Decisions, decisions

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r0b2186

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Ok, I am pretty much at wit's end trying to decide on the right motherboard.

Originally i was looking at the P5K Deluxe and P35 DQ6.
Out of those i basically decided on the P5K, then i started hearing of problems which had me second guessing. Then I began looking into the P5K Premium but decided it is a no go because of possible issues with my 150gb raptor.
Now I'm hearing rave reviews of the IP35, a board i had never even looked into before.

The whole time the elusive Blitz Formula has been floating around as a possibility as well, and I may be able to get one.

Which would be your choice and why? What strengths and weaknesses stand out with those? If the Blitz Formula is an option, should i go with that over all the others? Any other suggestions?

Any and all input would be much appreciated, I'm anxious to finish this PC asap. Not looking for an x38 mobo at the moment. Not planning on building an SLI rig either.

The rest of the system:
Q6600 (G0)
Corsair Dominator 2GB DDR1066
150GB Raptor X
eVGA 8800GTX
Antec TruePower Quattro 850w PSU
Antec P182SE
Vista Ultimate (64bit)

Also, on another note, I haven't decided whether or not to keep the Antec PSU or go with a Corsair HX620 yet. The system will be mildly overclocked, nothing too crazy though.
 
I am in similar situation as you. Difference is I did buy the P5K-Premium but had to return it because of SATA-2 issues. I also bought Q6600-G0, eVGA 8800GTS, P182, etc.

From what I read, IP35-Pro is great board but there are a few problems.
1. vdroop when OC
2. PWM overheats when OC
3. Heat pipes may not be installed properly
4. ESATA may not work properly

Item-3 concerns me. Some people have to remove and re-install the heat pipes. Some even use thermal paste to provide better contact with the components underneath. This can be deemed minor or major depending if you are a handy kind of guy or not. I definitely do not want to mess around with this so this is a concern to me.
 
I believe every board has vdroop. I'd go with the Abit IP35 Pro because it costs less than the others while still offering great performance and all the other extra's you should need. Oh, and uGuru is nice. My only gripe with the board is the firewire headers. I re-seat the heatsink/heatpipes on all my boards anyways to change the thermal compound, so thats a non-issue for me.


FYI, you don't need DDR2-1066 RAM with a Q6600. I doubt you'll ever need to run the FSB at 533Mhz (2133Mhz QDR), so just stick to DDR2-800. Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings:
(CPU Multiplier) x [Base FSB speed] = CPU Clock speed
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed
4 x [Base FSB speed] = Effective FSB speed

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is useless. Keep it linked at 1:1. These are some possible speeds (as always, YMMV):

Q6600: 9 * 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 * 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 * 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756 << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 * 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping
 
As I said before, the heat pipes installation is one of my major concern.

Enginurd: How do you re-seat the heatsinks and heatpipes? How difficult a process is this? Do you just pull them off or are there screws, clips to undo?
 
mis3 said:
Enginurd: How do you re-seat the heatsinks and heatpipes? How difficult a process is this? Do you just pull them off or are there screws, clips to undo?
Click to expand...

They're usually the plastic push-pins with springs, which are rather easy to undo from the underside of the board. You just need a pair of needle nose pliers, and some regular pliers. Squeeze from under, pull from top. Theres other kinds of mounts, but they're not hard to undo either.

Its not too difficult, just a bit time consuming cuz you have to clean off the old thermal compound then apply some new stuff. I usually use Arctic SIlver Ceramique for chipsets, but have recenlty switched to AC MX-2.
 
After having tested all the most recent ASUS DDR2 motherboards I can tell you that in my opinion, the Blitz Formula is by far the best board. Best overclocking, most stable, easiest to work with. What more can you ask for aside from maybe a lower price?
 
I love my P5K3 Deluxe. I even pre-ordered a Blitz Formula that I was gonna replace it with. I decided to keep the P5k3 and just put the Blitz on ebay. Its on there now if your interested. I would not hesitate recommending an ASUS P-35 motherboard. Fwiw, I use two Raptors also. They were originally set up in Raid 0 with no problems, but I now have the os on one drive and all my apps on the other. It feels just a responsive this way.
 
r0b2186 said:
Ok, I am pretty much at wit's end trying to decide on the right motherboard.

Originally i was looking at the P5K Deluxe and P35 DQ6.
Out of those i basically decided on the P5K, then i started hearing of problems which had me second guessing. Then I began looking into the P5K Premium but decided it is a no go because of possible issues with my 150gb raptor.
Now I'm hearing rave reviews of the IP35, a board i had never even looked into before.

The whole time the elusive Blitz Formula has been floating around as a possibility as well, and I may be able to get one.

Which would be your choice and why? What strengths and weaknesses stand out with those? If the Blitz Formula is an option, should i go with that over all the others? Any other suggestions?

Any and all input would be much appreciated, I'm anxious to finish this PC asap. Not looking for an x38 mobo at the moment. Not planning on building an SLI rig either.

The rest of the system:
Q6600 (G0)
Corsair Dominator 2GB DDR1066
150GB Raptor X
eVGA 8800GTX
Antec TruePower Quattro 850w PSU
Antec P182SE
Vista Ultimate (64bit)

Also, on another note, I haven't decided whether or not to keep the Antec PSU or go with a Corsair HX620 yet. The system will be mildly overclocked, nothing too crazy though.
Click to expand...


If price is an issue get one of the IP35 series mobo's.Otherwise I'd P5K-Deluxe.
 
r0b2186 said:
Ok, I am pretty much at wit's end trying to decide on the right motherboard.

Originally i was looking at the P5K Deluxe and P35 DQ6.
Out of those i basically decided on the P5K, then i started hearing of problems which had me second guessing. Then I began looking into the P5K Premium but decided it is a no go because of possible issues with my 150gb raptor.
Now I'm hearing rave reviews of the IP35, a board i had never even looked into before.

The whole time the elusive Blitz Formula has been floating around as a possibility as well, and I may be able to get one.

Which would be your choice and why? What strengths and weaknesses stand out with those? If the Blitz Formula is an option, should i go with that over all the others? Any other suggestions?

Any and all input would be much appreciated, I'm anxious to finish this PC asap. Not looking for an x38 mobo at the moment. Not planning on building an SLI rig either.

The rest of the system:
Q6600 (G0)
Corsair Dominator 2GB DDR1066
150GB Raptor X
eVGA 8800GTX
Antec TruePower Quattro 850w PSU
Antec P182SE
Vista Ultimate (64bit)

Also, on another note, I haven't decided whether or not to keep the Antec PSU or go with a Corsair HX620 yet. The system will be mildly overclocked, nothing too crazy though.
Click to expand...

What about an old reliable P965 with overclocking potential. Sorry not sure what is good on the P965?

EDIT: Pulled from [H] http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI1MywsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0
 
Surely the Blitz Formula is nice but I read somewhere that Asus has discontinued this board already. Do you plan to watercool your new build? Although this board will work in a non-WC configuration, you are nevertheless paying for the WC gears and design.

My short list includes IP35-Pro, GA-P35-DQ6 and P5K-Deluxe.

According to my research, only the P5K-Premium has SATA issues, not P5K-Deluxe. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I checked everywhere, I still do not know the exact difference(s) between the Premium and the Deluxe.
 
Thanks everyone for the input and advice.
This is still proving to be a somewhat tough decision actually.

I was just looking to order up the IP35 earlier this weekend, and now at the moment I'm really back leaning towards Blitz again.

The price isn't really that much of a big deal given some of the extras the board comes with.
Also, I've been using an ASUS mobo for the past 4 years or so with no problems whatsoever, rock solid performance. So I am somewhat a fan or at least more inclined to go with them.

My decision will simply fall on whatever I can get my hands on.
If I can get the Blitz (I know it is discontinued in favor of the Maximus Formula, its x38 big brother in the works), I'll most likely go with that in the end. If not, Abit it is.

My personal deadline is to have the new build up and running by this Thursday at the absolute latest (or at least complete, if any problems arise).
I will have everything else ready and waiting by Wednesday, but I'm willing to give the mobo one extra day.
This build has dragged out more than long enough.
 
I, on the other hand, am leaning towards the P5K-Deluxe. Many good reviews for this board.
 
The P5K Premium was meant to be the fixed/improved P5K Dl so the P5K Dl isn't without it's own drawbacks.
There is no such thing as the perfect board though so I would give up looking for 1 & just settle for 1 that does what you want it to.
 
BUFF said:
The P5K Premium was meant to be the fixed/improved P5K Dl so the P5K Dl isn't without it's own drawbacks.
There is no such thing as the perfect board though so I would give up looking for 1 & just settle for 1 that does what you want it to.
Click to expand...

I agree. This is what I suspected, the Premium was the improvement over the Deluxe.

Too bad the Premium did not work out for me. So far, I asked and asked, I still cannot identify the difference(s) between the Premium and the Deluxe.
 
I know. I was one of the victims.

This is why I am now considering the P5K-Deluxe.......
 
Update, Just ordered my Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, 120mm Scythe S Flex, Arctic Silver, Vista Ultimate 64, aaaaaaaannnnnd...

Abit IP35 Pro :eek:

I decided I'd go with the Asus mobo...whenever they make a decent x38 one...
Meaning this one will hold me over until then, and didn't break the bank at all.

Just gotta order the video card tomorrow then I will FINALLY be done (ordering stuff at least).

Then, of course, the REAL fun will begin when I get everything.
Still dunno if i should sell my Antec TruePower Quattro 850 and get a Corsair HX620 instead.

I got the 850 for $144, I'd sell it for $200 then get the 620 locally for about $130 with my employee discount where i work.
 
Danny Bui said:
The key issue with the P965 chipset is Penryn CPUs. Simply put, the P965 isn't compatible with Penryn CPUs or so Intel tells us. Only P35 motherboards support Penryn CPUs right now.
Click to expand...

True. Depends on how much he's planning on spending. Since's he's decided to get the P35 and then move to the X38 later when the boards are easier to comeby then even so a P965 would have been fine. However the board he ended up choosing is a fine choice none the less.

Then, of course, the REAL fun will begin when I get everything.
Still dunno if i should sell my Antec TruePower Quattro 850 and get a Corsair HX620 instead.

I got the 850 for $144, I'd sell it for $200 then get the 620 locally for about $130 with my employee discount where i work
Click to expand...
Taking two "bottom lines" from [H]

Quattro: "The Antec TruePower Quattro 850w does represent an exceedingly good value at the sub-$175 price point. However, if you are an enthusiast that is doing a lot of overclocking and trying to push your system RAM to the bleeding edge while you are running power hungry video card or RAID configurations, you might want to consider a power supply that has a more robust level of DC output quality."

HX620: " Recommending the Corsair HX620W power supply after our rigorous testing is something we are more than comfortable doing. We can say without a doubt that the warm embrace Corsair has received from the enthusiast community with the release of their first branded power supplies has been justly earned. At around $150 (after rebate), the Corsair HX620W is far from the cheapest power supply that can be purchased, but $150 surely seems to be a very cheap insurance policy when it comes to making sure your expensive high performance computer is getting high performance power."
 
mis3 said:
So far, I asked and asked, I still cannot identify the difference(s) between the Premium and the Deluxe.
Click to expand...
afaik there is quite a difference in the power supply circuit design on the Premium compared to the Deluxe.
 
So, I assume that the one in Premium is better than the Deluxe, right?

How important is this improvement when OC moderately?
 
Yes, the Premium's power ciruitry is better - of course if the mobo can't work with hard drives it fails the usability test badly ...
 
mis3 said:
So, I assume that the one in Premium is better than the Deluxe, right?

How important is this improvement when OC moderately?
Click to expand...

Its not important unless you want to get into the extreme OC'ing range. Most, if not all, P35 boards will be fine for a moderate OC.

The difference between the P5K Premium and the rest of the P35 boards is a tweak asus did to the chipset. This allows it to get a higher max OC than the rest of the P35 boards, afaik.
 
Buff: What are your thoughts on this SATA issues with Premium?

Since the issue has surfaced for more than 2 months and Asus so far has no official words on this issue, I am thinking that this is more than just a BIOS fix.
 
Buff: What are your thoughts on this SATA issues with Premium?

Since the issue has surfaced for more than 2 months and Asus so far has no official words on this issue, I am thinking that this is more than just a BIOS fix.
 
enginurd said:
The difference between the P5K Premium and the rest of the P35 boards is a tweak asus did to the chipset. This allows it to get a higher max OC than the rest of the P35 boards, afaik.
Click to expand...
afaik they loosened latencies s that it will run higher fsb but performance may suffer rather than improve.

mis3, going by the numerous reports on the forums incl. your own experience I wouldn't buy one.
I would get an abit or a Gigabyte instead (tbh I probably would even without the reported problems on the Premium, I'm just not an Asus fan).
 
Dan_D said:
After having tested all the most recent ASUS DDR2 motherboards I can tell you that in my opinion, the Blitz Formula is by far the best board. Best overclocking, most stable, easiest to work with. What more can you ask for aside from maybe a lower price?
Click to expand...

how about stock with some of the major vendors?
 
^^^^ There are still a few available if you search hard enough. :cool:
 
i'm gonna do a new system soon and was thinking of using the asus p5k premium, but i wasn't aware of HD issues. What are the issues people are having? i was thinking of installing a 150gb raptor for the OS and then a couple of 500gb for data storage...what exactly are the HD issues with the p5k? and these issues affect both the deluxe and premium?
 
Well, I got everything in and put it all together yesterday. :cool:

Everything worked PERFECTLY the first time, not a single hiccup other than I accidentaly unplugged the sata dvd drive messing with something in the case and was wondering, like an idiot, for a minute or two why it wasnt working.
Overall I'm very pleased with everything.
Had a little trouble with the 8pin cable almost not reaching in my case, and getting the side back on with the fat ass cables on my psu, even after making everything as neat and managed as possible, but after a little struggling it was fine.

I need to get some fans for the front and a replacement for the top one (very slight rattling noise occaisionally, but noticeable over the quiet case/psu). I may just swap that one with another from the inside though since I wouldnt hear the rattling there.

Other miscellaneous things on the list now:
Floppy Drive
SD Card Drive
2nd Samsung 20x DVD Drive
2nd Hard Drive
External 500GB-1TB HD to backup both this and my old PC
2 more GB of Memory

Also, I hated Vista before, from my experience with it on the PCs and notebooks we sell where I work, but I opted to go with Vista Ultimate (64bit) on this build and its not bad at all so far. Runs great without all the extra crap manufacturers pack in. Not THAT much of a resource hog, provided you actually HAVE the resources to run it properly. Everything I need works with it with no problems (yet).

I'm letting it go through its "burn in" before doing any overclocking. I'll play around with that a little this weekend.

More updates later :D
 
ZippZopp said:
i'm gonna do a new system soon and was thinking of using the asus p5k premium, but i wasn't aware of HD issues. What are the issues people are having? i was thinking of installing a 150gb raptor for the OS and then a couple of 500gb for data storage...what exactly are the HD issues with the p5k? and these issues affect both the deluxe and premium?
Click to expand...
I don't know if they affect the DeLuxe too but the Premium has issues with lots of SATA drives (Hitachi, Samsung & WD) definitely incl. Raptors too.
I suggest that you search various common forums or Google rather than just taking my word for it.
 
BUFF said:
I don't know if they affect the DeLuxe too but the Premium has issues with lots of SATA drives (Hitachi, Samsung & WD) definitely incl. Raptors too.
I suggest that you search various common forums or Google rather than just taking my word for it.
Click to expand...

I'm using the P5K Deluxe w/ BIOS 0404 and have had problems getting my Samsung Spinpoint 500GB drives to be detected by BIOS. Haven't had problems with my Raptor or non-Raptor WD drives or my single Hitachi 1TB Deskstar.

Vista didn't auto-detect and auto-install drivers for the Seagate FreeAgent eSATA drive... installed the latest JMicro drivers, we'll see next restart if that fixes it.
 
soekev said:
I'm using the P5K Deluxe w/ BIOS 0404 and have had problems getting my Samsung Spinpoint 500GB drives to be detected by BIOS. Haven't had problems with my Raptor or non-Raptor WD drives or my single Hitachi 1TB Deskstar.

Vista didn't auto-detect and auto-install drivers for the Seagate FreeAgent eSATA drive... installed the latest JMicro drivers, we'll see next restart if that fixes it.
Click to expand...

please update us. and what is ASUS P5K DI? another revision of the premium motherboard?
 
Can I assume that the Asus P5K-E/WIFI-AP would behave just like the Deluxe/Premium with respect to it's SATA issues, etc.?

Also, why was the P5K-E not on your short list, because the only difference I can see is the Dual Gigabit LAN controllers.
 
soekev said:
I'm using the P5K Deluxe w/ BIOS 0404 and have had problems getting my Samsung Spinpoint 500GB drives to be detected by BIOS. Haven't had problems with my Raptor or non-Raptor WD drives or my single Hitachi 1TB Deskstar.

Vista didn't auto-detect and auto-install drivers for the Seagate FreeAgent eSATA drive... installed the latest JMicro drivers, we'll see next restart if that fixes it.
Click to expand...


Som did you ever resolve your issues with your Samsung drives and the eSATA drive?
 
enginurd said:
They're usually the plastic push-pins with springs, which are rather easy to undo from the underside of the board. You just need a pair of needle nose pliers, and some regular pliers. Squeeze from under, pull from top. Theres other kinds of mounts, but they're not hard to undo either.
Click to expand...

enginurd, on your boards, do you re-seat the heatpipes & heatsink with the original plastic pins, or can you use metal bolts, those plastic pins look too flimsy to ensure a good contact between heatsink and the components they're meant to be cooling.
-
 
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