Good Quad Core Motherboard?

S

S. Smith

I'm looking for a good Quad Core motherboard to support an Intel
Q6600 CPU. Ideally one that is good for overclocking. I prefer Abit
boards, but am open to suggestions.

I currently have an Abit AW9D-Max board with an Intel E6600
overclocked to 3 Ghz and it works flawlessly. Abit claims that
board supports Quad Core CPU's, but from what I've been
reading on the Abit forums, it's a bit flaky with the Quad Core
CPU's and overclocking on that board with the Quad Cores
just makes it flakier.

Any suggestions or input is welcome.

Thanks in advance.




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
 
M

M60

S. Smith said:
I'm looking for a good Quad Core motherboard to support an Intel
Q6600 CPU. Ideally one that is good for overclocking. I prefer Abit
boards, but am open to suggestions.

I currently have an Abit AW9D-Max board with an Intel E6600
overclocked to 3 Ghz and it works flawlessly. Abit claims that
board supports Quad Core CPU's, but from what I've been
reading on the Abit forums, it's a bit flaky with the Quad Core
CPU's and overclocking on that board with the Quad Cores
just makes it flakier.

Any suggestions or input is welcome.

Thanks in advance.




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
Click to expand...

I have just assembled a system using an Intel D975XBX2 mo bo with a Q6600
cpu and its bloody marvellous. I clocked it up to 3 Ghz and it was fine but
as I don't require such power reset it back to 2.4.

running 4gb ram with an NVIDIA FX 3500 graphics card on it. as its on a
32bit system it only sees 3.25 gig of the ram but who cares its cheap now.
 
S

S. Smith

I have just assembled a system using an Intel D975XBX2 mo bo with a Q6600
cpu and its bloody marvellous. I clocked it up to 3 Ghz and it was fine but
as I don't require such power reset it back to 2.4.
Click to expand...

Nice. Thanks.

Just curious, did you do any temperature monitoring when you had it
oc'd to 3 GHz. Was the stock cooling sufficient (as it is with the
E6600 oc'd to 3 GHz)?




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
 
P

Psalm Nuclei

I would suggest the Gigabyte P35-DS3R. It runs flawlessly with Vista.
I currently have the E6420 OC'd to 3.2 ghz. Great OC'ing MB too.
 
S

S. Smith

I would suggest the Gigabyte P35-DS3R. It runs flawlessly with Vista.
I currently have the E6420 OC'd to 3.2 ghz. Great OC'ing MB too.
Click to expand...

The E6420 isn't a Quad Core CPU. I have a great Dual Core motherboard
in the Abit AW9D-Max. I need a motherboard that is designed for the
Quad Core CPU's and overclocking them.




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
 
P

Psalm Nuclei

The E6420 isn't a Quad Core CPU. I have a great Dual Core motherboard
in the Abit AW9D-Max. I need a motherboard that is designed for the
Quad Core CPU's and overclocking them.

- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
Click to expand...

I know the E6420 isn't a Quad. I was just explaining that the GA-P35-
DS3R is a reliable mb that can also handle Quads and is a great
overclocker.
 
H

Howard Goldstein

: Any suggestions or input is welcome.

I'd been advised to poke around xtremesystems.org for discussions on
matters like this. It was good advice.
 
P

Psalm Nuclei

: Any suggestions or input is welcome.

I'd been advised to poke around xtremesystems.org for discussions on
matters like this. It was good advice.
Click to expand...

Oh Yes! And ocforums.com too. I visit them both.
 
M

M60

S. Smith said:
Nice. Thanks.

Just curious, did you do any temperature monitoring when you had it
oc'd to 3 GHz. Was the stock cooling sufficient (as it is with the
E6600 oc'd to 3 GHz)?




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
Click to expand...

sorry I did not fit the stock fan but an Artic Cooling Freezer 7.

This said the stock fan looked like it could do the same job.

I did not do any extensive temp tests.
 
P

Psalm Nuclei

Yeah it's a nice board.

From what I researched when I first got into OC'ing over the summer
was that Gigabyte and ASUS and certain Abit motherboards are the
better (if not the best) OC'ers.

Also check out Tom's Hardware website and forums as well as
Anandtech.com for reviews.
 
S

S. Smith

Yeah it's a nice board.

From what I researched when I first got into OC'ing over the summer
was that Gigabyte and ASUS and certain Abit motherboards are the
better (if not the best) OC'ers.

Also check out Tom's Hardware website and forums as well as
Anandtech.com for reviews.
Click to expand...


Yes. This chart at PCStats.com would seem to indicate that
as well.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2187&page=14

The Gigabyte boards have 3 boards in the top five for overclocking
speeds. Asus, Abit and Biostar all rank up there as well.

Thanks again for the suggestion.




- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
 
P

Psalm Nuclei

Yes. This chart at PCStats.com would seem to indicate that
as well.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2187&page=14

The Gigabyte boards have 3 boards in the top five for overclocking
speeds. Asus, Abit and Biostar all rank up there as well.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

- Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
Click to expand...

You're welcome glad to be of some kind of help!

Are you close to making a decision? I saw a lot of talk about the Asus
P5K just not sure if it takes quad core (too lazy to look it up! lol).

You can't go wrong though if you choose Asus, Gigabyte or Abit. I
chose Gigabyte also because they supposedly have better support when
it comes to mb driver/firmware updates.
 
P

Phil Weldon

'S. Smith' wrote:
| Yes. This chart at PCStats.com would seem to indicate that
| as well.
|
| http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2187&page=14
|
| The Gigabyte boards have 3 boards in the top five for overclocking
| speeds. Asus, Abit and Biostar all rank up there as well.
|
| Thanks again for the suggestion.
_____

If SLI graphics operation is important to you be aware that NONE of the
motherboards in the list have that capability. For SLI you should consider
motherboards based on the nVidia 680i chipset (see Ed Medlin's posts here
about his Q6600/dual 8800GTX overclock.)

Phil Weldon

| On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:29:31 -0800 (PST), Psalm Nuclei
|
| >Yeah it's a nice board.
| >
| >From what I researched when I first got into OC'ing over the summer
| >was that Gigabyte and ASUS and certain Abit motherboards are the
| >better (if not the best) OC'ers.
| >
| >Also check out Tom's Hardware website and forums as well as
| >Anandtech.com for reviews.
|
|
| Yes. This chart at PCStats.com would seem to indicate that
| as well.
|
| http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2187&page=14
|
| The Gigabyte boards have 3 boards in the top five for overclocking
| speeds. Asus, Abit and Biostar all rank up there as well.
|
| Thanks again for the suggestion.
|
|
|
|
| - Scott Smith: (e-mail address removed)
| MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith
|
 
M

~misfit~

Somewhere on teh interweb Psalm Nuclei typed:
You're welcome glad to be of some kind of help!

Are you close to making a decision? I saw a lot of talk about the Asus
P5K just not sure if it takes quad core (too lazy to look it up! lol).
Click to expand...

I have a P5K. Yes they take quad core, yes they'll take the new 45nm Penryn
dual/quad core. In my opinion an awesome board. Mine's the P5K-E WiFi-AP
model, I wouldn't go for the bare P5K model myself, the -E model (and above)
is built on a different PCB, the same as all the top-end range. However, the
vanilla P5K seems to do /quite/ well:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p5k_2.html

You'll note that they say of the model I have "get a flagship product at a
very justified price". (Bear in mind it's translated into English, they mean
that it's the best deal in the range.)

Mine runs my E4500 (2.2GHz) at 3.3GHz rock solid. I bought the cheapish CPU
to last me until the 45nm quads are more affordable, maybe 18 months? Of
course I'll be keeping this board, it was with a quad 45nm CPU in mind that
I bought it.
You can't go wrong though if you choose Asus, Gigabyte or Abit. I
chose Gigabyte also because they supposedly have better support when
it comes to mb driver/firmware updates.
Click to expand...

I like Asus first, then Gigabyte. I have no personal experience with Abit so
I won't comment. (Nothing worse than people who recommend things they know
nothing about.)
 
M

~misfit~

Somewhere on teh interweb ~misfit~ typed:
Somewhere on teh interweb Psalm Nuclei typed:

I have a P5K. Yes they take quad core, yes they'll take the new 45nm
Penryn dual/quad core. In my opinion an awesome board. Mine's the
P5K-E WiFi-AP model, I wouldn't go for the bare P5K model myself, the
-E model (and above) is built on a different PCB, the same as all the
top-end range. However, the vanilla P5K seems to do /quite/ well:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p5k_2.html

You'll note that they say of the model I have "get a flagship product
at a very justified price". (Bear in mind it's translated into
English, they mean that it's the best deal in the range.)

Mine runs my E4500 (2.2GHz) at 3.3GHz rock solid. I bought the
cheapish CPU to last me until the 45nm quads are more affordable,
maybe 18 months? Of course I'll be keeping this board, it was with a
quad 45nm CPU in mind that I bought it.


I like Asus first, then Gigabyte. I have no personal experience with
Abit so I won't comment. (Nothing worse than people who recommend
things they know nothing about.)
Click to expand...

One thing: If you want to overclock *never* buy an Asus motherboard with a
name that ends in "-VM". That denotes their basic range and they have *zero*
native overclocking ability. I mention this as I see that there is a P5K-VM.
 
D

DevilsPGD

In message <[email protected]> S. Smith
I'm looking for a good Quad Core motherboard to support an Intel
Q6600 CPU. Ideally one that is good for overclocking. I prefer Abit
boards, but am open to suggestions.

I currently have an Abit AW9D-Max board with an Intel E6600
overclocked to 3 Ghz and it works flawlessly. Abit claims that
board supports Quad Core CPU's, but from what I've been
reading on the Abit forums, it's a bit flaky with the Quad Core
CPU's and overclocking on that board with the Quad Cores
just makes it flakier.

Any suggestions or input is welcome.
Click to expand...

I've got a couple Asus P5H DH that I'm very happy with, my desktop is
currently on that same CPU (Although I did replace the stock cooling,
mostly because I despise the mounting mechanism, plus I wanted control
over the direction of the fan due to my unusual airflow in my P180)

I don't overclock though.

My experience with Abit is somewhat dated (2-4 years), but I've never
been wow'd by 'em.
 
H

Howard Goldstein

: In message <[email protected]> S. Smith
:
: >I'm looking for a good Quad Core motherboard to support an Intel
: >Q6600 CPU. Ideally one that is good for overclocking. I prefer Abit
: >boards, but am open to suggestions.
: >
: >I currently have an Abit AW9D-Max board with an Intel E6600
: >overclocked to 3 Ghz and it works flawlessly. Abit claims that
: >board supports Quad Core CPU's, but from what I've been
: >reading on the Abit forums, it's a bit flaky with the Quad Core
: >CPU's and overclocking on that board with the Quad Cores
: >just makes it flakier.
: >
: >Any suggestions or input is welcome.
:
: I've got a couple Asus P5H DH that I'm very happy with, my desktop is
: currently on that same CPU (Although I did replace the stock cooling,
: mostly because I despise the mounting mechanism, plus I wanted control
: over the direction of the fan due to my unusual airflow in my P180)
:
: I don't overclock though.

I'll join you in a good word for the P5W DH. The board is like
3-4 generations behind so the pricing should be excellent. I'm below
average OC experience but that board took my old E6600 up to 3.6Ghz
stable...I did have to cook it with 1.5v though.

(B3 stepping, the chip has left this existence to pine in the fjords,
may it RIP)(it wasn't 1.5v that did it, more like the 12V that did it
thanks to naively expecting thermal tape on a BGA heat sink to
actually stick to an FET)
 
D

DevilsPGD

I'll join you in a good word for the P5W DH. The board is like
3-4 generations behind so the pricing should be excellent.
Click to expand...

It also has a habit of just working, I've run XP, Vista, Vista-64,
2003-64 and 2008-64, the only hassle was for 2003-64 to slipstream the
SATA AHCI driver into the installer.

No massive driver struggles, which was a nice change.
 

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