Bad Axe 2 or P5W64-WS Pro

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bananadude

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
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Have narrowed my motherboard choice down to the Intel BAD AXE 2 vs the Asus P5W64-WS Pro. Which should I go for do you think?

I will be running an E6600, 2GB Teem Xtreem 6400 RAM and a BFG 8800GTX. I plan to overclock, but not to the point of destruction as it's not something I've done before so I will take it easy.

Here in the UK where I live, the Intel is noticeably cheaper than the Asus (£25 less, which is about $50). I don't mind paying the extra if I'll get a better board out of it, but I'm a bit discouraged by some of the issues I've read about with Asus, in particular their customer support. Going Intel on Intel seems more logical to me, but I don't know.

Any advice much appreciated.

:)
 
I'd get the Asus board myself. I have the P5W DH and I think it's a great board.
 
I love my Bad Axe 2 and have no complaints with it. Go for it, especially since it is the cheaper choice. I do not think you will regret the Bad Axe 2, at all. :D
 
I've looked at this in great depth & would have to agree gwhall007, the XBX2 is a great board (I bought one lol).

It may not clock to the extreme, but it will overclock very nicely & provide rock-solid stability to boot.

Currently running mine with an 8800GTX - word of warning, quite a few games are having issues with the 8800 cards. I didn't realize until it was in my box, and I certainly didn't read of them when checking out reviews/benchmarks - perhaps I should have been more thorough. That said it is pant-wetingly fast & I'm sure that the drivers will get sorted down the line.

I've included a thread so that you're aware of potential problems.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=82074&page=8

Cheers,

Jelly :)
 
asus. because the multi adjustment works, better oc bios, and its not built by foxconn. also, see what intel customer service has to say if you have questions/probs about overclocking. asus supports overclocking ootb. i know the current trendy thing is to say the bad axe 2 (but not actually buy one), but there you go.
 
2-2 then so far!

I've noticed (unsurprisingly perhaps) that those with the Asus board recommend the Asus, and those with the Intel recommend the Intel!. In all that I've read though, I've not seen anyone with a Bad Axe 2 moaning about stability issues, only a few minor gripes about the hard drive light and slightly odd bios config. And they are great overclockers by all accounts, but as I say, I'm new to this so plan on taking it easy anyway.

Asus I know are good boards, but I've read far more issues with them than Intel. There may be a few features that this board does better than the Bad Axe, but when all things are considered, given what I've read about it's rock solid stability and general use, the Intel seems to be the way to go I think. Plus it's quite a bit cheaper.

Not good about the 8800GTX problems then! I would hope subsequent drivers will sort most of those problems out, but given it's a DX10 card and DX10 hasn't seen the light of day yet, this maybe is to be expected.

:)
 
bananadude said:
Here in the UK where I live, the Intel is noticeably cheaper than the Asus (£25 less, which is about $50). )
Click to expand...
Scan have the oem Badaxe2 for under £130 which puts the difference at nearer £50 or $100 if you can live with the shorter warranty etc. compared to retail.

I'm finding it very hard to choose between the DFI Infinity @ £100, abit AWD-MAX & the Intel @ £130 as they each have their good points :confused:

Tony @ OCZ reckons that they are the 3 best desktop 975 boards.
 
maybe you should consider the p5w-dh, which doesnt have the 4 pcie slots the quad has, but is a great board, mature bios, stable, tons of features, ton of accesories, huge installed base (for help/experience from brother p5w owners), cheaper than the ws quad, and like i mentioned before, a working multi adjust (bx2 does not have this). i had one for around 5 or 6 months and cant remember a single issue with this board. upgraded to i680 for sli support.
if not, i hear the dfi board is now working fine since some bios updates.
good luck.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
...a working multi adjust (bx2 does not have this)...
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What is this and what impact does not having it have for the Bad Axe 2?

One thing that bothered me about the Asus boards was the heatpipe feature. I have a Lian Li V2000 case, and the motherboard configuration in that makes it upside down, which I have been told is bad for any heatpipe feature on a motherboard.
 
bananadude said:
What is this and what impact does not having it have for the Bad Axe 2?

One thing that bothered me about the Asus boards was the heatpipe feature. I have a Lian Li V2000 case, and the motherboard configuration in that makes it upside down, which I have been told is bad for any heatpipe feature on a motherboard.
Click to expand...

the multiplier adjustment for the cpu ie, 4x thru either 7/8/9/10/11x used for overclocking your fsb. this does not work on the bx2, limiting you to your cpu's top multiplier. this is one of the reasons people jumped to amd from intel several years ago. amd had official multi adjust. so if your cpu has a multiplier of 8x, and can overclock to 3200mhz, you are limited to a 400mhz fsb. with adjustable multis, you can run, 7x 457, or 6x 533, etc, etc. possibly this will be fixed in the future. possibly. but right now, it works on all the other c2d mainboards afaik.

asus tech support says that having the board upside down does not adversely affect the cooling of their heatpipe config. and if it does, just turn your case upside down (jk).
 
Have the P5W64 and like it a lot. That said the Intel isn't a "bad" choice, especially if you are looking to trim some costs to spend more in other areas. However someone pointed out that if you can live with the lesser SATA ports and slightly different slot arrangement, the P5WDH is a very good board as well, and might be a better comparison to the Intel board.

But high end performance with rock solid ability, the P5W64 is very good.

Might I also suggest a look into the P5B Deluxe 965 board? It'd be worth a few various forum reads to see if it's compromises and highlights are of interest.
 
Agghh...decisions, decisions. Still torn between the BX2 and P5W64. Got to make a decision somehow though! Maybe I'll just toss a coin... :D
 
Quality of both is good so look at the features and see which suits your needs best. The P5W64 WS Pro is a server mobo whereas the BA2 is Intel's version of a 570 enthusiast (overclocking) mobo. The P5W64 runs about $295 US and the BA2 runs about $200 US. Do you need the features of the server mobo and its higher cost? If not get the BA2.
 
All I can say is you will not be disappointed by the BX2.

I myself was asking the same question just a few weeks ago, and was considering both of these boards with an open mind. The P5W charges all sorts of extra money for gizmos like a remote control and other completely useless shelf-space shit.

In terms of performance, the differences are marginal, especailly to an OC newcomer who won't be benchmarking every minor update to his bios.

I have my e6600 running right now at 3.5GHz 100% stable, ORTHOS tested for 15 hours, maxing out at around 55C. (With a Tuniq Tower 120.) My teamgroup DDRII-667 3-3-3-8 RAM is running at DDRII-776 3-3-3-9 without any problems (tested in memtest86 for an hour).

Like you've said based on your research, the P5W has a vast range of tedious issues (check the 100+ page thread on them here at xtremesystesms), and if you aren't a hardcore enthusiast who is willing to delve into these problems and solve them gleefully, you might as well save yourself the trouble, because the payoff, when compared to the BX2, just isn't worth it.

This is spoken from a guy whose previous board was an Asus, and whose current is a BX2. I (unlike 90% of the posters you'll see) have no brand name f4nb0yism, just common sense practicality: While you can expect to pay extra for useless trinkets and have more significant problems with the P5W, you can expect to have straightforward functionality and rock solid stability with the BX2, along with acceptable overclocking potential (especially for a newcomer).
 
uberwurst said:
This is spoken from a guy whose previous board was an Asus, and whose current is a BX2. I (unlike 90% of the posters you'll see) have no brand name f4nb0yism, just common sense practicality: While you can expect to pay extra for useless trinkets and have more significant problems with the P5W, you can expect to have straightforward functionality and rock solid stability with the BX2, along with acceptable overclocking potential (especially for a newcomer).
Click to expand...
That last paragraph is pushing me pretty firmly into the BX2 camp. Will be ordering tmrw, so at the moment, BX2 it is! :) ...that is until some Asus lover jumps on the bandwagon here and praises their P5W to the heavens! :D
 
I'm glad, I really think you would be happy with it. (Hence my bothering to come back and check the post :) )
 
That would seem to be quite illogical captain, given that I am looking to obtain rock solid stability. Have you seen all the threads with problems (and not minor ones) with the 680? I have no interest in SLI, and given all the problems people are having, those boards really don't appeal to me.

:)
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
dont get either. get the evga i680. or the asus p5n32e. or the dfi i680 board.
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680 chipset is most problematic chipset at the moment. Don't recommend those boards.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
dont get either. get the evga i680. or the asus p5n32e. or the dfi i680 board.
Click to expand...

If the user isn't looking for SLI support, the Intel chipset based boards are the best choices at the moment.
 
Indeed. I started this thread having ruled out the 680 already given all the issues I've read about them here and elsewhere. No end of problems. I'm sure many will get ironed out over time, but SLI is of no interest to me and even if the board has potential to be a 975X beater, it's not living up to that potential at the moment, so those boards aren't even on my radar.

:)
 
well just for informational purposes, i have had 2 evga i680's (i blew the first one up) and both have been flawless. as far as i know those issues were cleared up with a bios update a couple weeks ago, anyway. as for not using sli, you are not using crossfire either, is that stopping you from considering the bx2 or the p5w? will you be using the 4 pcie slots on the p5w? will you be using every feature on those boards? sli is just a feature to be used or not used, like extra sata conrtrollers, etc.
the asus p5w is a great board, but i dont know about that foxconn board, to tell you the truth. i havent had much luck with them.
 
I don't think any recent BIOS updates have cleared up all the 680 issues. Lots of people still with big problems from what I see. But you're right, I'm not using Crossfire either, but overall I'm looking at the 680 and seeing a more expensive board (not insignificantly so) which lots of people are still having issues with. And then I'm looking at the BX2, which is cheaper and has no issues with stability. It may not have certain features that some people want in a board, and it's far from perfect, but it seems like it will fulfill all my needs. The P5W64 is a close call, no doubt it's a great board, but it's almost the same price as the 680, and I can't really see a justification to spend the extra. Stability is my main priority - a few % less for overclocking, a slightly more fiddly bios and a dodgy hd light I can live with I think.
 
your oc will be limited by the unavailability of multipliers. i use my hd lite all the time to check if i am booting up or hung, or to see if my levels are loading, etc. i would really dislike not having one. also, there is a very good chance the bx2 you buy will be one manufactured by foxconn. go with the asus . good luck.
 
dont know. foxconn did manufacture the socket am2 570/590 reference boards. but they did not manufacture the asus boards.
 
uberwurst said:
...I have my e6600 running right now at 3.5GHz 100% stable, ORTHOS tested for 15 hours, maxing out at around 55C. (With a Tuniq Tower 120.) My teamgroup DDRII-667 3-3-3-8 RAM is running at DDRII-776 3-3-3-9 without any problems (tested in memtest86 for an hour).
Click to expand...
That doesn't sound particularly limited to me though. And my spec is going to be virtually identical - e6600, Tuniq 120, 8800GTX and Team RAM. If he can achieve that, then it doesn't give me much cause for concern. But you're saying otherwise?

:confused:
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
well just for informational purposes, i have had 2 evga i680's (i blew the first one up) and both have been flawless.

....but i dont know about that foxconn board, to tell you the truth. i havent had much luck with them.
Click to expand...

According to your first sentence, you are having "flawless" luck with them.. Foxconn manufactures the reference Nvidia 680i boards ;)
NVIDIA knows that this is the case too, and have taken a huge step in controlling the quality of the motherboards that their chipsets reside on. As with the NVIDIA-based FoxConn motherboard we reviewed on the 590’s launch day, this eVGA board shown to you here is also an NVIDIA reference design. Not only is it reference, NVIDIA had the board built again by FoxConn, and branded specifically for eVGA. Other partners such as BFGTech will carry this exact same motherboard with their own branding on it.
Click to expand...

Link
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
?????
ba2 is 975x. not 570.
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Yeah, my bad. I keep saying 570 when I mean to say 975. Too many different numbers to remember with all these mobos. :D
 
bananadude said:
That doesn't sound particularly limited to me though. And my spec is going to be virtually identical - e6600, Tuniq 120, 8800GTX and Team RAM. If he can achieve that, then it doesn't give me much cause for concern. But you're saying otherwise?

:confused:
Click to expand...

I really shouldn't've indicated that it was limited, cause in reality it isn't when stacked up to some of the most hardcore enthusiast boards.

You can see some of the complaints on this thread here (no CPU multiplier editor, as if that even mattered with an e6600, disfunctional HD LED light, etc).

Personally, I just didn't plug in the HD LED light, and it doesn't bother me at all. I have faith such a slight issue will be taken care of in a future BIOS update anyway. I don't see how this should be considered a make-or-break factor in your decision.

I highly recommend you check out this thread over at XtremSystems. If any doubts remain, it ought to allay them. The sheer number of people switching from the P5W to the BX2 is indication enough (and the lack of people going from BX2 to P5W speaks for itself).

Hope this finally convinces you, as I know you will be pleased with this board :)
 
Literally just ordered the BX2 this second, so I'm sure I'll be happy with it! :p Thanks for all your advice. Much appreciated! ;)
 
According to your first sentence, you are having "flawless" luck with them.. Foxconn manufactures the reference Nvidia 680i boards
Click to expand...

Uh no, they don't. As mentioned, they made the reference 570/590 boards for AM2. eVGA and Nvidia teamed together to make the 680i board for Intel 775.
 
fireluxx said:
Uh no, they don't. As mentioned, they made the reference 570/590 boards for AM2. eVGA and Nvidia teamed together to make the 680i board for Intel 775.
Click to expand...

The reference board, eVGA, XFX, BFG, Biostar, ECS, Foxconn and probably other boards are all identical. I doubt it was just eVGA and Nvidia teaming together. AFAIK, Foxconn did make the eVGA board.
 
I am also considering the Bad Axe 2 and several other boards.
From what I've heard the BX2 is the one you want for the new or
slight OCer (as I am).

With the newest nvidia boards your rolling the dice for problems.

Basically, stability is the only factor worth considering before trying the
OC. For me, I'm at this point in time, going with the BX2, but not until
tax return time...my 2 cents
 
Another nod for the Bad Axe 2 (D975XBX2).

Check out the 28 pages about the board on xtremesystems. 28 pages of people NOT having problems. Now theres something you don't see every day!
 
To all who have gone with the BAD AXE 2...

wisechoicebx2fn7.jpg


:D
 
I never thought I'd see the day when an Intel motherboard would get recommendations for use in anything other than stock clocked systems.
 
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