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Freezebyte
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2008
- Messages
- 2,403
Ok, so I finally decided that i'm not going to going to wait and pay the premium prices that Nehahelm will be, whenever it launches that is anyway. That, and I have no idea if their will be even any mATX boards available at launch. That being said, Intels curent Core 2 Quads are gonna be a BIG increase from my single old 3700+ and that will make me happy as a clown along with the rest of my system upgrade. I"ve been doing my research at it looks likes the two big boys in the fight for gaming mATX supremacy is between the ASUS P5Q-EM and the DFI lanparty JR P45 T2RS.
EDIT: Anandtech is doing G/P45 board reviews and the first part includes the P5Q-EM
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3417
In the one corner, we have the ASUS P5Q-EM which I am partial to due to my years of good experience with Asus and the quality of their motherboards. For the msot part, this mobo apparently has had a good track record. However, its seems from other forums concerning adding expansion PCI-E graphics cards cause this board to have major issues. I'm getting opinions and viewpoints both ways. Peeps here tell me that they've had good luck with no troubles running higher end seperate video cards and no issues with the onboard vide
n the other hand, other forums including AVSforums, Asus's website and Anandtech are reporting huge issues with running expansion video cards and it seem neither Intel or Asus is giving up much info or hope to solve this issue. This doesn't give me a great confidence to say the least and makes more confused on what the hell is going on here.
In the other corner, we have a newcomer to my world of motherboard usage, the DFI lanparty JR P45 T2RS. I"ve heard about DFI for a few years but never considered them as I was always a devout Asus follower. This board has a big plus of not having ANY onboard video and as such, has not been having issues with onboard/expansion video problems that the Asus seems to have. The darkness falls though on this board because apparently the PCI-E 16x spec is NOT accurate and that the boards limited to 8x mode in either single or dual. So, I don't get full specced PCI-E speed, but will that matter much for my usage? That, and the weird Halloween color is kinda ugly
So, I'm at a cross roads on what to do here. I guess worst case scenario if one doesn't work, I can go through the whole RMA/refund process and get the other version but i'd really rather not go through the headache if at all possible.I plan on pairing one of these boards with a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9400 or Q9550 depending on pricing and availiblity at purchasing time. I will be reusing my BFG 7800GTX until I decide on replacing it with something newer at a later time. On a final note. my setup WILL NOT be OCed for any shape or reason. The setup will initially run XP Pro until I decide wether Vista is worth my time. The setup will not be used heavily for gaming and will need to last 2-3 years time span before I upgrade/replace it.
Above all else, I want it to run STABLE and RELIABLE above speed. Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it alot.
EDIT: Anandtech is doing G/P45 board reviews and the first part includes the P5Q-EM
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3417
In the one corner, we have the ASUS P5Q-EM which I am partial to due to my years of good experience with Asus and the quality of their motherboards. For the msot part, this mobo apparently has had a good track record. However, its seems from other forums concerning adding expansion PCI-E graphics cards cause this board to have major issues. I'm getting opinions and viewpoints both ways. Peeps here tell me that they've had good luck with no troubles running higher end seperate video cards and no issues with the onboard vide
n the other hand, other forums including AVSforums, Asus's website and Anandtech are reporting huge issues with running expansion video cards and it seem neither Intel or Asus is giving up much info or hope to solve this issue. This doesn't give me a great confidence to say the least and makes more confused on what the hell is going on here.
In the other corner, we have a newcomer to my world of motherboard usage, the DFI lanparty JR P45 T2RS. I"ve heard about DFI for a few years but never considered them as I was always a devout Asus follower. This board has a big plus of not having ANY onboard video and as such, has not been having issues with onboard/expansion video problems that the Asus seems to have. The darkness falls though on this board because apparently the PCI-E 16x spec is NOT accurate and that the boards limited to 8x mode in either single or dual. So, I don't get full specced PCI-E speed, but will that matter much for my usage? That, and the weird Halloween color is kinda ugly
So, I'm at a cross roads on what to do here. I guess worst case scenario if one doesn't work, I can go through the whole RMA/refund process and get the other version but i'd really rather not go through the headache if at all possible.I plan on pairing one of these boards with a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9400 or Q9550 depending on pricing and availiblity at purchasing time. I will be reusing my BFG 7800GTX until I decide on replacing it with something newer at a later time. On a final note. my setup WILL NOT be OCed for any shape or reason. The setup will initially run XP Pro until I decide wether Vista is worth my time. The setup will not be used heavily for gaming and will need to last 2-3 years time span before I upgrade/replace it.
Above all else, I want it to run STABLE and RELIABLE above speed. Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it alot.
