RAM. It happens sometimes.
If you can get the Asus board to work with the faster E8400 and either RAM, and you don't plan on using 2 new long graphics card in SLI (covering the SATA ports), I would use the 800 MHZ in it. If this sounds confusing... it's because I'm getting confused with all the combinations of components you have available...

Which ever board/CPU you get to work the best, run Prime95 for a couple hours or so to see if it is stable. I wouldn't do a 24 hour torture test on the older parts though...
 
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looks_like_dave

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Excellent. I'll try the bios update next and see what happens running Prime95. That's not a utility I'm familiar with so perhaps that will help shed some light on things. Thank you again Clutch!
 
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clutchc

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mtharp1

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No luck. Comes back service unavailable.
 
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mtharp1

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I was using firefox and tried it with ie and worked like a champ. The darndest things. Thanks for the help I really appreciate it.
 
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mtharp1

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Although I do have a question there are 12 different updates which one should I go with? I know that I have a different CPU than what my buddy was using so I think I should go with the latest one on there that says for newer CPU's.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Do you need a BIOS update for a problem you're having? If all is working well, you may want to pass on an update. However, if you want to do the BIOS flash, I'd go with the latest. The 1401 looks to be the latest. It hasn't changed since I had my P5N-E SLI board a few years back. That's the last one I last flashed. 1401.
 
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mtharp1

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When I go to install OS I get blue screen errors from windows and system errors with Linux. Pretty much all hardware is new other than graphics card. All hardware is good so and I don't know what else to do so I'm flashing the bios.
 
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