p5k or p5w?

[slugger_2003]

I'm looking at getting either:

ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP

OR

Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi Intel P35

I don't plan to overclock and will be using the intel q6600 and a 8800gtx.

Which board should I use and why?
Thanks for everyone's help and I appreciate any comments or thoughts but please..no flaming

 

[Dan_D]

Well that depends. The P5K Deluxe is a great board and uses the newest chipset from Intel. The advatage to the P5K is memory performance and upgradability to 1333MHz 45nm CPUs. On the other hand the i975x based P5W DH is a far more feature rich solution. If Crossfire is your thing then the i975x is still the best game in town chipset wise.

My advice is to either get the P35 if you are going to stick with a single video card or wait for the X38 chipset based boards to come out.

 

[troisanh]

if your in need of mobo now then p5k dlx but im waiting on x38 chipset.

 

[slugger_2003]

I plan to use a single 8800gtx.
What is the x38 chipset and when is it rumoured to be released?
Any information or links for me?

 

[kirbyrj]

Do you plan on moving to a 45nm CPU ever during the life of the computer? If not, don't worry about it and just get a P5W. The X38 is not going to be out until later in the summer from what I understand.

 

[Stellar]

If you have no plan to overclock why are you looking at such an overpriced board?

The base P5K goes for almost $100 less and will accomplish everything you need.

I would also question why you're going with the Q6600 given that it doesn't show any benefit in virtually any applications out right now.

 

[SoCalDJ]

If you have no plan to overclock why are you looking at such an overpriced board?

The base P5K goes for almost $100 less and will accomplish everything you need.

I would also question why you're going with the Q6600 given that it doesn't show any benefit in virtually any applications out right now.

Actually there are a lot of audio/video encoding programs tat take advantage, and theres good ol SupCom that is optimized for 4 cores.

 

[abcdelight]

The P38 is the replacement for 975 and I would get that when its out. It's meant to be Penryn reading (has an electrical mod not on P5WDH), have PCIx 2.0, have wider bus etc. A wibder bus is suppossed to be better for quad core which can bottleneck a CPU more than a C2D. Of course this is all theoretical stuff that just comes up in articles. Even DDR 3 doesnt sound like anything remotely useful for a year or more. If I had to buy today I would get the P35 andI have the P5WDH. However I would probably get the Intel version of Bearlake since I haven't been enthused with ASUS in general.

 

[slugger_2003]

I have chosen that model because I was set on getting the p5w deluxe wifi edition and now it appears the p5k is out and is better?
I went for the p5k wifi mainly because I want the build in wifi capability. I also chose it as it looks like it copes well with high grade memory and as I want a good gaming machine I thought memory was highly important.
I chose the q6600 as I want to try and "future proof" the machine.
I will most likely stick with this set-up for 2 to 3 years so probably won't switch to 45nm.
What does everyone think, is there actually a difference between the Intel version of "Bearlake" and the Asus p5k?
All comments appreciated so far, thanks everyone.

 

[kirbyrj]

My experience is the wifi on the Asus boards is less than stellar. I tried to use it and it just didn't work. I kept getting random disconnects no matter what driver/firmware I used.

 

[Dan_D]

My experience is the wifi on the Asus boards is less than stellar. I tried to use it and it just didn't work. I kept getting random disconnects no matter what driver/firmware I used.

I've had this experience as well. I've used the ASUS WiFi three times so far. The WiFi on the two review boards I never got to work. On my personal P5W DH it works great. I'll let you guys know how it goes on the P5K Deluxe.

 

[Stellar]

I have chosen that model because I was set on getting the p5w deluxe wifi edition and now it appears the p5k is out and is better?
I went for the p5k wifi mainly because I want the build in wifi capability. I also chose it as it looks like it copes well with high grade memory and as I want a good gaming machine I thought memory was highly important.
I chose the q6600 as I want to try and "future proof" the machine.
I will most likely stick with this set-up for 2 to 3 years so probably won't switch to 45nm.
What does everyone think, is there actually a difference between the Intel version of "Bearlake" and the Asus p5k?
All comments appreciated so far, thanks everyone.

why would you pay $100 more for the wifi version when a PCI wireless card costs $30?

 

[Dan_D]

I have chosen that model because I was set on getting the p5w deluxe wifi edition and now it appears the p5k is out and is better?

It's newer. It's not necessarily better. The ICH9R isn't a vast improvement over the ICH8R used on P965 Express boards. Plus the P5W DH has some interesting capabilities in terms of RAID and other features. So as I said before, the P5K is newer, but isn't necessarily better. It has two advantages which I outlined above. In terms of performance, the i975x chipset is still the Crossfire king. If that doesn't matter to you, then P965 Express based boards and P35 boards may be a better fit for you both in terms of performance and price.

I went for the p5k wifi mainly because I want the build in wifi capability. I also chose it as it looks like it copes well with high grade memory and as I want a good gaming machine I thought memory was highly important.

I am not sure what you mean. Right now the best memory performance you can get is on the P35 chipset. The 680i SLI is also great in this area two, but only when combined with SLI Ready memory. As far as the WiFi goes, as stated before it seems to be hit or miss.

I chose the q6600 as I want to try and "future proof" the machine.
I will most likely stick with this set-up for 2 to 3 years so probably won't switch to 45nm.

Well future proofing never works. Every machine will likely need some types of upgrades over a three year period to keep it's user happy.

What does everyone think, is there actually a difference between the Intel version of "Bearlake" and the Asus p5k?

The P5K Deluxe uses Intel's P35 chipset that was codenamed "Bearlake" during it's development. Intel has either already released or will be releasing a board based on the P35 chipset as well. Intel's motherboards are outstanding in build quality and reliability. They are truly second to none. Not a single company in the industry makes products that are as consitantly reliable as those made by Intel. Though some individual boards and board models are close. However Intel used to be firmly against overclocking. They've backed down on this with their enthusiast level chipsets like the i975x recently, but I doubt they'll leave their P35 board with overclocking options beyond their normal CPU Burn-In crap they usually put on all their BIOSes. Their X38 chipset based board when released, will probably be as overclockable if not more so than the i975x based D975XBX2.
One typical disadvantage that Intel boards have compared to ASUS, Gigabyte and others is a lack of innovative features. Usually those boards are pretty much all business. WiFi, excessive amounts of RAID controllers and other features are not usually present. In fact the original D975XBX had a terrible add-in RAID controller based on the Silicon Image 3114 chip which was way behind the curve in performance and features offered in competitive boards like the P5W DH.

ASUS really has done a fantastic job lately and they are working hard to overcome the drop in customer confidence that has plagued them recently it seems. The P5B Deluxe turned out to be a fantastic board despite a mediocre review from me early on in it's production. With consistant BIOS updates it became a great board. The ASUS Commando is one of the best motherboards I've worked with in my life and the most stable. The P5W DH is one of the better boards based on the i975x chipset, despite having some initial growing pains.

 

[slugger_2003]

Good point. "Right now the best memory performance you can get is on the P35 chipset" So Dan_D, assuming I am getting the PC ordered for next week, you would reccomend I get an Intel based P35 motherboard? Could you give me specific models you would reccomend?
Anybody inform me on the differences between high and low end P35 boards?
Pro's and cons between different P35 boards?
Like I said, I don't plan to overclock or adjust settings or anything. Basically just want something which will run everything at the speed it comes at and run everything as it is when I pick it up.
I thought I should get the duluxe board seeing as I was planning on getting the q6600 which appears to be a product which will have it's potential used in the future? and the 8800gtx. I thought because I was planning on getting these items I shouldn't "skimp" on the motherboard.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Dan_D]

Good point. So is there any difference on memory performance in the board I have suggested and the lower spec p5k boards? Anybody inform me on the differences?
Pro's and cons between two different p5k boards?

The memory performance should be exactly the same. All four of those boards have the exact same memory controller as they all use the same chipset. The difference is going to be in the integrated features more than anything.

You can compare each of the boards here: http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=534

 

[buffbiff21]

I vote DFI Infinity P965.

Worry about a P35 or X38 when DFI comes out with theirs.

I don't plan to overclock

This basically negates the need for either one of those boards.

 

[Dan_D]

I vote DFI Infinity P965.

Worry about a P35 or X38 when DFI comes out with theirs.



This basically negates the need for either one of those boards.

Even if he doesn't plan on overclocking, that doesn't mean he can't enjoy the feature set found on the P5K motherboards or the stock performance they offer.

I see that you are an avid DFI fan. And while you are entitled to your opinion I'll just say, just because DFI made it doesn't make it superior. There are plenty of worthwhile boards from other companies. Indeed being a DFI potentially the wrong choice for non-overclockers and newbies alike. The fact is many DFI boards are unstable until tweaked properly. Not to mention DFI boards are often picky about what components can be used successfuly with them. Quite often the quality varies from one DFI board to another more so than it does with any other companies products. Where I come from those are not desireable qualities and those traits are actually shared with mobos like those from PC-Chips and other less than fantastic brand names with crap reputations.

A board should run at stock speeds with 95% of the parts found on store shelves or it isn't worth a crap. 5 days of tweaking to make it stable renders it junk in my mind. DFI's NF4 boards were famous for that and though they have improved considerably in this regard since those days, blind loyalty to the brand is not warranted. Nor should it be for any brand. Also as of late DFI has been late to the party with every major chipset release. Granted ASUS is usually first and often that bites them in the ass later. Even so waiting three to six months after everyone else has released boards based on a chipset is ludicrous. Unless that happens to fit your time frame for upgrading or building, it sucks.

My comments sound harsh, but that doesn't mean I hate DFI. On the contrary I find many of their products quite compelling and worth while. Overall my experience with the DFI CFX3200-T2R was pretty good and the board has a myriad of overclocking settings that make it a truly awesome enthusiast product in it's own right. DFI also has a 680i LT chipset based board that is coming out soon or was recently released that might very well have what it takes to be the best 680i mobo around. I certainly love the way it looks and is laid out. Plus the bundle and chipset cooling look to be the best out there on any stock 680i board. I really hope I get my hands on one to review for the [H]. I generally don't recommend DFI though because you can always find products that overclock 95% as good that will give you far less trouble over it's service life.

 

[slugger_2003]

So from this thread it seems the p5k mobo and a wireless pci-e card is the best option for me. The main differences I can see between those four boards is, one of them is ddr3 and the other two have wifi and an extra pci-e x1 port and eight sata ports instead of six on the p5k.
As I'll have three hard drives and two dvdrw's I only need five sata ports so will have one spare.
That extra sata port may be able to be filled by a blu-ray/HD drive in the future...who knows.

Just to be sure, the sata ports will be taken up by the three hard drives(possibly two) and two dvdrw's, right? Nothing else in the PC will take up a sata port?

 

[Dan_D]

So from this thread it seems the p5k mobo and a wireless pci-e card is the best option for me. The main differences I can see between those four boards is, one of them is ddr3 and the other two have wifi and an extra pci-e x1 port and eight sata ports instead of six on the p5k.
As I'll have three hard drives and two dvdrw's I only need five sata ports so will have one spare.
That extra sata port may be able to be filled by a blu-ray/HD drive in the future...who knows.

Just to be sure, the sata ports will be taken up by the three hard drives(possibly two) and two dvdrw's, right? Nothing else in the PC will take up a sata port?

Correct. If all you need is five, then you are fine. Not to mention you can always add a cheap PCIe drive controller later on if you need to increase the number of disks in your system.

 

[buffbiff21]

Even if he doesn't plan on overclocking, that doesn't mean he can't enjoy the feature set found on the P5K motherboards or the stock performance they offer.

I know, but if he is not overclocking then he will likely not notice the difference between a premium ASUS board and something cheaper. Yes, WIFI is nice, but.. does it warrant 50 bucks?

I see that you are an avid DFI fan. And while you are entitled to your opinion I'll just say, just because DFI made it doesn't make it superior.

I am just enamored by my $140 DFI P965-s, that's all. It's really only the second DFI board I've had..


I definitely hear what you're saying about compatibility tho.. My 8500 Dominators are having trouble overclocking.. still tweaking around that. But i think tweaking is part of the fun

 

[Dan_D]

I know, but if he is not overclocking then he will likely not notice the difference between a premium ASUS board and something cheaper. Yes, WIFI is nice, but.. does it warrant 50 bucks?




I am just enamored by my $140 DFI P965-s, that's all. It's really only the second DFI board I've had..


I definitely hear what you're saying about compatibility tho.. My 8500 Dominators are having trouble overclocking.. still tweaking around that. But i think tweaking is part of the fun

Tweaking is fun. But I prefer products that allow me to be lazier about the tweaking and the time it takes. That's one reason why I love the ASUS Commando. You don't need to do squat to get to 450MHz FSB. All I did was raise the FSB and that was it. Eventually I had to increase CPU voltages but that's it.

 

[buffbiff21]

Tweaking is fun. But I prefer products that allow me to be lazier about the tweaking and the time it takes. That's one reason why I love the ASUS Commando. You don't need to do squat to get to 450MHz FSB. All I did was raise the FSB and that was it. Eventually I had to increase CPU voltages but that's it.

Well, to be honest my 680i got to 450FSB without any northbridge voltage increase. Anything higher than that and it took a slight boost. (I got it up to 475 stable.. but that was the highest I could go.. and it ran HOT too! So I swapped for a nice cool P965 )

 

[slugger_2003]

Are the intel based p35 mobo's also p5w or is that only the asus boards? Could anyone give me the name and links to the standard p5k board but intel produced?
Thanks

 

[Dan_D]

Are the intel based p35 mobo's also p5w or is that only the asus boards? Could anyone give me the name and links to the standard p5k board but intel produced?
Thanks

At present I am not sure if you can buy an Intel manufactured P35 chipset based board. I also haven't gone looking for one to be fair. Intel makes the P35 chipset's for all boards that use them. The P5W DH is ASUS manufactured and uses Intel's older i975x chipset. It's a great board in it's own right, but as of now, unless you are going with Crossfire I recommend going with the P5K Deluxe.

EDIT: I just checked Intel's site and there are no motherboards listed on thier page that use the P35 chipset. So as of right now, ASUS and Gigabyte are just about it. There are more coming though, but I'll tell you now that the P5K Deluxe is really going to be hard to beat.

 

[slugger_2003]

Just a follow up question on the P5K motherboard....

"The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR2 800MHz. Tuned by ASUS Super Memspeed Technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR2 1066MHz"

I'm presuming this statement means that if I put 1066mhz memory into this motherboard it will run it at 1066mhz?
My other thought on the statement was that the motherboard will run the 800mhz memory at 1066mhz?
Can anybody clarify this for me?
Would there be a great different between 800mhz and 1066mhz? Memory appears less available at these higher speeds and more expensive?

Thanks, any comments appreciated.

 

[Dan_D]

Just a follow up question on the P5K motherboard....

"The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR2 800MHz. Tuned by ASUS Super Memspeed Technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR2 1066MHz"

I'm presuming this statement means that if I put 1066mhz memory into this motherboard it will run it at 1066mhz?
My other thought on the statement was that the motherboard will run the 800mhz memory at 1066mhz?
Can anybody clarify this for me?
Would there be a great different between 800mhz and 1066mhz? Memory appears less available at these higher speeds and more expensive?

Thanks, any comments appreciated.

I think what it means is that ASUS supports it running at 1066MHz speeds officially. I used some Corsair Dominator PC 10000 modules in it and it didn't automatically set it for 1066MHz speeds. I had to do that myself.

 

[nicepun]

If you don't want to OC, the the P5W is a better option because clock for clock is faster.

 

[AthlonXP]

ok if you see my sig below you will see how well my p5k deluxe performs, and yes I was one of the first to get this board in US and have used it now for almost a month and I will tell you this has been one of the best motherboards out of the box that I have owned. The only issue I have is with the layout of the sata ports, but I managed to get my 2 optical and 2 hard drive connected without interfering with my 8800gtx.

 

[Dan_D]

If you don't want to OC, the the P5W is a better option because clock for clock is faster.

I doubt it. First off the i975x wasn't a whole lot faster than the P965 Express chipset was. In fact the memory performance of the P35 chipset is better than that of the i975x and P965 Express chipsets. Unless your going to go with a Crossfire configuration where you'd need an 8x8 PCIe lane configuration for your PEG slots, the P35 chipset is the better choice. Better overclocking, better memory performance, and support for 45nm and 1333MHz FSB CPUs.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

If you don't want to OC, the the P5W is a better option because clock for clock is faster.

how is the P5W a better option? they cost nearly the same.....

And P5K Deluxe is futureproof for future upgrades. And performs cooler then P5W chipset.

GG

 

[Dan_D]

how is the P5W a better option? they cost nearly the same.....

And P5K Deluxe is futureproof for future upgrades. And performs cooler then P5W chipset.

GG

Well future proof to a certain extent, but I'd argue against any DDR 2 based board being future proof for the long haul. I am not sure if the P35 chipset runs cooler than the i975x chipset does. I've never investigated that. I will say that the cooling solution on the P5K Deluxe is vastly superior to the one on the P5W DH.

 

[Markdek]

ok if you see my sig below you will see how well my p5k deluxe performs, and yes I was one of the first to get this board in US and have used it now for almost a month and I will tell you this has been one of the best motherboards out of the box that I have owned. The only issue I have is with the layout of the sata ports, but I managed to get my 2 optical and 2 hard drive connected without interfering with my 8800gtx.

I second your experience; I've had mine 2 weeks, and it's the best board I've ever owned; especially for a new one; and the bios is so good, I could live w/ it as is.

 

[kirbyrj]

I see no reason to upgrade from a P5W to a P5K right now if that helps .

 

[Dan_D]

I see no reason to upgrade from a P5W to a P5K right now if that helps .

I would agree. The i975x chipset still does everything about as well as anything else aside from overclocking. With higher multi-CPUs this isn't really a big limitation either. The i975x's are the most ideal configuration for Crossfire as well for anyone wishing to go that route. For single card setups, the i975x is still a good choice. Especially since they should be dropping in price thanks to P965 Express, P35 and the news about the upcoming X38 chipset.

As for the P5W DH, it is a feature rich mother. All of that is fluff for some, but a few of those features are nice to have. I am actually quite fond of the true hardware Silicon Image RAID controller built into it.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

hmm well when your hitting 3.6 ghz on a Q6600 with the P5K deluxe. Ide reconsider your opionion.

Since I have not seen that achieved on a 975 chipset mobo.

Umm. As for futureproof. Yes DDR3 not available on this board. but DDR2 has shown that DDR3 hasnt shown much an improvement. Yes getting 1800mhz bla bla bla.

But some good DDR2 based memory are hitting 700mhz. With very loose timings.

Not that much an improvement for DDR3 in my books. Defintaly not worth the price tag either.

SOOOoooo Honestly. Ide prefer getting the p35 based board over a P965 board . 680i , and the 975. since they are all hovering around the same price tag. I mean its all upto the consumer really.

 

[mark660]

My experience is the wifi on the Asus boards is less than stellar. I tried to use it and it just didn't work. I kept getting random disconnects no matter what driver/firmware I used.

the wifi on my p5wdh deluxe runs 54mbs solid all the time never had it drop out.but i dont need it so i dont use it

 

[Dan_D]

hmm well when your hitting 3.6 ghz on a Q6600 with the P5K deluxe. Ide reconsider your opionion.

Why? Both are great boards. The P5K overclocks better than the P5W DH but so what? That isn't the only important feature they look for in a motherboard. The P5W DH is one of the most featu

re rich motherboards out there and is ideal for certain types of usage scenarios. For one the i975x is still the best option for Crossfire systems.

Since I have not seen that achieved on a 975 chipset mobo.

I haven't seen quad core overclocks like that on any motherboard. What's your point?

Umm. As for futureproof. Yes DDR3 not available on this board. but DDR2 has shown that DDR3 hasnt shown much an improvement. Yes getting 1800mhz bla bla bla.

But some good DDR2 based memory are hitting 700mhz. With very loose timings.

Not that much an improvement for DDR3 in my books. Defintaly not worth the price tag either.

When scaled up DDR 3 will eventually begin to kick the shit out of DDR 2. Not to mention it uses less power. At 1333MHz or less it hasn't been that impressive but in two motherboard generations that's likely to change. Let's not forget that DDR 2 performed worse than DDR 1 when it was introduced to the public and now most of us are using that memory today. DDR 3 in contrast is at least as good and has shown that it can be better in certain applications and usage scenarios. Eventually DDR 3 will kick ass. Also DDR 3 is available on another version of this board, the P5K3 Deluxe.

SOOOoooo Honestly. Ide prefer getting the p35 based board over a P965 board . 680i , and the 975. since they are all hovering around the same price tag. I mean its all upto the consumer really.

That's you. Some of us feel we would be better served by features found on those other chipset based boards that we can't have on the P35 chipset.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

as of now DDR3 has not shown much gain over DDR2 . and expecially for the price it is at now. NOT worth it.

And yes. its a pissing match between watever I honestly dont care.

Simple words. P5K Deluxe is a better board.

 

[kirbyrj]

Simple words. P5K Deluxe is a better board.

If you're buying new today, I think everyone here would say go with the P5K Deluxe.

If you already have a P5W, there really is no reason to upgrade right away. By the time the 45nm processors come out, there will also be the X38 chipset, which should be superior to the P35.

 

[SoCalDJ]

If you're buying new today, I think everyone here would say go with the P5K Deluxe.

If you already have a P5W, there really is no reason to upgrade right away. By the time the 45nm processors come out, there will also be the X38 chipset, which should be superior to the P35.

I think you just hit the nail on the head.