P45 based motherboards

[Bateluer]

I am leaning towards the Asus P5QC

But, I'm open to suggestions. I require at least 1 PCIe 2.0 slot, a minimum of 6 SATA 3GB ports, and DDR2 support, preferably with DDR3 capability as well, but its not that critical. I'd prefer 8 SATA 3GB ports too, but 6 is the minimum.

Whats the difference between the P43 and the P45 anyway?

Edit - I'll also need a board that can handle having 4 2GB sticks of RAM in its slots at once. My current 680i based board has started refusing to boot. The RAM in question has been undergoing Memtest86 for the last 2 hours with no failures.

 

[Quiksilver]

What is the point of having DDR2 & DDR3 support when you can't use them simultaneously, it's either one or the other.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
What is the point of having DDR2 & DDR3 support when you can't use them simultaneously, it's either one or the other.

Easier upgrade path to transition to Westmere, so I wouldn't have to purchase everything at once. Like I said, DDR3 support isn't a very high priority. The SATA ports and the ability to run 4 sticks of RAM without massive lockups and freezes are my top priorities. I'd like to keep the cost below 150, cheaper if possible, but I must have those requirements, period.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: Bateluer


Whats the difference between the P43 and the P45 anyway?

Crossfire support & supposedly production P43s have been overclocking limited somehow to ~400-420fsb.

 

[Bateluer]

I think I'm going to go with the Asus P5Q SE Plus board.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I'm a big Asus fan (my last two boards were the P35 based P5K-E and 965 based P5B-E). The P5Q series is supposed to be great.

Right now I'm running DFI's P45 board, the Lanparty Jr P45-T2RS . This is a micro ATX board that has 6 SATA2 ports, 2x PCI-e 16x slots, 4x DDR2 slots, and tons of overclocking options.

They also make a full atx version , that comes with 8 SATA2 ports, among other thigns.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
I'm a big Asus fan (my last two boards were the P35 based P5K-E and 965 based P5B-E). The P5Q series is supposed to be great.

Right now I'm running DFI's P45 board, the Lanparty Jr P45-T2RS . This is a micro ATX board that has 6 SATA2 ports, 2x PCI-e 16x slots, 4x DDR2 slots, and tons of overclocking options.

They also make a full atx version , that comes with 8 SATA2 ports, among other thigns.

That Lanparty Jr board is a little pricey for being a microATX board. The full ATX version has good specs, but the last DFI board I worked with was an unstable POS. Never did get it working reliably.

 

[Absolution75]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
What is the point of having DDR2 & DDR3 support when you can't use them simultaneously, it's either one or the other.

Easier upgrade path to transition to Westmere, so I wouldn't have to purchase everything at once. Like I said, DDR3 support isn't a very high priority. The SATA ports and the ability to run 4 sticks of RAM without massive lockups and freezes are my top priorities. I'd like to keep the cost below 150, cheaper if possible, but I must have those requirements, period.

Thanks for the reply.

Ya, but think of it this way, why would you upgrade your ram BEFORE you upgrade your motherboard? The only reason to buy a new motherboard is a new socket, and by then, everything will be ddr3. You're going to replace your motherboard before you'll need more ram, and instead of buying ddr3 on your current board anticipating you'll need it anyway, don't because the price of DDR3 should drop as time goes on.

The only reason to get DDR3 now or before you get a new motherboard is because you think that the price of DDR3 will go up. . . . which in all likely... won't.


Also, I just tossed my EVGA 680i for the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P!

 

[Bateluer]

I don't know whether it was just Abit, or Nvidia's 680i chipset, but this IN9 32X board has always been flakey with RAM. The last Intel chipset I had was another Asus, the P4P800 Deluxe. Rock solid board on the 865 chipset.

The Gigabte EP45-UD3P looks decent, but its a little more than I want to spend. I've ordered the Asus P5Q SE Plus from Newegg this morning. Should have it be Tuesday, I think.

 

[james1701]

Have you looked at the MSI P45 Platinum?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: james1701
Have you looked at the MSI P45 Platinum?

I did, it was out of my price range by about 50 dollars. Its customer reviews at Newegg were also scattered nearly evenly across the charts. I don't put too much stock in those reviews that often, but when 30 out of 31 reviews mentions similar problems, I tend to look at other products.

That, and I previously owned an MSI Nvidia 570 Ultra based board. I wasn't very impressed by it. But again, that was an Nvidia chipset, perhaps their Intel based products are better.

 

[james1701]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130179

Price has gone down some if you get the mail in rebate.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: james1701
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130179

Price has gone down some if you get the mail in rebate.

Its still 160 with shipping, even after the mail in rebate, which would likely take 12 weeks to actually arrive.

 

[BoboKatt]

It's why my eVGA 680i is now sleeping with the fishes. Actually I gave it to a friend of mine that runs it ever so gently. I could not get 4 X 2GB to work on that board no matter what. After 2 years of ownership -- it would boot and at times it would not and it would OC like hell and be totally stable hours of testing and then it would simply not work.

What I did was get the Asus P5K-E (P35), I got this board a while back as a stop gap since I could not get my quad running reliably on the 680i, nor the 8 GB of RAM. I am sure the newer P45 Asus boards will serve you well.

 

[BDawg]

I got the Gigabyte UD3P from Newegg because of the rebate and have loved it. No DDR3, but there's really not much value to that.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
I'm a big Asus fan (my last two boards were the P35 based P5K-E and 965 based P5B-E). The P5Q series is supposed to be great.

Right now I'm running DFI's P45 board, the Lanparty Jr P45-T2RS . This is a micro ATX board that has 6 SATA2 ports, 2x PCI-e 16x slots, 4x DDR2 slots, and tons of overclocking options.

They also make a full atx version , that comes with 8 SATA2 ports, among other thigns.

How do you like that board? I'm toying with the idea of, at some point, changing out my Asus uATX for something with a little more oomph.

 

[Bateluer]

Got my P5Q SE Plus in yesterday. Installation was fairly easy, though I did damage one of the pins on my Wolfdale's stock cooler and had to use my old Conroe's cooler. My fault, not Asus'.

Also, I don't particularly like the placement of the SATA ports. Given my large full tower Lian Li ATX case, the hard drives are located in a section at the bottom of the case with the motherboard at the top. A standard 18in SATA2 cable barely reaches. And I had to reorganize my drives in order to get most of them connected, the 160GB drive I use for dual booting to *nix had to be disconnected because the cable won't reach. I've ordered some 24in SATA2 cables that will be here next week to address this issue.

It's still running with a single 2GB stick until I've gotten all the Vista updates installed. The PreSP1 updates are installing right now and I'll be installing SP1 when I get home from work. Then, it'll be time for the moment of truth when I'll add the other 3 2Gb sticks.

Edit - There is also a BIOS update from Asus that I'm going to update to when I get home.

 

[AmberClad]

I've never had an issue installing Vista non-SP1 with 4gigs in the system. Did you really find that to be an issue?

 

[emilyek]

If you are going P45, check out the new single slot Gigabyte; it's a budget monster:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128359

If you are planning for Xfire, X48 is preferable.

 

[hclarkjr]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Got my P5Q SE Plus in yesterday. Installation was fairly easy, though I did damage one of the pins on my Wolfdale's stock cooler and had to use my old Conroe's cooler. My fault, not Asus'.

Also, I don't particularly like the placement of the SATA ports. Given my large full tower Lian Li ATX case, the hard drives are located in a section at the bottom of the case with the motherboard at the top. A standard 18in SATA2 cable barely reaches. And I had to reorganize my drives in order to get most of them connected, the 160GB drive I use for dual booting to *nix had to be disconnected because the cable won't reach. I've ordered some 24in SATA2 cables that will be here next week to address this issue.

It's still running with a single 2GB stick until I've gotten all the Vista updates installed. The PreSP1 updates are installing right now and I'll be installing SP1 when I get home from work. Then, it'll be time for the moment of truth when I'll add the other 3 2Gb sticks.

Edit - There is also a BIOS update from Asus that I'm going to update to when I get home.

why not make a dvd with SP1 integrated as well as the updates? much faster that way

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Got my P5Q SE Plus in yesterday. Installation was fairly easy, though I did damage one of the pins on my Wolfdale's stock cooler and had to use my old Conroe's cooler. My fault, not Asus'.

Also, I don't particularly like the placement of the SATA ports. Given my large full tower Lian Li ATX case, the hard drives are located in a section at the bottom of the case with the motherboard at the top. A standard 18in SATA2 cable barely reaches. And I had to reorganize my drives in order to get most of them connected, the 160GB drive I use for dual booting to *nix had to be disconnected because the cable won't reach. I've ordered some 24in SATA2 cables that will be here next week to address this issue.

It's still running with a single 2GB stick until I've gotten all the Vista updates installed. The PreSP1 updates are installing right now and I'll be installing SP1 when I get home from work. Then, it'll be time for the moment of truth when I'll add the other 3 2Gb sticks.

Edit - There is also a BIOS update from Asus that I'm going to update to when I get home.

why not make a dvd with SP1 integrated as well as the updates? much faster that way

I intend to, or simply download a Vista SP1 ISO since I have a key.

 

[ScottD]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Got my P5Q SE Plus in yesterday. Installation was fairly easy, though I did damage one of the pins on my Wolfdale's stock cooler and had to use my old Conroe's cooler. My fault, not Asus'.

Also, I don't particularly like the placement of the SATA ports. Given my large full tower Lian Li ATX case, the hard drives are located in a section at the bottom of the case with the motherboard at the top. A standard 18in SATA2 cable barely reaches. And I had to reorganize my drives in order to get most of them connected, the 160GB drive I use for dual booting to *nix had to be disconnected because the cable won't reach. I've ordered some 24in SATA2 cables that will be here next week to address this issue.

It's still running with a single 2GB stick until I've gotten all the Vista updates installed. The PreSP1 updates are installing right now and I'll be installing SP1 when I get home from work. Then, it'll be time for the moment of truth when I'll add the other 3 2Gb sticks.

Edit - There is also a BIOS update from Asus that I'm going to update to when I get home.

why not make a dvd with SP1 integrated as well as the updates? much faster that way

Hclarkjr, do you know a walkthrough to do this with vista? I did it with xp a while back, but I would love to do it with my vista

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: ScottD


Hclarkjr, do you know a walkthrough to do this with vista? I did it with xp a while back, but I would love to do it with my vista

Google vlite and google tutorials, you'll find the information.

Heh, It also seems that I've reached my activation limit with my copy of Vista, I can no longer activate over the Internet and must use the automated phone system. Takes about 6 minutes and wasn't particularly difficult, though much harder than Internet activation.