Replacing P5W-DH Deluxe

[tribunal88]

Well, with less than a year owning the thing, my overclocked E6600 system is in the shop being repaired. Normally I do it myself but I just don't have the time anymore. After a power outtage the video on the system didn't output (yes it was a behind a surge protector. No I don't really trust them either). Check this out, I could log in (I could here the startup Vista sounds playing) and even use RealVNC to remote in from the laptop but in both cases all I got was a big black screen. Flashed the BIOS, now it won't even POST. Time to turn it over to people with more resources than I have here.

Anyway, the shop will tell me what's still working so I have 2 questions I need help with.

1) At the time the Asus P5WDH Deluxe was the best stable overclocking motherboard out there, but times have changed in the past year. Since it looks like at least that component will need replaced, what's opinions on overclocking mobos these days?

2) I believe in learning from mistakes so I will be buying a UPS battery system to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. There isn't a lot of info out there on these so I'd like a recommendation here as well.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Markfw]

Gigabyte DQ6, either the P35 or the 38

Edit: typo, DQ6, not 7.

 

[BoboKatt]

You are scaring me now with the whole power surge business. I actually use a UPS on my home entertainment system/TV but a normal 15$ power surge protector for my comps.

The one UPS I use for the home theatre is a Belkin (sorry don?t have the model on me now) but it has worked very well thus far. Some of the prices are ridiculous on these and at times you get lucky from Dell or NCIX and they have ones, which are like 40% off.

My issue when I had my UPS hooked up for my computer a while back was that it simply could not provide power to my computer and monitor. In other words it would start beeping when i would power up my computer and monitor. Mind you I had a 21" CRT monitor back then. I would hope that my new 22" LCD draws less juice.

This is the one my colleagues use but very expensive. It is on sale but still..
http://accessories.dell.com/sn...cs=cadhs1&sku=310-1320

then there is this one which is decent. I will probably upgrade to this one now for my computer
http://accessories.dell.com/sn...cs=cadhs1&sku=A0521510

At times Staples/business Depot or Best Buy have ok sales.

As for mobos, well I have a partial opinion on this. The best mobo I have ever owned is my current eVGA 680i SLI. It's a workhorse and I would never trade it. I recently had to build a second system and really wanted to get it going with all the parts over a weekend. For the life of me the local stores in my area were all out of the 680i boards and so I broke down and got an Asus P5k-E/wifi P35 board. I was hesitant but I have to admit that its simplicity to over clock my Q6600 was a joke. It's rock steady from its original 2400 MHz to now 3000 MHz (just upped the FSB to 333) and my volts are STILL below stock.

I love the 680i instead for how stable it is. I know some have had issues... maybe I got lucky don't know but no matter what I make it do it never lets me down. I like how well laid out it is and obviously its performance. Then again you spend that kind of money you better make sure you go SLI since really there are probably cheaper solutions that would be just as stable without SLI. Also I love the eVGA boards, support and RMA if need be.

Sorry for the full book I just wrote.

 

[The-Noid]

Maximus Formula, or even a cheap P5W64 will be the most stable boards right now.

The X38 Gigabyte boards need a little bit of work in the bios department, but I believe that will come around.

 

[lopri]

680i has come a long way. A lot of folks endured seemingly-forever migraines, but with hardware/BIOS revisions over the year it's now very stable and one of the most versatile boards on the market for Core 2. (Heat still needs to be taken care of) At this point in time, I can recommend it to anyone without hesitation, except hard-core benchers.

 

[trOver]

uhoh, im in fear of my p5w_dh deluxe crapping out on me now...

 

[tribunal88]

Thanks to everyone for the info. Actually the Geek Squad came through in spades. Turns out my BIOS chip was bad. The power loss probably corrupted the BIOS and when I flashed it more bad things happened. They popped the chip, put in a new one, flashed it and up she came. $62 for the service. The overclock is back in place and life is good. However, I will be buying a UPS within days. I'm going to file this one under "cheap lesson".

Cheers!

 

[jonmcc33]

Abit IP35-E