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E8600: Stable mobo to run CPU?

S

Slachtbeest

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
248
Does anyone have experience with/know of a stable board with which to run an E8600 C2D?

Seems hard to find anything that isn't "difficult" in some way or has other problems.

Running XP Pro 32, GTX 280, 620HX PSU, no RAID.

Prefer Intel boards, since EVGA boards seem to be touchy with RAM and a few other things, but whatever suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for the suggestion.

I've been looking at two others, however:
Asus Rampage and Intel 48BT2.

I'm trying to find something that doesn't require a BIOS flash out of the box for this CPU.

Also, I have two questions:
1) Since these boards don't have IDE connectors, do I have to buy new SATA DVD drives? Do they connect to any SATA connector on the mobo? Never done that before.

2) The mem on these boards always seems to "down-clock" to 1333 (the fsb of the CPU) and you have to actually "OC" a little to get it up to 1600 if you're running DDR3 1600 RAM. Would leaving it at the 1333 run slow?

I'm assuming it would still be faster than the DDR2 I'm running right now with the E6700, no?

I'm not totally up on all this, so any info would be appreciated, thanks.
 
I have an E8600 and asus Rampage Formula.And yes, I used a USB flash disk so that the mobo recognised the E8600 ( I did it after installing the OS, and there was no problem).


1).Yes, you must have a sata DVD drive, and connect it to any sata connector on the mobo


I chose DDR2 instead of DDR3 because:

2).You cannot have have the ideal FSB: DRAM 1:1 if you choose DDR3 1600.
Instead you will have FSB: DRAM 1:2 because your 1600MHz "Rated FSB" (that is what CPU-Z is showing) means CPU external bus speed (=FSB)400MHz and
your DRAM Frequency is 800MHz with DDR3-1600. The E8600 has a multiplier 10, and the default FSB is 334MHz because 334x10=3.34GHz (the default E8600 speed), and overclocking a little you can get FSB=400MHz,meaning a 4GHz CPU speed.However you cannot overclock E8600 to FSB=800MHz because that would mean 10x800MHz=8GHz CPU speed :eek:

You should keep in mind that "Rated FSB"=4xFSB, just look at what CPU-Z is showing.
 
DeutscheDemRepublik said:
I have an E8600 and asus Rampage Formula.And yes, I used a USB flash disk so that the mobo recognised the E8600 ( I did it after installing the OS, and there was no problem).

1).Yes, you must have a sata DVD drive, and connect it to any sata connector on the mobo

I chose DDR2 instead of DDR3 because:

2).You cannot have have the ideal FSB: DRAM 1:1 if you choose DDR3 1600.
Instead you will have FSB: DRAM 1:2 because your 1600MHz "Rated FSB" (that is what CPU-Z is showing) means CPU external bus speed (=FSB)400MHz and
your DRAM Frequency is 800MHz with DDR3-1600. The E8600 has a multiplier 10, and the default FSB is 334MHz because 334x10=3.34GHz the default CPU speed, and overclocking a little you can get FSB=400MHz,meaning a 4GHz CPU speed.However you cannot overclock E8600 to FSB=800MHz because that would mean 10x800MHz=8GHz CPU speed :eek:

You should keep in mind that "Rated FSB"=4xFSB, just look at what CPU-Z is showing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, but I'm a little confused here...

You are able to use DDR2 in a board that has a DDR3 standard?
And it runs better?
Since I'm not up on the the whole DDR3 thing, this is a bit over my head.

Also, you did have to flash the BIOS in order for the board to recognize the E8600?
I've seen around that it wasn't necessary.

I have no plans on OC'ing at all. I just need a stable board to run an E8600, and hopefully something that doesn't need a BIOS flash (I've never had good luck ever flashing a BIOS) if possible.

CamaroZ28 said:
vict0r said:
P5Q Pro P45 seems to be popular these days.. good,solid,stable,overclockable board..
price is super attractive ... $119.99 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
Click to expand...

Don't forget the promo code "EMCBAACBG" that takes $20 off to make it only $100 w/ free shipping!
Click to expand...

Thanks.

So is this another "vote" for going with this board then?
Does it require flashing the BIOS in order to recognize the E8600?

I've used nothing but Intel boards for the last few years, and I've had bad luck with ASUS boards in the past, so I don't want to run into any problems.

Having trouble making a decision...

The ASUS Rampage is expensive as hell, but even if you don't OC, it seems like a stable board. I'd hate to have any problems if I need to flash the BIOS, however, and not sure if it's worth paying that much.

The ASUS P5Q Pro seems like a decent board, but I've had problems with ASUS in the past (numerous times/issues) so I'm a little wary about going back to them, especially after the stability of Intel's boards.

The Intel 48BT2 I linked to originally seems like a good, solid and stable board, and supposedly is compatible with the E8600 right out of the box. It has gotten a few "bad" reviews regarding DOA's, but otherwise seems like it has the same Intel stability they've been known for (and I've experienced personally with my XBX and XBX2 boards over the last few years).

Tough choice...

Any further input would be appreciated, but which ever I go for, I'm curious about the RAM situation. If you can run DDR2 in these boards, how would that effect performance? If you run DDR3, even if you don't hit the full 1600 mark due to the fsb limit by the CPU, would it be faster than running DDR2 (if able)?

Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit confused regarding this, and all those numbers make my head hurt >.<
 
Slachtbeest said:
Thanks for the feedback, but I'm a little confused here...

You are able to use DDR2 in a board that has a DDR3 standard?
And it runs better?
Since I'm not up on the the whole DDR3 thing, this is a bit over my head.
Click to expand...

There are two Asus Rampages:

The DDR2 Rampage Formula, which I have:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208

and the DDR3 Rampage Extreme:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_rampage_extreme_motherboard/1

confusing, isn't it?....and no, you can't mix DDR2,DDR3 and these mobos :(

I don't know why you are afraid of updating(flashing) bios, it is a very useful and basic operation to bet a mobo up-to-date, especially because the mobo manual gives very good advice on how to do it.My mobo and its on-cd BIOS was older than my E8600 so it was normal that my mobo gave a message "unknown CPU, update bios in order to unleash its full potential", but the processor was still working all the time.
 
DeutscheDemRepublik said:
There are two Asus Rampages:

The DDR2 Rampage Formula, which I have:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208

and the DDR3 Rampage Extreme:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_rampage_extreme_motherboard/1

confusing, isn't it?....and no, you can't mix DDR2,DDR3 and these mobos :(

I don't know why you are afraid of updating(flashing) bios, it is a very useful and basic operation to bet a mobo up-to-date, especially because the mobo manual gives very good advice on how to do it.My mobo and its on-cd BIOS was older than my E8600 so it was normal that my mobo gave a message "unknown CPU, update bios in order to unleash its full potential", but the processor was still working all the time.
Click to expand...

OK, I got ya... thanks for clearing that up for me.

I've read that these boards are now shipping automatically supporting the newest CPUs, is that true? Or just "luck of the draw" with revisions?

If I have to update the BIOS, which is the most stable update (if you know)?

I've only used Intel boards the last few years, as I've said, and while BIOS flashes can seem easy, they can also end up causing a lot of problems. I've had that happen in the past, particularly with ASUS boards, so that is my only real concern.

I'm not worried about OC features, so long as it's an extremely stable board with a BIOS that allows you to adjust mem timings etc. without having a problem.

Does this ASUS board have any CPU "throttling" that needs to be turned off, such as the C1E halt state on Intel boards?

Oh, and does this board actually have an IDE connector? Or will I need to get some SATA DVD drives?

I'm not familiar with ASUS's new boards, so I've no idea.
 
My current bios is version 0408, Date 07/10/2008. I downloaded it from asus.com forum after I did some googling (some people had exactly the same error message about the unknown CPU).

I have not done any OC'ing yet, all the settings are on default, maybe also C1E is off.So far everything is stable, no problems at all.My FSB: DRAM is 5:6, that is 334MHz:400MHz,
so it is not the ideal 1:1, I am planning soon to increase the FSB to 400MHz, giving 10x400=4GHz CPU speed.

I don't know if there are any new revisions containing on-CD bios for E8600.My Rampage Formula is Rev 1.xx

And no, there is no IDE connector, you need a sata DVD.Look here how to OC E8600:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/showthread.php?t=197505
it is easy to see that people with DDR2 can get FSB: DRAM 1:1, whereas people with DDR3 end up with FSB: DRAM 1:2
 
You are able to use DDR2 in a board that has a DDR3 standard? No, the memory is keyed differently so it won't even fit in the same slot.

So is this another "vote" for going with this board then? Check my sig.

Does it require flashing the BIOS in order to recognize the E8600? No.

The ASUS Rampage is expensive as hell, but even if you don't OC, it seems like a stable board. I'd hate to have any problems if I need to flash the BIOS, however, and not sure if it's worth paying that much. Both Rampage's are X48 which you don't have much use for since you will be running an nVidia GPU. You don't need to spend this much money for stability.

The ASUS P5Q Pro seems like a decent board, but I've had problems with ASUS in the past (numerous times/issues) so I'm a little wary about going back to them, especially after the stability of Intel's boards. This is the most stable board I've used and it has great features for saving power and running smooth. It also has a crash free bios so you never need to worry about bricking the board.

The Intel 48BT2 I linked to originally seems like a good, solid and stable board, and supposedly is compatible with the E8600 right out of the box. It has gotten a few "bad" reviews regarding DOA's, but otherwise seems like it has the same Intel stability they've been known for (and I've experienced personally with my XBX and XBX2 boards over the last few years). This is a great board, but once again X48 is overkill for your needs.

I've read that these boards are now shipping automatically supporting the newest CPUs, is that true? Or just "luck of the draw" with revisions? Every 4 series chipset (G43,G45,P43,P45) will support all the CPU's, the only time they may need a bios update is if there is a new revision of the same CPU.

I've only used Intel boards the last few years, as I've said, and while BIOS flashes can seem easy, they can also end up causing a lot of problems. I've had that happen in the past, particularly with ASUS boards, so that is my only real concern. New Asus boards such as P5Q Pro have crash free bios.

I'm not worried about OC features, so long as it's an extremely stable board with a BIOS that allows you to adjust mem timings etc. without having a problem. Almost any board these days will let you adjust mem timings.

Does this ASUS board have any CPU "throttling" that needs to be turned off, such as the C1E halt state on Intel boards? These are features that are part of Intel processors, not the motherboards so all have these features. However, there is no reason to turn these off unless it is hindering overclocking capability, but since you said you won't be overclocking then there is absolutely no reason to turn these off.

Oh, and does this board actually have an IDE connector? Or will I need to get some SATA DVD drives? Just about every board has an IDE connector that will support up to two devices.
 
Slachtbeest said:
Oh, and does this board actually have an IDE connector? Or will I need to get some SATA DVD drives?

I'm not familiar with ASUS's new boards, so I've no idea.
Click to expand...

Sorry, There IS indeed an IDE connector on Rampage Formula.....I just don't use it on my mobo, so I did not make sure and I was writing about everything else.
 
DeutscheDemRepublik said:
Sorry, There IS indeed an IDE connector on Rampage Formula.....I just don't use it on my mobo, so I did not make sure and I was writing about everything else.
Click to expand...

Yep, used my old IDE Plextor 716A DVD burner, no problem installing winxp. The Rampage Formula booted but complained about the e8600 so my USB flash drive was used to update BIOS before installing the OS without any problems. I am very happy with the Rampage Formula and have not had any issues whatsoever.
 
Currently running e8600 @ 4.4ghz on the EVGA 780i with no issues. Vcore shows 1.34 during CPU load via CPU-Z. Ram is currently running linked and sync'd with FSB (1:1) with timing of 4-4-3-8. No bios update was required with this board. Worked out of the box without any problems.
 
ASUS P5Q Pro seems to be a great board, as is the Biostar TPower I45.
 
Mid next week I'll see how the 8600 fairs on the ancient classic P5B Deluxe.
 
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