775 motherboard

[GT]

What do we think to the Asus P5K motherboard with the following in mind:

A little overclocking / undervolting of my e6400.
Increasing RAM without throwing away my 2 DDR 1GB 800 DIMMS
Upgrading to a 45nm Quad core (one day).
Upgrading my 7600GS graphics to a SLI / Crossfire setup (one day)

Any thoughts / comments? Cheers, GT

 

[Paul]

What do we think to the Asus P5K motherboard with the following in mind:

A little overclocking / undervolting of my e6400.
Increasing RAM without throwing away my 2 DDR 1GB 800 DIMMS
Upgrading to a 45nm Quad core (one day).
Upgrading my 7600GS graphics to a SLI / Crossfire setup (one day)

Any thoughts / comments? Cheers, GT

Slot wiring is x16 / x4 for the two large PCI Express slots.
Crossfire will still work, but one card will have a lower
bandwidth. Otherwise, this would be like any other Intel
chipset board. If you can live with a single video card
system, then the board will be fine. Since there will be
a few video cards, with two GPUs soldered to the PCB,
and a bridge chip, you can still get the power of two
GPUs, without needing more than one good video slot.

3870 X2 (dual GPU)
http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=426008#post426008

9800GX2 (two card sandwich, only one PCI Express connector)
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-28/1-3.jpg
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-28/1-5.jpg
http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/news_chiphell9800gx2_01_full.png

Other than that, check the Newegg review comments, or the
comments on vip.asus.com . If you were looking for feedback
on overclocking, you might look on xtremesystems.org, for
what is popular there.

Paul

 

[GT]

Slot wiring is x16 / x4 for the two large PCI Express slots.
Crossfire will still work, but one card will have a lower
bandwidth. Otherwise, this would be like any other Intel
chipset board. If you can live with a single video card
system, then the board will be fine. Since there will be
a few video cards, with two GPUs soldered to the PCB,
and a bridge chip, you can still get the power of two
GPUs, without needing more than one good video slot.

3870 X2 (dual GPU)
http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=426008#post426008

9800GX2 (two card sandwich, only one PCI Express connector)
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-28/1-3.jpg
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-28/1-5.jpg
http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/news_chiphell9800gx2_01_full.png

Other than that, check the Newegg review comments, or the
comments on vip.asus.com . If you were looking for feedback
on overclocking, you might look on xtremesystems.org, for
what is popular there.

Thanks Paul, I'll check them out - not been on xtremesystems.org before.
Unfortunately, you need to have an Asus product to register and get on to
vip.asus.com! I have ASRock at the moment.

I didn't say in my original post, but with regard to the overclocking - my
goal is quiet, not power, so a little undervolting and perhaps a tickle up
to 275 or so on the frequency. I have a replacement cooler already, which is
pretty silent, but not very cool (mid 40s idle, low 50s load for both
cores). Similar goal with regard to GFX - I was thinking 2 passive
crossfire, slower cards rather than 1 fast, noisy one. Perhaps 2 x 3450
passive cards, or their equivalent price (still passive) in 6 months or so.
I have loads of silenced case cooling, so should be able to handle the heat.

 

[Paul]

Thanks Paul, I'll check them out - not been on xtremesystems.org before.
Unfortunately, you need to have an Asus product to register and get on to
vip.asus.com! I have ASRock at the moment.

I didn't say in my original post, but with regard to the overclocking - my
goal is quiet, not power, so a little undervolting and perhaps a tickle up
to 275 or so on the frequency. I have a replacement cooler already, which is
pretty silent, but not very cool (mid 40s idle, low 50s load for both
cores). Similar goal with regard to GFX - I was thinking 2 passive
crossfire, slower cards rather than 1 fast, noisy one. Perhaps 2 x 3450
passive cards, or their equivalent price (still passive) in 6 months or so.
I have loads of silenced case cooling, so should be able to handle the heat.

You can read vip.asus.com, without being a member. Try this link.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=P5K&SLanguage=en-us

As for video choices, I'd select something that comes with a passive
cooler, and is a recent enough technology, to have benefited from
a die shrink.

A single HD3850 for example (see bottom chart). 63.1W at peak 3D.
13.5W at idle.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd3870-hd3850_13.html

A Sapphire HD 3850 with passive cooling (cooler on solder side of board).
Position of cooler may conflict with Northbridge or CPU heatsink, or even
DIMM tabs. Cards are also made, where the passive cooler is on the component side.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4227&Itemid=34

Personally, I would rather use one card, with a passive cooler, as I could
locate an 80mm fan in an adjacent slot, if the thing needs more cooling.
Going with a Crossfire config, with passives, means the second card is
not going to have access to cool air.

Example of another card with passive cooling. This one has the "George Foreman
Grill" on the component side, meaning more clearance for CPU and Northbridge
heatsink, depending on where they're located.

GIGABYTE GV-NX86S256H GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125063

The heatsink designers, sure have an imagination. I can see the air
racing through this thing now...

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-125-063-03.jpg

Paul