Re: Cost-effective Quad core system

R wrote:
> I've been trying to configure a second system using PCI boards. Since
> I'll need as many slots as possible, the GA-P35-S3G was recommended.
> (I haven't been able to locate a similar ASUS board---does anything
> exist?)
>
> I'd be using the system for downloads, background processing, etc. so
> I'm considering:
>
> GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3G LGA 775 $75
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=GA-P35-DS3
> Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz $220
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017
> Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 8500) $80
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134655
>
> A couple points that I'd like to clarify:
>
> Does anyone make equivalent RAM in 2GB package? It would be nice to
> save the other two slots.
>
> Any compelling reason to go with the Quad Q9300 Yorkfield? It's $280,
> and I didn't think the faster FSB would merit that. But not sure.
>
> AND...I have Matrox P650 AGP video cards. I'm not a gamer, so I don't
> need anything faster. And the P650 occupies only one slot, and doesn't
> need a fan. Unfortunately the Gigabyte motherboard does not have an
> AGP slot. Anything come to mind re video boards?
>
> Random speculation welcome.
>
> PS: The only AGP-based motherboards that I found for Quad were ASRock.
> I have no idea what to expect there. Plus I think their RAM maxes out
> at 2GB.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157115

Is this the Gigabyte board with the five PCI slots you were interested in ?
It looks like it is still in stock. (GA-P35-S3G $75)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128084

The best overclocking bang for bucks, is supposed to be the Q6600.
The Q9300 is FSB1333, so not as much room to overclock it. The
Q6600 G0 draws 95W, so it'll get a bit warm. The Q9300 appears
to be the same power rating.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLAWE (Q9300)
http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLACR (Q6600)

You can buy 2GB sized modules - just look through the Newegg memory
listing for some.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ubcategory=147

Paul

R wrote:

> Thanks. Looks like Newegg makes a good search engine. <g>
>
> Any opinions on the lower cost RAM? I think your page indicates that
> would be Mushkin vs OCZ vs Geil. Unless you do this constantly, it's
> tough to relate specs for timing and voltage, etc back to real-world
> performance. If there's a difference in reliability, that's generally
> the thing that tips the scales for me. But all three of those brands
> have good reviews on that page.
>

About all I can suggest, is to check the customer reviews. That
will give some idea as to how many DOA sticks there were, or
early problems with errors and the like.

If I needed more user feedback, I might have a look here.
If their search engine is not working, you can always use
an external search engine that supports domain specific searches.
(The one I use, is the second link.)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/

http://www.altavista.com/web/adv

Paul

"R" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>
> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>
> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
> etc.?

I've had both and currently running a Gigabyte Ga-P35-DS4 rev 2.0 and to be
honest I think both have their problems. I think I'm going to try DFI next.
I have heard some really positive things about both DFI and EVGA.

Good Luck
Tim

"R" <> wrote in message
news...
> On Sun, 18 May 2008 18:34:31 -0700, "Tim S." <> wrote:
>
>>
>>"R" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
>>> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
>>> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>>>
>>> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
>>> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
>>> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>>>
>>> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
>>> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
>>> etc.?
>>
>>I've had both and currently running a Gigabyte Ga-P35-DS4 rev 2.0 and to
>>be
>>honest I think both have their problems. I think I'm going to try DFI
>>next.
>>I have heard some really positive things about both DFI and EVGA.
>>
>>Good Luck
>>Tim
>
> That doesn't sound promising. I've used Asus for many years, and
> always had faith in their quality. Now they seem to be trending toward
> the same mass-produced low-quality that characterized their
> competition in the past. You have to wonder why they would not try to
> maintain their distinct spot in the marketplace.
>
> I was hoping to choose by feature set, but the comments about quality
> lapse of Asus put a different spin on things. Given the disastrous
> consequences of motherboard failure, I will definitely spend more for
> some insurance. And forego a few ports or whatever.
>
> So, are DFI and EVGA the way to go? Anyone?
>

Check out the Motherboard reviews on www.newegg.com Maybe that could ease
some of your fears.

Tim

"Monty" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Tim S." <> wrote:
>
>>
>>"R" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
>>> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
>>> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>>>
>>> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
>>> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
>>> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>>>
>>> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
>>> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
>>> etc.?
>>
>>I've had both and currently running a Gigabyte Ga-P35-DS4 rev 2.0 and to
>>be
>>honest I think both have their problems.
> I am running the same board with an Intel 6750 and have had no
> problems in 6 months. Would you care to describe the problems with
> the Gigabyte board that you are aware of?
>
> Monty

Monty,

You may want to go to www.forums.tweaktown.com and look around. Do a search
on DPC latency spiking and then just look at a few of the other posts on
this board. It seems that most all new Gigabyte boards have problems with
little or no support from Gigabyte.

Tim

"Monty" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Tim S." <> wrote:
>
>>
>>"R" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
>>> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
>>> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>>>
>>> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
>>> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
>>> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>>>
>>> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
>>> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
>>> etc.?
>>
>>I've had both and currently running a Gigabyte Ga-P35-DS4 rev 2.0 and to
>>be
>>honest I think both have their problems.
> I am running the same board with an Intel 6750 and have had no
> problems in 6 months. Would you care to describe the problems with
> the Gigabyte board that you are aware of?
>
> Monty

Monty,

You may want to go to forums.tweaktown.com and look around. Do a search
on DPC latency spiking and then just look at a few of the other posts on
this board. It seems that most all new Gigabyte boards have problems with
little or no support from Gigabyte.

Tim

"Tim S." <> wrote in message
news:CdeYj.68058$...
>
> "Monty" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> "Tim S." <> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"R" <> wrote in message
>>>news: ...
>>>> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
>>>> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
>>>> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>>>>
>>>> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
>>>> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
>>>> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>>>>
>>>> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
>>>> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
>>>> etc.?
>>>
>>>I've had both and currently running a Gigabyte Ga-P35-DS4 rev 2.0 and to
>>>be
>>>honest I think both have their problems.
>> I am running the same board with an Intel 6750 and have had no
>> problems in 6 months. Would you care to describe the problems with
>> the Gigabyte board that you are aware of?
>>
>> Monty
>
> Monty,
>
> You may want to go to forums.tweaktown.com and look around. Do a search
> on DPC latency spiking and then just look at a few of the other posts on
> this board. It seems that most all new Gigabyte boards have problems with
> little or no support from Gigabyte.
>
> Tim
>

Errr try this link http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/

On Mon, 19 May 2008 06:36:32 -0400, R <> wrote:

>>> That doesn't sound promising. I've used Asus for many years, and
>>> always had faith in their quality. Now they seem to be trending toward
>>> the same mass-produced low-quality that characterized their
>>> competition in the past. You have to wonder why they would not try to
>>> maintain their distinct spot in the marketplace.
>>>
>>> I was hoping to choose by feature set, but the comments about quality
>>> lapse of Asus put a different spin on things. Given the disastrous
>>> consequences of motherboard failure, I will definitely spend more for
>>> some insurance. And forego a few ports or whatever.
>>>
>>> So, are DFI and EVGA the way to go? Anyone?
>>>
>>
>>Check out the Motherboard reviews on www.newegg.com Maybe that could ease
>>some of your fears.
>>
>>Tim
>
>Or instill more fear and trepidation. <g> I appreciate the
>recommendation, but so many of those reviews are posted by people with
>relatively narrow experience. Tough to sort them out, so I figured I'd
>ask here. There are some (like Paul) who obviously have quite a bit of
>experience. I've seen some great comments of features, but given the
>comments I've seen on some hardware websites, I thought it would be
>best to review things from the viewpoint of reliability.
>
>After all, those nice features won't be of use if the board fails. <g>


Another thought is to pick a candidate mobo manufacturere and see if
there is a newsgroup for that brand and visit there to ask opinions.
(It looks like you're already doing that for Asus and Gigabyte. What
are you hearing in the GB group?)

Reply-to address is real
John

Somewhere on teh intarweb "georgie" typed:
> On Tue, 20 May 2008 07:32:47 -0400, R <> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> Nothing really conclusive from the Gigabyte group, but some mention
>> of 'little support.' That's a major thing. I'm still not decided
>> but now tending toward the Asus P5K-E.
>
>
> The best thing to do is read a lot of reviews and try and look for
> the people who obviously know what they're talking about and not the
> "gee mine is great" idiots.

Gee, my P5K-E (WiFi/AP) is great!!!!!!!

Seriously, it's a good board. I've had it through about 6 BIOS updates, it's
running my E4500 (2.2GHz stock) at 3.2GHz (400/1600 FSB) just fine. In fact
it'll run it at 3.3GHz (413/1652 FSB) Prime/Orthos-stable too but I always
like to back off a notch or two unless I really need the power.

Any of the P5K range *lower* than the -E version are to be avoided IMO. They
only have a 3-phase VRM (compared to 8-phase in the -E and above).

As a fairly knowledgeable PC guy who's been building my own machines since
the 486 days, I heartilly recommend the P5K-E.
--
Shaun.

In article <>,
says...
> Not trying to start a bar fight. I was ready to buy a new Asus
> motherboard, but noticed some comments about them on some of the tech
> sites. Looks like Asus has a bit of smoke in the cockpit as of late.
>
> Some say that Gigabyte is now a better bet (yeah, it's always a
> gamble), but to be fair, I've seen other comments that say "Asus is
> getting as bad as Gigabyte."
>
> Again, I know I'm just playing the odds, but is there any truth in
> comments about Gigabyte having any edge in quality of components,
> etc.?
>

I've had a few Asus boards over the years, and they've been up
and down. The TX-97 I had was crap, another one was ace. Their
good ones have always been *good*, their not so good ones ...
ouch. And that's been going on for the 20 or so years that I've
been messing about inside computers' guts.

I've also been an Abit fan for a long time. But - um, I've no
idea what happened with them. One thing I know, all the Abit
boards I had were very very good, except for the bx-133-raid
which had the bad capacitor issue, but was brilliant while it
worked. But I declined to buy one of their new ones because
they've excluded too much backwards compatibility. Sorry, but I
still want a com port, a parallel port and a couple of IDE
ports on my mobo.

Comes along Gigabyte. I had issues with one board in the past,
and sent it back. I now think the problem was actually my
satellite internet card, but that's beside the point, couldn't
install OS & drivers properly at the time.

But I've built a number of machines for other people with
Gigabyte boards since, and not a hitch, not a one.

For backwards compatibility I chose the N650sli-ds4 from
Gigabyte. This has, so they claim, especially been designed for
durability. Solid caps, more voltage regulators around the cpu
than any other mainboard of its class, 2 ide, legacy connectors
at the back. It's been simply brilliant in the 9 months or so
that I've had it now. Rock solid.

I sometimes wonder why I never see any queries or comments
about this board here. Either it's so bloody good, that nobody
has problems, or else nobody but me bought one. I wonder .....

Gigabyte tried to break into the market by being a cheap
manufacturer. Now that they are established, it's my impression
that they are trying to make a reputation for themselves by
building *solid*, i.e. reliable and robust stuff. I've used
plenty of their various cards (video, mostly, but etc) and
they've all performed reasonably well or above.

-Peter



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