Help in chossing MOBO

carboncube · Aug 19, 2009

Hi, I want to build system around Core 2 Quad Q9550 or Q8400 (around 2500 rupess(INR) less compared to q9550).
In my area following ASUS MOBOs are available (increasing order of price):

1)ASUS P5Q Intel LGA775
2)Asus P5Q PRO Intel LGA775
3)Asus P5Q-E Intel LGA775

Which one is best MOBO for these processors?

Also I want to go for NVIDIA Graphics card. XFX 9600 or 9800, because they are in my budget.

Theocnoob · Aug 19, 2009

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131162
As per graphics, that gets you better performance than the 9800 for cheap.
Unless you have good airflow in your case I'd go with the pro just for the better southbridge cooling. I have the P5Q E at 450FSB and it's quite happy.

You are comfortable with over clocking and realize that with core architecture you have to overclock to reach the full potential of the chip and bus right?

Also, nobody here is familiar with rupees and conversion rates

Boulard83 · Aug 19, 2009

The straight P5Q is what i have ( i got 2). Have nice chipset cooling.

The PRO will support CF if you go ATI you can CF 2 cards ( a CF4850 is nice and really cheap )

For the GPU, like OCnoob told, the HD4850 is the BEST bang/buck. I paid 90$ for my HTPC gpu ...

carboncube · Aug 26, 2009

In these MOBOs, what is actually ATI Crossfire ? Does it mean that only ATI gfx cards can be used and not NVIDIA gfx cards??

I am thinking of "XFX Geforce 9600 gt std". Can I connect two "XFX Geforce 9600 gt std" to asus P5Q PRO or P5Q E mobo?

And also how will I know which version of BIOS the MOBO have before buying.
I am planning to buy "Core 2 Quad Q8400".

turbohans · Aug 26, 2009

not shure about the crosfire/sli cross compatability but I do LOVE my P5Q.

I just have the standard,, only one PCIe but IMHO Sli/Crossfire is only practical if your gonna run the fastest cards out there (like 2xGTX295).

I defiantly recommend the P45 chipset though for quad cores. (and that's in all of those)

edit: if you go with the Q84 you will need a lot higher FSB and faster ram to get to the same clocks as the Q9550, I run my Q8200 at 3.5ghz@500fsb witch stresses the P45 chipset a little but would be almost impossible on a P35 or even P43 chipset.

MattNo5ss · Aug 26, 2009

Theocnoob said:
Also, nobody here is familiar with rupees and conversion rates

I'm sure plenty of people here have played a Zelda game, and are familiar with rupees...

carboncube said:
In these MOBOs, what is actually ATI Crossfire ? Does it mean that only ATI gfx cards can be used and not NVIDIA gfx cards??

I am thinking of "XFX Geforce 9600 gt std". Can I connect two "XFX Geforce 9600 gt std" to asus P5Q PRO or P5Q E mobo?

And also how will I know which version of BIOS the MOBO have before buying.
I am planning to buy "Core 2 Quad Q8400".

Crossfire is ATI's version of nVidia's SLI, and vice versa. You can connect two nVidia cards for regular GPU + physx GPU, but they can't be put in SLI.

I don't think there is a way to know the BIOS version before buying unless it's printed on the box.

carboncube · Aug 26, 2009

You can connect two nVidia cards for regular GPU + physx GPU, but they can't be put in SLI.

You mean one card will act as a regular GPU to which display will be connected. And other will act as a physx GPU. And "physx GPU" will only do "physx" related processing. Will it improve FPS while gaming?
One more thing is can i use both of them for GPU computing in BOINC (say in GPUgrid)?

I don't think there is a way to know the BIOS version before buying unless it's printed on the box.

Why I asked this is because, On ASUS website, there is Core 2 Quad Q8400 support for BIOS version 2002 (MOBO: P5Q Pro). And I read somewhere that MOBO (P5Q Pro) is shipping with 0703 version (the article was dated July 2008). I hope it is now shipping with latest BIOS version. Any solution to this??

Plz help! thank you.

MattNo5ss · Aug 27, 2009

carboncube said:
You mean one card will act as a regular GPU to which display will be connected. And other will act as a physx GPU. And "physx GPU" will only do "physx" related processing. Will it improve FPS while gaming?
One more thing is can i use both of them for GPU computing in BOINC (say in GPUgrid)?

If you're playing a game that utilizes PhysX and you enable PhysX in the nVidia control panel, then the FPS should increase. I don't know from experience though...

You should be able to use multiple GPUs without SLI/Xfire in BOINC. I don't see why not.

carboncube said:
Why I asked this is because, On ASUS website, there is Core 2 Quad Q8400 support for BIOS version 2002 (MOBO: P5Q Pro). And I read somewhere that MOBO (P5Q Pro) is shipping with 0703 version (the article was dated July 2008). I hope it is now shipping with latest BIOS version. Any solution to this??

You can always just flash the BIOS to the newest version, you're not stuck with the BIOS that comes shipped with the MoBo.

carboncube · Aug 27, 2009

You can always just flash the BIOS to the newest version, you're not stuck with the BIOS that comes shipped with the MoBo.

Ya that i know, but say if processor is supporting to the latest BIOS, but not to the BIOS MoBo currently has, then what will happen if I connect CPU to MoBo and power on. And can BIOS be flashed without connecting CPU to MoBo?

freeagent · Aug 27, 2009

No, you have to have a cpu in the socket to flash. More then likely your board will support your cpu.. I recently was haveing some issues with my Rampage after a bios flash, and I bought a straight P5Q to see if it was my board.. or the 14gb of ram I have lol. It was 2 revisions behind what was currently out, and it recognised my ES cpu with no troubles at all. Same with my P5K Deluxe Wifi, and my Rampage Formula. It should fire right up for you :thup:

If you can find a Rampage open box at newegg or something, I would scoop it

carboncube · Sep 4, 2009

Thanx To You All.
Finally I got my new system with following configuration:
MOBO: ASUS P5Q-E
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9550
RAM : DDR2 1066 2GB Kingston HyperX Dual Channel Kit.
Power Supply: Corsair TX750W

Its running smooth

. Till now overclocked to 3.1GHz using EPU software (Turbo option) stable. Planning to do more soon ;-).

Help in chossing MOBO

carboncube

Registered

Theocnoob

Member

Boulard83

Member

carboncube

Registered

turbohans

Member

MattNo5ss

5up3r m0d3r4t0r

carboncube

Registered

MattNo5ss

5up3r m0d3r4t0r

carboncube

Registered

freeagent

Member

carboncube

Registered

Similar threads