Conroe o/c Mobos: Are there really only 2 "real" choices? ( 2 Views )

no kitty!

It seems to me that there really are only 2 choices available to users when/if they want to overclock:

The Gigabyte DS3 and the Asus P5W.

Sure there are some mobos that others use (DQ6, Intel D975), but 90% of people use either of the 2 boards i mentioned. Is there simply a general lack of choice or is there mobos out that I can buy now that are simply not popular? I haven't found any at the usual e-tailers. The Biostar that Kyle mentioned is nowhere to be found, no Abit that fits the bill, no Epox, no DFI, no MSI, no nothing.

(kübra, Guadeloupe)

Theres the Abit AW9D-MAX which is the one i want, its available in limited quantaties various places. Good luck finding one thats in stock though.

In short though, the selection of mobos is extremely limited, and theres no decent offerings for SLI. This is quite unacceptable as conroe has been out for almost 3 months now.

(safaaa, Cyprus)

Asus P5B Deluxe seems to be popular too.

(doðuþhan, Israel)

a number of MB will OC the core 2

i've seen a few gigabyte 945p's that can do 350+ fsb . some of the via baised mb can do a little bit iover 300fsb and the nvidia boards do around 300 more or less.

for serious overclockinf i would say the most likely to reach a high OC would be something on the 965p chipset followed by a mb with the 975x chipset .

IF the radeon 600 ever gets built it would likely be a good OCing mb . however i am doutful if it would live up to all it's hype.

the 965 being so new--the mb makers haven't had enough time to get their act togeather--but i'm sure your going to see a flood of decent overclocking 965's in the next few months--at very competive prices to boot . i'm waiting on a biostar t-force myself .

i would like to see a nice overclocking MB that can run regular 184 DDR. such a MB would only have to do around a 400 some odd fsb to be enough with the 4300 series. it could be on a via , sis ,radeon or intel 915p . then you would begin to see a whosale jump to core 2.
other than that--i'm likely to wait it out for a while at least--

(sinan, Marshall Islands)

The P5B's a very valid option, too. It's a dandy board for anyone who doesn't care about multiple video cards.

(yelda, Papua New Guinea)

If money is not a problem, dont rule out the Asus P5WDG2 WS Professional . :D

(halil, Northern Mariana Islands)

Its my opinion that the huge performance/price benifits of the conroes is not something anyone but intel wants to make known to Joe Sixpack. Manufacturers have a lot of now obsolete or soon to be obsolete (Intel stopping production on some older processors) stuff on the shelf they would love to pass off to people that dont know better between now and Christmas. After the first of the year expect an explosion of core 2 duo boards.

Gigabyte DQ6 rocks, its just expensive.

(Engin, Honduras)

yeppthats so true

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillParrish

Its my opinion that the huge performance/price benifits of the conroes is not something anyone but intel wants to make known to Joe Sixpack. Manufacturers have a lot of now obsolete or soon to be obsolete (Intel stopping production on some older processors) stuff on the shelf they would love to pass off to people that dont know better between now and Christmas. After the first of the year expect an explosion of core 2 duo boards.

Gigabyte DQ6 rocks, its just expensive.

intel does seem to be doing some odd things--they may not want it to be too easy to build a fast core 2 system, or build any core 2 set up too cheap-$$$ . :eek:

(ferhat, Bangladesh)

iirc even by the end of the year Core 2 production will only account for 25-30% of Intel's CPU production - that leaves a lot of P4s & Celerons out there ...

(casým, Antigua and Barbuda)

I'm still somewhat surprised that there are no offerings from major players like MSI, DFI, Epox or even Biostar or ECS yet. Usually at least ECS and MSI are one of the first to offere a competitvely priced mobo with at least somewhat decent overclocking abilities (MSI).

But really none. Nada. Sure announcements here and there but overall there is a big lack of mobos. Just cruise over to the egg and search for all 965 chipset mobos. You end up with maybe a dozen and from that dozen, there are at least 6-8 from Asus and Gigabyte and then 2 not conroe ready and then 2 crappy mobos. The choice is not there.

I want my DFI or Epox damnit!!!! ;)

(seda, Egypt)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScYcS

I'm still somewhat surprised that there are no offerings from major players like MSI, DFI, Epox or even Biostar or ECS yet. Usually at least ECS and MSI are one of the first to offere a competitvely priced mobo with at least somewhat decent overclocking abilities (MSI).

But really none. Nada. Sure announcements here and there but overall there is a big lack of mobos. Just cruise over to the egg and search for all 965 chipset mobos. You end up with maybe a dozen and from that dozen, there are at least 6-8 from Asus and Gigabyte and then 2 not conroe ready and then 2 crappy mobos. The choice is not there.

I want my DFI or Epox damnit!!!! ;)

I too am starting to wonder where all of the P965 offerings are from companies like Biostar, Epox, Foxconn (available online, but Newegg still hasn't stocked this board). It just seems like there aren't many choices right now and it sucks to say the least.

(hakan, Slovenia)

The wacky thing is that didn't DFI actually announce their offering before anyone else? I think MSI had one at E3, too. It does make you wonder what happened.
Either way, I've been running a P5B for the last 3 weeks and I think it's great. As long as you don't install the IDE driver Asus gives you, it's one of the best and most stable systems I've ever built.

(ece, United States)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Domingo

The wacky thing is that didn't DFI actually announce their offering before anyone else? I think MSI had one at E3, too. It does make you wonder what happened.
Either way, I've been running a P5B for the last 3 weeks and I think it's great. As long as you don't install the IDE driver Asus gives you, it's one of the best and most stable systems I've ever built.

I never had a problem with the P5B and the IDE driver. The P5B is a great choice for a Conroe board, as are the Gigabyte DQ6, the ASUS P5W DH, the P5WDG2 WS Professional and now the abit AWD9 and AWD9 MAX appear to be good choices as well.

While that isn't the usual gamut of motherboards available for new processors, you at least have a couple of really good choices available.

Yes SLI users are still screwed if they want to overclock their CPU's, and there are still not that many Crossfire capable boards either.

(lez_, Saint Pierre and Miquelon)

what about the abit -AB-9 with the 965 chipset ?

i've been hering horror stories about the abit-ab-9 not OCing worth a hoot ? i was hoping abit would score a home run with it . i am not that impressed with the bloated price on the AW-9. it reminds me of the dredeaded fatatialy series --or whatever that dredful series was called.

long ago and in another time--(back in socket-478 days) i had a very nice --top end overclocking MB from abit a IC-7G --and although it was expensive--it darned sure wasn't $300 !--but so-much for the good-old days--grandpa !--LOL

E-Wiz has the foxconn 965p-7aa for $100 it should be a fair Ocing mb--anybody gave it a go yet ?

maybe i'll just gat an asrock dual vista--clock it to 300fsb--and just run my "old" 2gigs of DDR untill the new ddr 3 crap comes out and quad core likely requires new hardware anyways? asrock may have come out with a new market nich--a disposable MB for tempory upgrades ?--lol

(azime, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)

It is my understanding that the AB9 isn't that great. ABIT is still very much in the middle of getting their act together in the wake of all the trouble they had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSF35rhino

i've been hering horror stories about the abit-ab-9 not OCing worth a hoot ? i was hoping abit would score a home run with it . i am not that impressed with the bloated price on the AW-9. it reminds me of the dredeaded fatatialy series --or whatever that dredful series was called.

long ago and in another time--(back in socket-478 days) i had a very nice --top end overclocking MB from abit a IC-7G --and although it was expensive--it darned sure wasn't $300 !--but so-much for the good-old days--grandpa !--LOL

E-Wiz has the foxconn 965p-7aa for $100 it should be a fair Ocing mb--anybody gave it a go yet ?

maybe i'll just gat an asrock dual vista--clock it to 300fsb--and just run my "old" 2gigs of DDR untill the new ddr 3 crap comes out and quad core likely requires new hardware anyways? asrock may have come out with a new market nich--a disposable MB for tempory upgrades ?--lol

(seniha, Cook Islands)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSF35rhino

maybe i'll just gat an asrock dual vista--clock it to 300fsb--and just run my "old" 2gigs of DDR untill the new ddr 3 crap comes out and quad core likely requires new hardware anyways? asrock may have come out with a new market nich--a disposable MB for tempory upgrades ?--lol

Good luck with that few people are getting that high up on the fsb, I have had nothing but problems with mine...alot of peoples seem to be pretty stable but mines just been a horror story.

(durdu, Syrian Arab Republic)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNIP3R

If money is not a problem, dont rule out the Asus P5WDG2 WS Professional . :D

What he said.. :D :D

(haktan, French Polynesia)

Funny at E3 in MAY there were 50 boards on display for the conroe chips.
WE see about 5-6 in 3 months
WTF is going on???????????
I would love to know.

I have said all along that this is the most F up launch I have ever seen

(serkan, Belgium)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan_D

It is my understanding that the AB9 isn't that great. ABIT is still very much in the middle of getting their act together in the wake of all the trouble they had.

I'd disagree. The AB9 Pro I had was fine, but it was a PITA to install because you had to know ahead of time you needed a floppy for RAID in order to use your CD ROM on the 3rd party IDE controller to install Windows. Other than that, the board works fine. 3.0Ghz+ with a E6600. I'd say it's one of the better boards at it's price point (I got one for $160).

(onurcan, Sweden)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbyrj

The AB9 Pro I had was fine, but it was a PITA to install because you had to know ahead of time you needed a floppy for RAID in order to use your CD ROM on the 3rd party IDE controller to install Windows.

true of any 965 board I believe.

(resul, Uganda)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUFF

true of any 965 board I believe.

I didn't need the F6/Floppy, etc. install on the Gigabyte DS3. Worked right off the bat even though it uses the same JMicron controller.

(Emir H, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScYcS

MSI has had their 975X Platinum out for a while now.

Biostar has one, that seems ok but not released in the US yet.

(Tuba , Monaco)

I've been happy with my P5W DH dlx but it's certainly not the best board I have ever used.
I think Anandtech may have been a bit too effluvious over it, personally.
It's got some dorky tendencies, like hanging if you have any USB storage plugged in at startup (yup, even my Canon printer's SD card slot does it, doh!).

Johnny Mo

(berk, Montserrat)

Crap... Hope mine doesn't have issues with USB... That'd be a nightmare. Right now I just need to get it stable enough to use instead of wanting to reach for the hammer.

(RmYsA_, Cape Verde)

I'm happy with my ASUS P5B non-deluxe board. If you don't need RAID, Crossfire/SLI, or the extras that the Deluxe version has, then this is a good alternative. Overclocking options aren't quite as good as the Deluxe version, but you can still get a high overclock with good RAM. Overall I am very pleased with the stablility of this board. I would wait for the new ASUS P5B-E version at this point since it has some features that are lacking on the P5B.

BTW, reports of it not working with C2D are BS. I think the people that had trouble with it were using incompatible RAM. Sure, like any new motherboard, the BIOS needs to be updated unless it's running the latest one. Any DIY system builder should expect this.

(GAFUR, Lithuania)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbyrj

Bear in mind that I have no practical experience with the AB9 Pro. Or any of the latest abit boards actually. I haven't reviewed any abit boards in a long time.

I had read that people weren't having the best luck with them. Nothing more.

(gül, Niger)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Mo

I've been happy with my P5W DH dlx but it's certainly not the best board I have ever used.
I think Anandtech may have been a bit too effluvious over it, personally.
It's got some dorky tendencies, like hanging if you have any USB storage plugged in at startup (yup, even my Canon printer's SD card slot does it, doh!).

Johnny Mo

The problem of the Canon SD card slots on printers is not isolated to ASUS Retail boards. Compaq and HP computers sold in stores do that as well. ASUS does OEM the boards for HP, but that Canon printer problem also occurs with other brands that use non-ASUS boards as well.

I believe this is partially due to poor implementation on Canon's part and not soley the responsibility of ASUS. As to the startup thing, I haven't worked with the P5W DH Deluxe yet, so I can't say much else about it.

(ayþegul, Cayman Islands)

As others have said, I'd say the p5b deluxe wifi is actually the best of these; of course I'm biased, but that's why I bought the board ( and for only 219, i thought it was a steal at the time...).

(Dilara, Ghana)

Quote:

Originally Posted by oozish

As others have said, I'd say the p5b deluxe wifi is actually the best of these; of course I'm biased, but that's why I bought the board ( and for only 219, i thought it was a steal at the time...).

That is a pretty good price. I think the P5B is a great board, though not perfect.

I am getting closer and closer to going with either the P5W DH or the P5WDG2-WS.

(gülay , Martinique)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan_D

That is a pretty good price. I think the P5B is a great board, though not perfect.

I am getting closer and closer to going with either the P5W DH or the P5WDG2-WS.

Yes, both good choices but so pricey! Anyway, the deluxe did what I needed (lots of raid upgrade options and no need for SLI) so I bit once I found that price (same day the price went up about 30 bucks after I called in to verify it was in stock, lol).

What sux is the lack of variety of boards makes you have to buy stuff that you don't need, in my case the wifi junk...it's o.k. but I don't use it...maybe someday.

(selen, Kazakhstan)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan_D

That is a pretty good price. I think the P5B is a great board, though not perfect.

I am getting closer and closer to going with either the P5W DH or the P5WDG2-WS.

Why not the P5W64? You need the PCI-X?

(ismet, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbyrj

Why not the P5W64? You need the PCI-X?

Is it even out yet?

Actually I do have a PCI-X SCSI controller, and a PCI-X SATA II controller. I can get by without the SATA controller, if I just migrate to the onboard RAID on the motherboard, but for the SCSI, PCI-X is what I would need to make sure the card performs at it's best.

The card I have is older, but still pretty high end and a replacement in PCIe would be expensive as hell. Not worth it for the few SCSI drives I have.

Now I can truely live without the SCSI or the SATA controllers, but I want to get Fujitsu Mau drives instead of Raptors for my next build.

Still, even though I have the SCSI controller already, the thought of just spending $200.00 on a pair of 320GB Seagate drives with perpendicular recording is tempting. Even at 7200RPM they are very competetive in the performance department and are cheap and relatively large.

The Raptor X is also a thought, but the price is kind of high. Even more than what I paid for each of my Raptor 74GB drives. Though I've enjoyed them, they are getting long in the tooth. I am really just trying to decide if upgrading to faster Raptors is worth it over the ones I have now. Or if even going SCSI is worth while. Its a tough call.

If I decide on the Seagate drives, or the new Raptors, then I will likely just get the P5W DH.

(furkan, San Marino)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan_D

Is it even out yet?

Yeah, I've seen it for sale at one place online for $295 or something like that. Little pricey, but 4 x16 PCIe slots. I'm thinking about either that or the P5W DH myself (although the Abit AW9-Max also looks nice).

(CEM, United Kingdom)

P5B Deluxe - very, very popular and keeps getting better with new bios's
P5WDH - For those who crave SLI or CF (P5B just got CF though so consider!) it performs well but lacks in SATA ports
P5W64 WS - all the P5WDH is and more. 4 x16 slots (config x16, x0, x4, x0 or X8, X8, X4, X8), clocks better than P5WDH and has lots of SATA ports. VERY OC friendly, but $$.
P5WDG WS - older version of the above with pci-x slots and CF. Also quite OC friendly.

If the sky is the limit P5W64. If lowest cost with highest return, P5B Deluxe. Others are in between those.

:)

(aslý, Nicaragua)

Problem with the AWD9-MAX is the bad layout of the expansion slots. Or lack of the expansion slots to be more precise.

(Eralp, French Polynesia)

If you can get by with only one pci slot, I would recommend the AW9D-Max. It is a great board. Quite sharp too. Still doing some testing, but I think this board should be right up there with the other big two.

(ahmet, Turkmenistan)

I bought the Gigabyte DS3 because I needed three useable PCI slots for my soundcards (I am a musician and do music on my computer). I also looked at the ASROCK board, it has four useable PCI slots, but I wanted to be able to overclock more than it will allow.

(uður , Sweden)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmiggy_JK23

If you can get by with only one pci slot, I would recommend the AW9D-Max. It is a great board. Quite sharp too. Still doing some testing, but I think this board should be right up there with the other big two.

For me it would be more like getting along with no PCI slots. I've got a sound card already, and I'm going to be going dual X1950XTX's in Crossfire, and therefore, that PCI slot is totally worthless for me.

(dýlara, Bhutan)

Conroe o/c Mobos: Are there really only 2 "real" choices? ( 2 Views )

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