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so many boards for P45, is there a real difference?

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Intrepid

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2002
Location
Boise, ID, USA
I'm considering a few different boards, but my requirements are: P45, DDR1200, 1600MHz FSB. Only need 1 PCIE x16 2.0 and need at least 6 SATA ports, maybe more. I'm considering four major brands, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, and Biostar.

ASUS has thier P5Q Delux whith its 16 phase power which supposedly makes it preform really well.

MSI has thier P45 premium which is a very attractive option for slightly less than the aforementioned ASUS board.

Gigabyte has so many different boards that I have no idea which of the GA-EP45 series to choose from, can anyone help me there?

Biostar's T-Power and T-Series options don't seem terribly stellar.

From these 4 brands, which has the best performance and OC (on air) record?
 
DFI makes the LANPARTY DK P45-T2RS, but it only supports DDR2 800 and 1333MHz CPU FSB, a little weaker than the competition.
 
It's come down to
ASUS P5Q Delux
MSI P45 Premium
Biostar TPower P45
Gigabyte EP45-DS4

I'm not sure if having DDR2 1200 is worth it? I can get some very nice DDR2 1100 from gskil, would the extra 100mhz make that much difference?
 
You'll never run your ram up that high, over 1000 is pushing it for DDR2.

No you don't really need 1200, but all of those boards you listed support it I believe.
 
Don't even look at the memory speeds supported. It means next to nothing if you plan on OCing.

Also, most RAM has to be set manually in the BIOS to the correct voltage, speed, and timings anyway.

I have DDR2-800, but I can go in the BIOS and set it to run at DDR2-1200 and it works just fine.
 
I've done some looking into the features and cost, I think I'll go with the P5Q-E. It is nicely under $200, seems to OC right up there with the reportedly record holding TPower from Biostar, and has 8 SATA ports on board (a must for me anyway).

Unless anyone knows of any serious issues with this board, which I haven't found any on this forum, I'd call it good here.
 
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