argh, still unsure! motherboard choice

[Exavier]

I know I've been deliberating this a long time, but now I really can't decide

MSI P7N 750i Zilent Edition (comes with Zalman fan) £102
vs
Asus P5K-Deluxe Black Pearl £110-115

at the moment, SLI is more of a secondary concern; I'm waiting to see what the 99xx series will hold before splashing out fully.

I'm looking more at which can overclock a q6600 better; both are meant to be pretty good quad OCers, and the added Zalman HSF will help money-wise in the case of the MSI P7N, but the Asus P5K-D BP is supposed to run cooler...and if the cooler's not that great I'd be getting a Xig anyway...

I just don't know..what should I do

 

[spearman914]

MSI P7N 750i. It comes with a zalman fan so its worth it, also overclocks like a dream. If you could save just a bit and get a P5K-E then that would answer your question.

 

[jbunch07]

the added heat pipes with the asus board should help keep it cooler... the msi doesnt have as many but it does have some. as far as performance goes asus is usually rock solid with tons of ocing potential

edit: never owned and msi board so cant honestly tell you my opinion of them. they seem to be good boards though

 

[JrRacinFan]

Are you positive you want to stick with nVidia? That P7N Zilent is pretty darn nice ....

 

[Exavier]

I'm just worried that if I buy the P7N I won't get my q6600 anywhere near 3.8, which is what Paulie managed to do before he sold it to me...
due to not knowing how well it clocks quads

 

[spearman914]

I'm just worried that if I buy the P7N I won't get my q6600 anywhere near 3.8, which is what Paulie managed to do before he sold it to me...
due to not knowing how well it clocks quads

Both boards can get up to 3.8 GHz. The MSI boards just needs a bit more volts then the Asus due to the more heatpipes. And I've think a lot of people have problems showing up all 4 cores of Q6600 on a P7N, I think theres somewhere you can enable it in bios. <-- Off Topic Sor

 

[Exavier]

not off topic, it's useful to know so I don't have to come running back should it happen to me

not a problem on the volts imo, the zalman cooler should tie me over til I'm running at least a dual WC loop

 

[intel igent]

i thought Nvidia chipsets were no good at OCing quads?

 

[spearman914]

i thought Nvidia chipsets were no good at OCing quads?

You serious!! Even a 570 chipset NB can get a Q6600 to something near 3.6 GHz.

 

[JrRacinFan]

i thought Nvidia chipsets were no good at OCing quads?

Previously they weren't until the 7 series showed.

 

[jbunch07]

i thought Nvidia chipsets were no good at OCing quads?

i thought the same but...intel chipsets are supposed to be good afaik

 

[intel igent]

You serious!! Even a 570 chipset NB can get a Q6600 to something near 3.6 GHz.

ya i am serious, thats why i posted that. i dont spam/troll.

thnx

 

[Exavier]

interesting points...
so what would you choose and why?

 

[spearman914]

interesting points...
so what would you choose and why?

As I've stated I would go for the P7N, it comes with a Zalman fan and its cheaper then the P5K deluxe, which has no fans included. And P35 Chipsets were specially designed for Crossfire and not SLI. 750i chipsets are SLI certified and has crossfire support in the future somehow.

 

[philbrown23]

if you want to stick nvidia, get the 750I, but just know ALL nvidia chipsets have "fsb holes" where it won't boot and you move it 100mhz up and it will. Also nvidia overclocking is way different than intel chip overclocking, it uses the actual fsb not the cpu fsb, so it's a little tricky but it will still get you where you wanna be.

 

[Exavier]

I knew there were FSB holes on the 6xx series and on the 780i, hadn't heard of any on the MSI non-reference though...thanks pb

 

[theonetruewill]

Well I love my Asus P5K Premium- Attached is what I did with it (not to show off, but to show what it can do)- it's a very good overclocker and is extremely fun to work with. Made overclocking a joy again (compared to my old board) and it's never given me trouble.

 

[Exavier]

wow, from what I heard it can be hard to get a 2140 above 3ghz - good going!
that sells me slightly actually, as I realised that the only real SLI platform from now is going to be 790i; and as I intend to build a second LAN rig, I can always swap out and keep whichever one I choose..
but as I say, perhaps more sold on the P5K..especially if I'm getting a Xig HDT-S1283..

 

[theonetruewill]

wow, from what I heard it can be hard to get a 2140 above 3ghz - good going!
that sells me slightly actually, as I realised that the only real SLI platform from now is going to be 790i; and as I intend to build a second LAN rig, I can always swap out and keep whichever one I choose..
but as I say, perhaps more sold on the P5K..especially if I'm getting a Xig HDT-S1283..

Personally I think Xfire and SLI is a waste of time/money in 95% of cases. What you should also remember is that the P35 is faster than the NVIDIA equivalents literally in real world performance. The bonus of getting a 790i however is that it seems to be able toreach about 600FSB MAX - which is fantastic.... but you'll have to sell your sister and dog for glue to pay for it. Thus I think the P5K Premium is a winner- but you can call me biased. All I can say is two months ago I was in a similar situation as you - I chose the P5K Premium.

 

[Temps_Riising]

I'm just worried that if I buy the P7N I won't get my q6600 anywhere near 3.8, which is what Paulie managed to do before he sold it to me...
due to not knowing how well it clocks quads

Dont worry, it overclocks a Q6600 better than many high end x38 and P35 chipset boards......look see:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/msi_p7n_sli_platinum_750i_based_motherboard/5

 

[Odin Eidolon]

I havent tried those boards, but as far i can tell you my msi mobo is fantastic! It OCs well and keeps cool. I'd go with p7n, it is also a lot cheaper, but if u want to go lcs... that hsf is useless then... If you are sure u'll go lcs then asus is better

 

[Exavier]

that comparison is good, but I know i'd be solved as soon as someone actually did a comparison test..hasn't tatty had both of these? where is he when you need him? lol

 

[spearman914]

that comparison is good, but I know i'd be solved as soon as someone actually did a comparison test..hasn't tatty had both of these? where is he when you need him? lol

Tatty stated he or should I called it a she would stay away from TPU for a couple of months.

 

[Exavier]

and wait
tatty isn't the grumpy old man I think he is? D:

 

[Tatty_Two]

Someone mention my name? No lumpy jumper here so male I think, well was last time I looked.

Have just moved jobs and house hunting which is why I wont be around for a few weeks, too much to do and only getting home at weekends and wife not too happy if I go anywhere near puter, but hey, as it's a Bank Holiday today and she has popped to the supermarket I thought I would sneek on quick!

I have not owned the MSI Platinum but a good friend of mine has it, he didnt get the "Zilent" edition but paid £20 less and got the one without the Zalman cooler as he a a Zerotherm cooler which performs slightly better.

He got his "non Zilent" here, although you can find cheaper if you shop around, Komplett are out of stock ATM but should have some in soon for about £10 cheaper:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-097-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1057

He is delighted with it, he has had it for about 2 months, origionally he had a Q6600 which he got to 3.85gig but I think that was as much a limitation of the chip as it was the board as he had to pump lots of volts through it to get it there, he now has an E8400 and he can get 4.5gig out of that. The NB even at high FSB's gets only warm with the fitted cooler, you know the big mousewheel thingy.

One thing, if you are fitting aftermarket air, dont get a TRUE as it's about 5mm too wide, go to Thermaltake's site and get the dimensions and make sure anything you buy is at least 5mm narower on the width if that makes sense.

See you in a few weeks!