Core i7

[Wizard]

Re: Core i7

nice stuff. except what about this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131347

Cheers, Wizard

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Eh, it's one of those skinny boards. I like the look of the big bertha ones.

Plus I don't plan on overclocking. Rock-solid reliability is my #1 concern.

[Wizard]

Re: Core i7

Size doesn't matter. I had slim ones, Giant ones, tiny ones, ITX, etc.

I was giving you choices. P45 is much better in regard to what P43 has and YES I do care about stability.

Cheers, Wizard

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

I've had major troubles with Asus. That Intel board would work just fine. Just make sure it has all the features you want before you order it; Intel boards are usually legacy free.

If I had to recommend a 775 board, it would be:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138123

[i4004]

Re: Core i7

i have asus board, and next time i would pick intel board...better to say i would pick intel that time too if it wasn't for a fact that intel didn't provide win2k drivers for the board...and asus did, so asus won.
(transferring everything i have on win2k to xp really breaks my balls....i love the working stby of xp(versus broken one on win2k) but every now and then it's just PITA to transfer that one program that i need etc.)

asus is fine(asus with intel chipsets), but intel is better.

[Wizard]

Re: Core i7

Biostar!!? This is not good boards FWIW as I avoid these boards.

Sorry to hear you have problems with Asus, this is my major picks, providing that pick a good board with good chipsets not the VIA or Nforce versions. I once bought MSI and thought decent board because of multi-MOSFETs, a prime requirement on athlon boards, AMD specifies must be 2 phase or above, NO ELSE back then. Few years later when I retired this junk was horrified to see 3x2 MOSFETs totem pole in one phase and heatsink was simply stuck on them with double sided thin tape (not thermal tape). Trashed for parts.

Intel boards are NICE but the cost (!!) and very severely limited bios, and sometimes puzzling designs. Like using a MOSFET as linear regulators for a chipset and running hot on many of intel boards and damage the PCB (browned). Ditto to need to have well filtered -12V and -5V on a D945GCLF or I get lines. Traditionally -Ve voltage is *legacy* and was only used for serial due to very low current rating (500mA on both).

Asus uses switching regulators on everything and where necessary linear regulators for very low current use (run cool or lukewarm) these days.

Cheers, Wizard

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

I've sold *many* Biostar based systems over the years and they've all been stable. More so than the Asus stuff I've used. In fact, the only issue I've had with one is one that came in for service (that I didn't sell) that used an old P3 era Celeron. The OST caps on the VRM had bulged. Once recapped it went back to being stable. That's the only issue. Asus on the other hand... don't get me started. The failure rate on their stuff is approaching 100%. It's only saved from total failure by some C90S laptops I sold.

Asus used to be a good brand years ago. IMHO, today they're total crap.

[370forlife]

Re: Core i7

I use a biostar board in my main computer, it is a Biostar Tpower N750 with a nvidia 750a chipset. It has no stability problems whatsoever, 100% ucc solid caps, all down to the smallest of them. Fanless chipset heatsink with a big heatsink on the VRM that is connected to the chipset heatsink by heatpipe.

The Biostar x58 motherboard has the overclocking record with a I7 940 @ 4.8ghz.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138135

[i4004]

Re: Core i7

> The failure rate on their stuff is approaching 100%.

asus mobos with intel chipsets?
and what issues exactly(ie most problematic places)?

[NxB]

Re: Core i7

No probs on my AMD biostar either.

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

> The failure rate on their stuff is approaching 100%.

asus mobos with intel chipsets?
and what issues exactly(ie most problematic places)?

No. Just their Nforce stuff. The equivalent Biostar Nforce stuff has worked well. That means the problem was Asus. The problems? Random rebooting, corrupted data, overheating chipsets, not recognizing the video card after 2 years even though the card works well in another computer, etc. General crap you don't want a customer to see.

I'm not going further into it so as to not derail this thread.

[370forlife]

Re: Core i7

My friend had problems with his asus motherboard, has a ati crossfire chipset and a core2duo 3ghz, it had random rebooting and overheating.

At first I though it was his solytech rosewill 450W that came with his case, but the problem persisted with a corsair 400W. Then we took off the chipset heatsink to find no thermal paste! No wonder it overheated and bsod'd and randomly restarted. Some thermal paste at radio shack and its running good now.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

I don't like those skinny boards just because they make whatever case they're mounted in look half empty. It's just one those things that bug me. My electronics OCD, one could say.

Wizard, I was not saying that the board you suggested was unstable or anything, just that it's more of an enthusiast/overclocker board and I'm looking for something SOLID. I don't care about any fancy features or extra stuff.

I'll look at P45 boards. What do you guys think of Gigabyte?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Hey, any thoughts on this puppy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130184

I know everyone's experiences with brands differ, but ye olde faithful HP Pavilion 753n, my first computer (which is now the downstairs family computer), has NEVER given me ANY shit in what is soon to be seven years of daily use. It's got an MSI board, so I would definitely feel confident about going MSI.

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

I have a single Gigabyte P35 board out there. The BIOS options took a little getting used to but I guess it worked ok. I still prefer the Biostar stuff though. I did get a somewhat DOA Gigabyte board once. It powered on once. I went into the BIOS to load optimal settings, exit, and it would never POST again. Even after clearing the CMOS with the jumper. That board got sent back and replaced with a Biostar and everything was then fine.

I have very little experience with MSI except my Wind netbook, which works well.

[i4004]

Re: Core i7

gigabyte and msi are ok too. by now most mfrs solved badcaps issue, either by using solids, or by getting better quality caps, and also mfrs themselves know they were wrong and corrected it...(not that badcaps won't find their way to any mobo available, but on asus, msi and gyte they probably won't).

and mobos with same chipset probably have very simillar performance...
so if you pick any of those brands you won't go wrong....

as for durability, those with ALL solid caps will probably outlast intel with some "classic" caps...
and asus, msi, gbyte and biostar(and many others) all make such mobos.

msi mobo you linked seems to have pretty well solved cooling...

i would say that with intel chipset and these known names mobos you won't go wrong.
but otoh, intel probably invests more time to test new bios and compatibility etc.

but overall chances are rather slim buying any of those will compromise stability etc.
(it's not that stability of my asus board is poor, but some different things, like for example upgrading bios made it go to infinite on/off loop without anything on display...resetting cmos solved it...there was a discussion between me and per regarding asus boards some time ago, try locating it if you wanna know more...)

in the end it boils down to matter or personal taste when it comes to brands, ie it comes to almost nothing...heh...

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

I think another part of it is how far motherboard manufacturers deviate from the "reference" BIOS and board design. I get the feeling that the farther they go, the more problems they're likely to have.

[i4004]

Re: Core i7

yes, that's the main thing i was reffering to....what they do with the bios...


but the bios itself has very limited influence on the stability itself, as newer os don't ask for bios help to do things...

once os is loaded most of bios is idle...or all of it...

bios aside, they're adding those legacy ata controllers etc. and yeah, one very much doubts that will do any good for stability...the more they add or mod, the more chances they messed it up somehwere.
that's a good point.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Core i7

I'll say this on the opinion of different manufacturers;
Asus has a very good reputation, and in my opinion it is undeserved, mostly because of their poor tech support which (a few) manufacturers have much better (in my opinion)

Many other manufacturers have poor reputation, and much of it is just old gruff because they made some crap board like 10 years ago
Just because manufacturer X makes a lemon or two does not mean they can't improve

Therefore I agree on the opinion that the lesser known guys like Biostar etc can proably make a very good board, and they would have to try hard (IMO) to have crappier tech support than Asus...

Also remember that there are very few actual manufacturers of mainboards, most of these guys just rebrand and resell with their name

Foxconn is an actual mainboard manufacturer and I've heard good things about them, so just because no one else has mentioned them I will

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186153

[i4004]

Re: Core i7

we did...we mentioned intel, and foxconn makes their mobos...hehe....
this article says that asus is too
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...e-cripple-asus