"Pete" said:
I have read MB reviews on NewEgg that say you need a lesser processor to
flash the BIOS before a 9xx series processor will be recognized by the MB.
Please recommend a motherboard that will work out-of-the-box for an Intel
930.
I don't over and don't want on-board video, so a basic MB is fine.
Thanks,
Pete
I don't think you wanna ask questions like that
You should select a motherboard based on its merits.
For example, reviews on Newegg can give you a good idea
as to whether a given motherboard is any good or not.
A good motherboard will have 3% or less "poor" or "Very poor"
rating, in the customer-written reviews. A bad motherboard
will have 18% "poor" or "Very poor" rating. Others will be
somewhere in between.
You also want to download the manual and see whether the
BIOS is full featured, and has, say, memory timing settings.
That is useful if you are having some problems getting
the memory to work error free, and having adjustments like
that might be all that is needed to tune up your new system.
To solve the "what BIOS version am I getting" problem, a
large Internet retailer is not going to be able to help
you. Many of them, have their sales call center located
at a different place than the warehouse/shipping center.
The staff cannot "run down the hall" and verify what BIOS
is currently shipping.
If you go to a local computer store, you can have the staff
open the box and have a look.
Another alternative (and I cannot say I like this one), is
to buy a "bundle" from a retailer, one of their "tested"
packages. They are supposed to test that the bundled goods
will boot, before they send it to you. That means they
should have done some checking themselves, before wasting
time trying to test a BIOS version that won't work with the
processor.
A third option, is to locate a local vendor who offers
system test as a service. You may be able to convince them
to install a cheap Celeron in your new board, and flash it
up to the latest BIOS.
If a processor has been shipping for three months or so,
by then the necessary BIOS should already be on the
motherboard. If the processor you want to buy was released
yesterday, then the odds are very good that no motherboard
will run with it. As time passes the situation improves.
Now, that being said, if you really want to shop for a board
guaranteed to run the processor, look here:
http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusuppo...0GHz, 800 FSB, L2 4MB, revB1)&SLanguage=en-us
P5LD2 ALL 0901
P5LD2 Deluxe ALL 0415
P5LD2 SE ALL ALL <---- shipping yet ?
P5LD2-V ALL 0401
P5LD2-VM ALL 0406
P5MT 1.04 1003
P5MT-M 1.03 0204
P5MT-R ? ?
P5MT-S 1.00 1001
P5N32-SLI Deluxe ALL 0308
P5P800 SE ALL 0301
P5P800-VM ALL 0109
P5PL2 ALL 0503
P5RD2-VM ALL ALL <---- Microatx
P5V800-MX ALL 0304
P5VD1-X ALL 0502
P5VDC-MX ALL 0110
P5WD2 ALL 0301
P5WD2 Premium ALL 0606
P5WD2-E Premium ALL 0206
P5WDG2-WS ALL ALL <---- Expensive board
Vintage2-PH1 ALL 0202
For the three highlighted boards, _all_ of their released BIOS
will run the processor in question.
One other thing to note. Processors have silicon die revisions.
The above list is for Rev.B1 . What is interesting, is Asus
also has a list for the Rev.C1 processor. Rev.C is not even
listed on the Intel site yet
Do you see how complicated this
is getting ? The more rocks you turn over, the more snakes
you find. Here is the list for Rev.C1.
http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusuppo...0GHz, 800 FSB, L2 4MB, revC1)&SLanguage=en-us
P5N32-SLI Deluxe ALL 0310
P5WD2-E Premium ALL 0405
P5WDG2-WS ALL 0509
Now, none of the boards have "ALL" for the necessary BIOS
release. All of these boards would be a gamble. Of course,
you probably cannot buy a rev.C1 at the store, so this is
not a problem (yet).
Here is what the support list looks like for an Intel
motherboard. This list is for the Intel "Bad Axe" motherboard,
which is their top of the line, equiv to the small group
of boards in the previous list.
http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/bx/bx_proc.htm
Notice that even Intel has a minimum release BIOS required
to support your processor. So there is no escaping this
issue
That is why, if you are the nervous type, and cannot
stand suspense, visit a sympathetic local computer store,
or use an Internet vendor who understands the importance of
the issue, and try to get the product you want (with
the necessary minimum BIOS version) that way.
If you deal with retailers who carry a lot of old stock,
then chances are you'll get an old BIOS. The larger
vendors go through enough stock, that this is less likely
to be an issue. As far as I can determine, the 930 was
launched around Jan.10 or so, and it is getting pretty
close to May, so I think the odds are in your favor, with
being able to run a rev.B1 out of the box.
What you can do, for the Asus BIOS listed above, is go
to the download page, search for the motherboard in
question, click the BIOS button, and check the release
date on the BIOS. Some motherboards only got support
for the 930 very recently, and by checking the date,
you'll be better able to determine whether that BIOS
has been shipped to the field or not. One minimum BIOS
release I checked, shipped in March, which is cutting it
close. Others got their minimum BIOS release around
Jan.10/2006 and should be OK. (Enter mobo model number
in the upper left corner of this page.)
http://support.asus.com.tw/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
If you like to plan ahead, you could also contact badflash.com
and have them send a BIOS chip to you, with a recent BIOS
release programmed in it. That will cost $25 or so (check
the website for details). I believe you can get stuff
by courier from Badflash (I've never used them), so you
may be able to get two day turnaround. By the time your
order comes in, you could have a BIOS chip to go with it.
(Since I've got a ton of computers, I can stand to wait
until I get a new board, before shopping for a new BIOS
chip. Asus apparently will program the chip for you, in
some countries, for a reasonable fee, but the shipping time
might be longer than you might like.)
Good luck,
Paul
