ASUS P5W64

[Nox]

Hi chaps,

Are you planning on getting this in motherboard stock in the near future? (ie next couple of days!!!) :D

Nox

[Schwaa]

i'm also very interested in this mobo too.

does anyone know how future-proof this board is?

i was leaning towards getting the Asus P5N32-SLI Premium board, not out as of yet, but because that board uses outdated components and it will be untill the end of the year that we will see the board with the new components used onit.

i'm more of an nvidia fan myself, i dont think i will be using SLI soon or in the near future (i only use 1280x1024 res), but are the "Quad PCI-E slots" actually a good thing to have, mabye its future proof?

this mobo also overclocks nicely too compared to the asus P5N32-SLI Premium aswell. Also is the Intel i975X chipset quite good compared to the nforce 590 chipset? because all of the gadgets make the nforce 590 look good but i dunno...

[Nox]

the 590 for intel looks like it is a dire (in comparison) overclocker, DFI have binned their planned n590 board - it would not go much over 325 stable.

the i975 is hitting 450-500 on some boards, so it comes down to luck/quality on manufacturing.

RD600... no one know much yet, but october, maybe - could overclock well, or not, but i've done the maths, and 450 covers most bases.

either way - you can't get a decent overclocking mobo that supports SLI, end of story. Its not a problem if you want the X6800 though!! I think nvidia will either need to get c55 sorted pretty smartish, or open up their drivers and let intel chips run SLI.

hmmm, isn't that a monopoly at the moment?

Nox

[StarMonkey]

Intel motherboards are SLI ready - they just haven't got the official SLI branding or enabled in BIOS. I'd watch out for BIOS updates in the near future after AMD buying out ATI ;)

Also you can get cracked drivers to enable SLI on Intel boards but obviously wouldn't recommend that...

StarMonkey

[Schwaa]

seems i am steering more towards this mobo compared to the intel nforce 590SLI edition board (that C55 and C19 is the thing i was on about earlier yes)

this board looks like it'll be a winner, should last quite a long time this board dont ya think? (providing you upgrade components when they are needed etc...)

[lemonmike]

Im a bit confused about it saying it supports crossfire. Does this only take ATi cards or nvidia aswell. Coz with 4 pcie slots im thinking quad sli. I mean theres no quad crossfire out is there? Im thinking of buying this board but i dont know if it takes nvidia cards, just ati. I mean i dont want to go ahead and just buy an ati card thinking i can only use them, if theres a better nvidia one out there i an use instead. Please explain!

Simplified: can you use nvidia cards on this board even though its supports crossfire.

[Nox]

Intel motherboards are SLI ready - they just haven't got the official SLI branding or enabled in BIOS. I'd watch out for BIOS updates in the near future after AMD buying out ATI ;)

Also you can get cracked drivers to enable SLI on Intel boards but obviously wouldn't recommend that...

StarMonkey

They are not SLI ready!!!! thats why they have no branding - if they were SLI ready, they would have a sticker :)

This doesn't mean you can't get SLI to work though, but you do need those drivers, and although they are talked about a LOT, finding an active dowload location is not... easy.

Nox

[Nox]

Simplified: can you use nvidia cards on this board even though its supports crossfire.

Yes, but if you want SLI - its a bit of work. I am not sure how the 7950 sits in this scheme of things either.

Nox

[lemonmike]

Cheers nox for the quick reply, at least i can now compare the cards ( ati v nvidia) and get the best for my money :D

[Nox]

if this helps:

ATI chipset - RD600? looks promising, will support crossfire and a single nvidia card* may well clock quite high, or low, no one who knows is allowed to tell us yet...

Intel i975/965 chipset - looks strong, supports crossfire, and single nvidia card*, some boards are certainly better than others, and certainly more expensive. ABIT AW9-MAX looks like it will do 500Mhz on the chipset, ASUS P5W64 - 450+, then most of the rest around 400-450

nvidias n590 - C19 revision will do 325 - bios locked at that, probably as it won't go higher. ie on a E6600 325*9=2925 - not huge. Looks great to pair with an X6800 though where the multiplier is not a problem. their next revision is C55 - everyone is hoping it will be faster, but I think most people were expecting a lot more out of the current one. BUT... you CAN run SLI on this, no trouble what so ever...

* - get the hacked drivers and SLI will work, but they aren't exactly public...

Sorry, that wasn't really short :) but one big thing to remember - nvidia is your choice if you want to dabble in linux, ATI barely acknowledges its existance.

Nox

[teknokid]

im looking to get the p5n32 premium to run quad sli. im gonna use a core 2 6600. i was gonna oc it to 3ghz. will that still be possible and why cant it go much further. thanks

teknokid

[StarMonkey]

Intel motherboards are SLI ready - they just haven't got the official SLI branding or enabled in BIOS. I'd watch out for BIOS updates in the near future after AMD buying out ATI ;)

Also you can get cracked drivers to enable SLI on Intel boards but obviously wouldn't recommend that...

StarMonkey

They are not SLI ready!!!! thats why they have no branding - if they were SLI ready, they would have a sticker :)

This doesn't mean you can't get SLI to work though, but you do need those drivers, and although they are talked about a LOT, finding an active dowload location is not... easy.

Nox

Trust me they are SLI ready - they don't have the sticker because it costs money to sticker them up - i.e. nVidia charge a license fee. There will be an updated BIOS close by for the higher end boards now ATI are AMD. As soon as the BIOS is out the branding will appear.

p.s. By SLI ready I mean the hardware won't need changing to a newer revision to support SLI

StarMonkey

[teknokid]

xan some1 answer my above post?

[Nox]

well, overclocking is never guaranteed, and the quad sli thing... well, it hmmmm, have a read on xtremesystems and make up your mind :) (and try and find the drivers lol)

Nox

[teknokid]

i aint gonna be getting it till xmas so im sure the drivers will be around by then.

[Nox]

found em last night - I can email people a link to em if needed, or bung em on my ftp server, though only have 50mb, and they take up half that :(

Nox