Have gotten *2* bad ASUS P5B Deluxe boards now -- Recos on better board?

[LiQiCE]

So, I've now been through two ASUS P5B Deluxe motherboards. The first was v1.10G, and it stopped working after I tried OC'ing to 400x8 (3.2Ghz). It powers on / powers off immediately and then powers on and sit there doing nothing.

Returned to newegg for a new P5B Deluxe.

My second P5B Deluxe, v1.03G also stopped working after OC'ing to 400x8 (3.2Ghz) -- This one powers on / powers off, then powers on and off again.

To troubleshoot, I've tried different memory, different PSU, different video card, different CPU. Tried resetting the CMOS multiple times (pull battery for a minute, and switch jumper to 2-3 for the CMOS reset and then press power button). Tried doing what I read was a "factory reset", that is power on the motherboard with nothing in it (no cpu, no memory, no video).

In any case, the boards are both toast. I'm RMA'ing my 2nd board back to newegg now, along with my PSU just incase. I'm not 100% sure its the P5B Deluxe's fault for dying twice at 400x8, but I wanted to know there's a better alternative for OC'ing stability and reliability.

I've heard good things about the Gigabyte DS3, what about the DQ6, basically the "Deluxe" version of Gigabyte's P965?

Or what about the ASUS P5W 975 board? Or maybe a Nvidia 680i? I'm sure everyone has their favorites, but the concensus seems to be the P5B Deluxe for Core 2 boards -- After having two fail on me, I'm not sure if I should buy another P5B Deluxe.

 

[moosey]

Any of the Gigabyte boards you mentioned should be fine. The Asus P5W-DH on the 975X you mentioned would be fine for a 400FSB o/c, but nothing as high as the P965 boards will go. I'd only do it if you were o/c something like an e6600.
I'd take a good look at the Abit Quad GT though if you're really going to o/c, otherwise I'd go with something like the DS3 for overall value.

 

[LiQiCE]

Hmm, the QuadGT looks pretty sweet but it seems like some people on newegg were complaining about the BIOS being very immature?

 

[moosey]

Originally posted by: LiQiCE
Hmm, the QuadGT looks pretty sweet but it seems like some people on newegg were complaining about the BIOS being very immature?

This was the latest Anandtech update
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2934

 

[LiQiCE]

Thanks for the link ... Looks pretty promising. I haven't used an Abit board for awhile, but it looks good -- Although I am told that my biggest problem with the P5B deluxe is that the "auto' setting for voltages when the system is set to manual mode will overvolt your motherboard and potentially fry it. I didn't think the auto setting would do such a thing -- but it makes sense to me.

I'm currently testing another P5B Deluxe right now that I bought locally and its running @ 3.2Ghz (4x800Mhz) with all the voltages defined, and it is running -- not 100% stable yet (errors out when I launch Orthos almost immediately) but its been running for awhile now and it hasn't crashed yet! *crosses fingers*

 

[LiQiCE]

Thanks moosey, I decided to order the Abit QuadGT. Hopefully everything will work great with it!

 

[brencat]

LiQice, I too have had my eye on the Abit Quad GT. Do yourself a favor and read all you can in the Abit support forums BEFORE plugging this thing in. Everyone and their brother is desperately awaiting an official bios update from Abit, as there are numerous issues. In the meantime, most are using beta B06 or B06R ("R" for a specially modded one from a highly talented chap over in the forums).

The board is apparently rock stable and overclocks like a beast. It gets the big things right but falls down on the little things. Some of them I've seen include...RAID/JMicron issues etc (typical), stuck multiplier at 6x in some instances, LAN not working then suddenly working again, an annoying hissing sound coming from the board at high OC, and inability to cleanly uninstall one particular version of uGuru.

Anyway, many of these issues can be avoided if you prepare ahead of time. Definitely check out the forums.

 

[LiQiCE]

brencat - Thanks! I've been scouring the forums after purchasing this board and found a lot of good info so far. I'm hoping that abit will release an official v1.1 version of this board's BIOS soon - but the B06R modded BIOS seems to be working really well for a lot of people.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: brencatand inability to cleanly uninstall one particular version of uGuru.

That's not the mobo's fault thought, it's an error in the install package of the utility & only occurs if you have a previous version installed.
If you go straight to that version (the latest) you're fine.

 

[Spax0]

I got the same problem when i optimized my OC settings, the screen got black and computer was rebooting all the time. Unfortunately it worked when i resetted CMOS. So happy the mobo wasnt damaged since i just burned my P5B vanilla

 

[LiQiCE]

I ended up getting the AB9 QuadGT and I've been very happy with it. The build quality of the board itself is extremely good, feels much higher quality than the ASUS P5B Deluxe. Its missing some of the P5B's nice features, such as the jumper header, which lets you attach all of the power/reset/hdd led/PC speaker connections to the header first, but its been rock solid (Orthos tested for over 8 hours) for me for a few days now running my E6600 @ 3.2Ghz (400*9), something both P5B Deluxe's I had wouldn't do without burning themselves up - probably my fault, but the manual didn't say anything about voltages being set to "auto" being automatically increased to the point where the board kills itself. The QuadGT on the other hand as best I can tell keeps the voltages at their default setting unless I tell it to increase it.

I'm using the B08 BIOS, and so far I've only run into one issue where the LAN disappeared after I made a BIOS change. This is definitely a BIOS problem that I'm sure will be corrected before v1.1 comes out. A hard CMOS reset fixed the problem, and things have been great since then.

 

[brencat]

Glad to hear everything is working great for you. I've downloaded the manuals of most of the mobos I'm considering, and based on both the board layout & the bios menus, the Quad GT in particular is the most logical and intuitive IMHO. The extra bonus is that for those who are buying right now, Newegg is selling this board for $160 after $30 rebate. But...it's still under a 30-day nonrefundable return policy as it has been since it first went on sale. That concerns me, because that's a typical indication of a high rate of RMAs/returns. That, and the fact that Abit's engineers still haven't got a legit non-beta bios out yet. This is especially concerning because new products are coming out with greater frequency now...just look at the MSI P6N SLI Platinum. Brand new 650i product and its a Standard Return policy at the Egg. Of course, I could buy my products elsewhere but unless/until I see a no questions asked return/refund policy on the Quad GT, I won't buy it.

Anyway, I'm still about 2 mos away from buying anything...

 

[LiQiCE]

Rumor on the ABIT Forums is that the v1.1 BIOS will be released on Tuesday. The B08 BIOS has been upgraded to a Release Candidate, and seems very stable.

 

[Cstefan]

I had 2 P5B dlx do exactly that. OFF ON OFF ON. Switched to a DS3 and it's been great.