Waiting for new Conroe mobos.

[Just4Ever]

I just order my E6600 and it should be here by Friday. Along with it I order the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard to hold me over until the new nForce 590's come out.
Just curious if anyone else out there had the same idea.

 

[Skott]

Yes, I'm waiting as well. Dont particularly like the Conroe mobos that are out now. Waiting for something good with SLI on it. It'll be worth that wait I think. By the time newer and better mobos get out the Conroe supply should be better and prices should drop to what Intel listed them for. People are letting themselves be price gouged right now IMO. In the meantime I'm building a budget AM2 rig for my daughter.

 

[Just4Ever]

Yeah, I just really think that it isn't worth it right now to drop $250 OR MORE on a high end motherboard. I want the best when it comes to overclocking my E6600 but I don't want to pay that much.

Also, I'm not sure yet if I should go the SLI route. I have a SLI power supply and a eVGA 7900 GT which I plan to overclock the hell out of. My current resolution is 1680x1050 (Viewsonic VX2025) and I just want to be able to plan all the newest games with all eye candy on.

Can anyone tell me if my single solution card will get the job done?

P.S. I plan to overclock the card as high as possible with a Zalman VF900-CU. This includes volt modding.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Im also waiting on Conroe gouging to plummet. As long as they sell them that high then they will continue to ship them out at those inflated prices. so be it, I'll buy mine when its close to MSRP. Oh and the motherboard I'm drooling over is DFI LanParty RD600. Probly about october, and I'll couple that with either a E6400 or E6600, haven't decided yet.

 

[alex123]

I am waiting for boards based on Q965 or G965 chipset. They both should have on-board graphics, and Q965 is less advanced graphics compared to G965. The problem with Q is that mobos ETA is mid Sep, and for G ETA is mid Aug.

Depending on the price / availability in Canada, I may go with G or Q.

I hope that CPU prices will also stabilize for Sep. I would be probably getting E64's and aiming for as much as possible OC on stock cooling and probably stock voltage.

 

[Hidden Hippo]

I'm not waiting. In fact, I got my Abit AB9 Pro earlier. I'll tell you how it works out tomorrow when I've got my system all put together (too tired at the moment).

 

[Skott]

Dual video cards are worth it if you play above 1600x1200 resolutions. This is the area where the cost of two video cards truly justifies the means. But if you play at 1600x1200 and lower then a single high end card will be more cost effective vs performance. Just4Ever, One 7950GX2 is faster than 2x7900GT stock. Considering you plan to use 1680x1050 as your gaming resolution a single 7950GX2 would be better and more cost efficient. Now if you think someday you'll want to run a higher res monitor on that system you may want to get a mobo that supports dual cards. You can still run a single video card on it and then when/if you do go up to a bigger monitor (24" for example) you'll have the capability to run dual cards to power those higher gaming resolutions. Right now gaming resolutions play a major factor in how many video cards you need to play the games at max settings.

 

[nadirshakur]

I admit I am doing the same. Waiting for a 590 SLI Intel Edition board. Go down to your local store and buy this month's Maximum PC issue and read about their Dream Machine 11. Which is a $9,580 USD dream pc with the following:

1.) E6800 Extreme
2.) nVidia nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition (a sample beta board sent to them from nVidia)
3.) Dual XFX Geforce 7900 GTX XXX
4.) 2X 1 GB Corsair DDR2/800 Sli Ready EPP
5.) 2X 150 GB Raptors, 3X 750GB Seagate
6.) Poineer BDR-101A Blue Ray, Plextor PX-750UF
7.) Zalman CNPS9500 LED
8.) PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750
9.) Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
10.) 2X Dell 2407WFPs
11.) M-Audio Studiophile LX4
12.) Logitech Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard & G5 Mouse
13.) Silverstone TJ09 with Smoth Creation Customer Paint job

Compromise, I think not. Check the benchmarks and you will know what I mean.

I am not the kind of person who would spend that kind of money on these kind of parts. I can probably build 3 very High End PCs fr 10 Grand.

Point is the following.

1.) Conroe's great architectural and thermal break threw (Maximum PC staff was actually able to run the E6800 on full 100% load WITHOUT A FAN!!! I repeat without a heat sink fan and still run for a couple of hours.)
2.) Finally we are seeing benefit with DDR2. Corsairs overclocking simplicity with their EPP SLI Ready memory is worth noting also
3.) 590 SLI Intel chipset with SLI is absolutely fabulous.

Waiting? I think yes.

 

[djnsmith7]

I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for better boards to be released. I don't like any of the current boards available. I'm surprised the MB mfg's are dragging their feet on this one. With this type of launch with C2D, you'd think there would be plenty of viable options out there from the top names (ASUS, DFI, MSI, etc.).

 

[nitromullet]

Yeah, I'm with you on the waiting... I've had my finger on the trigger on a setup consisting of an E6600, Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe, Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4, and a Zalman CNPS9500, but I can't do it... The motherboard is just too high for an nForce4 SLI chipset board that came out last year that's been band-aided to run a Conroe. Plus, the Conroe is a bit pricey right now... You also have to consider that you will need gobs of gpu power before you will truely see a benefit of the Conroe chip unless you play at really low resolutions, and I think that G80 SLI'ed might be the ticket, so I've got time (to save up)...

 

[NoStateofMind]

The only drawback from what I hear is the SLI 590 boards won't overclock as well. That chipset runs hotter than what Intels chips run. I think it's a higher nanometer compaired to intel, thats why. 110nm to 90nm? I think thats right.

 

[imported_Mongrel]

Basically 'yes'...

I'm doing the Asrock 775Dual thing at the moment.

With the 'junk' I had laying around I was able to set my E6400 up with the Asrock board 2GB of DDR400, 9800Pro, etc. I'm still running my Socket A Gigabyte board with an XP2800 and 512mb of DDR400 (2X256), and 9600Pro.

This gives me a good all-around machine for surfing and stuff, while I can keep my photo editing programs (I'm a semi-pro photog...) and pics on a separate machine.

I intend to upgrade the Core 2 mother board and go to 4GB of DDR2 after a bit. By then I'll be able to throw a second Conroe into the Asrock and pass the AMD system down the line to my daughter.

I'm completely satisfied with my $313.00 'investment' at this point. The performance advantage even in a low-end motherboard was immediately (actually, IMMEDIATELY) noticeable. As long as the Asrock proves to be stable and reliable, I have no problem *suffering* with it-lol.

It's certainly a great time to be upgrading....

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

I'm thinking about upgrade to the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA and E6300/E6400 next month and then waiting until the next generation of Conroe motherboards come out b4 I upgrade to DDR2. I'm hearing too many people of memory compatibility issues with there mobos.

 

[kman79]

Yup, I'm also waiting. Waiting mainly for the 590 SLi boards. I'm not too sure of what the news is on the G80 but if it's not too long, I might just wait till then, no later than Christmas though.

 

[nitromullet]

This board looks nice (DFI nForce 590 SLI IE):

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5939

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/926/

The layout on that board is great, except for the 8-pin power plug)... I don't really care for the cheesy looking fans though (esp NB), but I could certainly overlook that. Definitely curious to see Asus' 590 SLI board.

They already have the P5NSLI based on the nForce 570 SLI chip, which oddly enough appears to have the card to switch between SLI and non-SLI (that's a bit "retro")... I imagine that the 590 version will have a similar layout (sans card to switch modes), but will be black, have a heatpipe, a few more SATA II plugs, and all the wi-fi bells and whistles.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

any idea bout when the 590 (or 600 or any other chipset) boards can be expected? obviously it takes 3rd party companies alot of time to release their own chipsets for Conroe.

 

[nitromullet]

I think that mid-Aug (next weekish) is the target for 570, and late Aug/Sept is the target for 590.

 

[Berliad]

What are folks thoughts' on the P965 chipset? I can see from this thread that there's a lot of dissatisfaction with the current set of Conroe motherboards. But I'm not interested in dual graphics on my budget, so this one seems on the surface to be a good choice:
ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

Advice is welcome.
-B

 

[garkon8]

Yes, waiting, sort of... I ordered an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA and e6600. This board will allow me to play with conroe
now (with my agp and ddr parts), and slowly put together a keeper bad-as$ system down the road. Sometimes
waiting for later revision parts to mature is a good idea, for performance and economic value

 

[Skott]

We dont know if the 590s will be as good or better than the 570s. I have heard the same rumors about them not being as good too but no one has actual hard evidence of it. In my thinking I dont think they'll be any worse. In fact, they should be better because all the 570s got some kind of problem or another. The newer mobos should have reworked those problems out for the most part. But until we actually get some real production mobos to test no one knows for sure. Always take rumors with a grain of salt. heh heh

The one upside to waiting on the new mobos is that it gives Intel time to increase the supply of Conroe chips thus, helping reducing their prices down to where Intel officially listed them as. Alot of places are doing some serious price gouging at the moment.

 

[Billyzeke]

Originally posted by: Hidden Hippo
I'm not waiting. In fact, I got my Abit AB9 Pro earlier. I'll tell you how it works out tomorrow when I've got my system all put together (too tired at the moment).

Hows it going? Im curious because ive been debating on the Abit AB9 pro myself.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Berliad
What are folks thoughts' on the P965 chipset? I can see from this thread that there's a lot of dissatisfaction with the current set of Conroe motherboards. But I'm not interested in dual graphics on my budget, so this one seems on the surface to be a good choice:
ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

Advice is welcome.
-B

That looks like a solid board if you aren't looking for dual video cards or RAID. It would actually be my top choice for a lower priced Conroe board, but it has no RAID and the cost of a new HD would pretty much offset any money I saved.

Originally posted by: Skott
We dont know if the 590s will be as good or better than the 570s. I have heard the same rumors about them not being as good too but no one has actual hard evidence of it. In my thinking I dont think they'll be any worse. In fact, they should be better because all the 570s got some kind of problem or another. The newer mobos should have reworked those problems out for the most part. But until we actually get some real production mobos to test no one knows for sure. Always take rumors with a grain of salt. heh heh

The one upside to waiting on the new mobos is that it gives Intel time to increase the supply of Conroe chips thus, helping reducing their prices down to where Intel officially listed them as. Alot of places are doing some serious price gouging at the moment.

I haven't seen any first hand accounts of any of the nForce SLI chips that support Conroe, not nForce 4 SLI, 570, or 590... Although, from reading the AT article about Conroe motherboards, 590 doesn't sound like it is going to be a huge jump from nForce4 in general. I have been re-considering the Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe though in the hopes that buying a more "mature" board might help me avoid some of the issues others have seen.

 

[Cookie Monster]

The 590 chipset provides mroe features than a 570 chipest. Such are E.P.P memory. (Enhanced Performance Profiles) and dual X16 PCI-e lanes.

However no linkboost for intel edition. Also noting that the new boards use the new C51XE chip instead of the old C51 chip used on intel SLi edition (nforce4).

Personally, im waiting too. I just cant seem to pull the trigger. But this time im sure. The DFi 590 board looks great!. I think im also going WCing, expecially including a NB block as the 590 gets hot.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Originally posted by: Billyzeke

Originally posted by: Hidden Hippo
I'm not waiting. In fact, I got my Abit AB9 Pro earlier. I'll tell you how it works out tomorrow when I've got my system all put together (too tired at the moment).

Hows it going? Im curious because ive been debating on the Abit AB9 pro myself.

just to warn you, i read a long thread in a german forum and this board seems to be one of the worst in terms of stability and oc´ing. u may better wait and see wether those results are single cases or the AB9 is infact not a good board.

 

[imported_Husky55]

I am waiting for the C2 stepping of the P965 chipset.