Bad axe 2

Z

zipdrive

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 8, 2004
Messages
150
I'm gonna build another Conroe, based on the 6700 chip. Has anyone tried the Badaxe 2 board?
 
I havent seen any reviews yet. I think the BA2 is going to get lost in the 680i hoopla.
 
Skott said:
I havent seen any reviews yet. I think the BA2 is going to get lost in the 680i hoopla.
Click to expand...

With good reason seeing as it is basically a rehashed 975X/ICH7R board. Different SATA controller, different bios features, but the rest is basically the same as BA1.
 
This board has definitely been lost in the mayhem with the 680 release. Nobody has done any reviews on it since pre-release last month. I want to see if it o/c's the e6600 and e6700 well or if it's limited to the extreme chips like the previous version was. I really want this board but not at the expense of performance. I'm just not too hip on buying an asus board or a new 680 board with all of the quirks and problems that I have read about them. I figure if an Intel board can't deliver stability then nothing can.
 
A fellow who goes by the name of Supertimor has been doing some test with his new Bad Axe 2 and says that it is probably the best motherboard he has used in combination with the Core cpu's. Compared to his old Bad Axe gen 1 board, he is able to achieve a higher overclock using less voltage, less cooling, and still run overall lower temps. In his words, it is the best board he has tested. In addition to his BX1, he also has a P5B, a P5W, and DS3 - so these are high words of praise. Another user on the forum did some testing with an E6400, and hit 475 FSB (3800Mhz)on his BX2 at 1.213v, which is pretty damn impressive in itself.

One thing that several users have noted on the forums is that even though the 680i boards are reaching very high FSB speeds, clock for clock, they are running significantly slower than the 975 based boards.

Can't wait for mine to get here this week to try with my Kentsfield. ;)
 
as bad as Badaxe2 is......Boradwater is too close (1H07) to not consider waiting.

having said that Badaxe2 is still a great board at this time.
 
just bought Intel BOXD975XBX2KR
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS
Dominator Series TWIN2X2048-8500C5D 2GB Kit DDR2-1066
Corsair Dominator Memory Airflow Fan
from ZZF. Field report will be forthcoming.
 
zipdrive said:
just bought Intel BOXD975XBX2KR
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS
Dominator Series TWIN2X2048-8500C5D 2GB Kit DDR2-1066
Corsair Dominator Memory Airflow Fan
from ZZF. Field report will be forthcoming.
Click to expand...

Do! My stuff from Ncix just arrived here this morning as well. Well, everything but my motherboard that is. Here is the bits I used for my new 3d workstation / gaming rig.

newcomputer.jpg
 
loafer87gt said:
A fellow who goes by the name of Supertimor has been doing some test with his new Bad Axe 2 and says that it is probably the best motherboard he has used in combination with the Core cpu's. Compared to his old Bad Axe gen 1 board, he is able to achieve a higher overclock using less voltage, less cooling, and still run overall lower temps. In his words, it is the best board he has tested. In addition to his BX1, he also has a P5B, a P5W, and DS3 - so these are high words of praise. Another user on the forum did some testing with an E6400, and hit 475 FSB (3800Mhz)on his BX2 at 1.213v, which is pretty damn impressive in itself.

One thing that several users have noted on the forums is that even though the 680i boards are reaching very high FSB speeds, clock for clock, they are running significantly slower than the 975 based boards.

Can't wait for mine to get here this week to try with my Kentsfield. ;)
Click to expand...


Does he have a thread somewhere? I'd like to read it if he does. :)
 
loafer87gt said:
Do! My stuff from Ncix just arrived here this morning as well. Well, everything but my motherboard that is. Here is the bits I used for my new 3d workstation / gaming rig.

newcomputer.jpg
Click to expand...


I would love to read your findings and results once you get it altogether and running.
:)
 
Cliff Couser said:
as bad as Badaxe2 is......Boradwater is too close (1H07) to not consider waiting.

having said that Badaxe2 is still a great board at this time.
Click to expand...

You mean the P965 Boards? They are already out. There is a good comparision of chipsets here:
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=874&cid=3

I personally went with the intel board, but that's because it supports all the features I need/want, has ich7r, quad core support, and its been awhile since I used an intel board.

However, after realizing that there are P965 boards with ich8r (most are ich8[ no AHCI support]) available, I would have rather saved the money, and ordered one of them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045.
 
Agreed. This makes my choice a lot easier. A rock solid intel board that is great for o/c and stability or a buggy 680i with crackling sound and sata drives that don't work but also overclocks well......decisions decisions ;)
 
I ordered this board yesterday for my e6600 build so hopefully it will allow for a decent o/c and much better stability over the 680i. The 680i boards are just too buggy for now and nvidia has too much on their plates to get them working in a timely fashion. Intel is guaranteed stability and with this new board hopefully guaranteed o/c. :)
 
If newegg ever decides to ship my order then maybe i'll have mine. Been 36 hours now with me choosing rush the order with no notice of shipping. Looks like they are trying to compete with ZZF these days....

Let us know how you like it.
 
I own a Bad Axe 2 and a P5W DH Deluxe. I have done all the vMods to both boards and let me tell you that the Bad Axe 2 is way more stable than the P5W DH Deluxe. With my week 27 E6600 and P5W I couldn't go over 3.6 ghz stable, not a bit, and could only boot with 3.7 ghz no matter what I did. With the Bad Axe 2 and all the same hardware I am able to be stable at over 3.8 ghz and boot over 4.1 ghz and run 1M Pi. By stable I mean 20+ hours of Prime95. Now with my week 29 E6300 I am testing stability with that, currently I am at 3.05 ghz at only 1.282 volts! Going on 16+ hours of Prime95 at the moment. Can't wait to see what it can really do. The only thing I don't like about any board is that volts are not available but there are pencil mods out there for both the vMCH and vCore. The cooling I use is water on both the NB and Processor. I can say nothing better about the Bad Axe 2, its great!
 
danny, can you tell me if your BA2 came with a red SATA connector? It should be amongst the group of blue ports (if it's there). Thanks.
 
danny, because there's some confusion (at least, on my part) as to what SATA feature-set comes with the BA2. Newegg lists one picture (with the red connector) while ZZF has another (without). Almost all the reviews I've seen have come with associated pics of the BA2 without the red port, which I understand offers eSATA functionality.

Two more quick questions - did you get the BOX or BLK version? Also, where did you buy yours from? Thanks again.
 
Y'know, I froogled the BA2 and Mwave didn't come up. This is extremely irritating, as I ordered the BLK variant from ZZF for *more* than what I could've gotten the BOX version from Mwave.

Arrggggh. If the one from ZZF doesn't come with the red port, I'm sending it back.
 
danny_discus:

"The cooling I use is water on both the NB and Processor. I can say nothing better about the Bad Axe 2, its great!"

What water block works for the NB chip on the BA2? It looks long ans awkward for traditional chipset water blocks.

Thanks.
 
Here are some answers that some have asked. I purchased the BOX version off of Newegg, the price was very high at the time (about a month ago). They have it on sale for $249 right now, but noticed others are selling it for cheaper. The water block on the NB is from Danger Den. The mounting plate is specially designed for the Bad Axe 1/2 boards and I can truly say it does fit like a glove. So far I can raise the NB voltage over 2.1 volts, don't want to try any higher. :D Here is the link:
http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=251&cat=46&page=1

Updates on the E6300:
1.282 volts - 3.29 ghz - 470 fsb - Prime95 stable - Doing more testing :)
This is a nice overclocking chip! Also Bad Axe 2 only goes to 500 fsb max in bios :( just to tell everyone.
 
Thanks to all who responded regarding my eSATA red connector query on the BA2, especially to zipdrive (nice pic). I should have mine by next Wednesday. I'm still kinda steamed that I didn't get it from Mwave, but live and learn. Next time, though, I'll check Mwave manually along with Newgg, ZZF, and ClubIT.

I don't suppose anyone has actually tried the eSATA function...?
 
I use the eSATA function here without much issue. The only quirk to it is when I power on my external eSATA hard drive (in an enclosure), the mouse will freeze for about 1-2 seconds, then go back to normal. It really doesn't hurt anything, it's just a little annoying.

Shawn
 
Shawn, where did you get your eSATA bracket and cables? Do you know if the red connector serves as an onboard port multiplier?
 
I don't know about the port multiplier thing, sorry. The cable and bracket came with an external eSATA hard drive enclosure I bought at a computer show two months ago.

Shawn
 
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