jmke

we have some coverage of the bad axe here: mostly OC related though
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...&articID=4 70

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thorgal

Right J., here I am.

If you want me to pick one out of the two boards you present, KTMitch, I'd take the Bad Axe 2 at the moment.

I have liked abit boards a lot in the past, that is in socket A and socket 478 times. Right now, they're rapidly climbing to top notch performance again, but they're in my humble opinion not quite there. AW9-max is an excellent board across the line, especially for Conroe clocking, but it is has some major shortcomings for quad core performance : it has rather bad front side bus performance, and it cannot change mulitpliers the correct way (it changes only the multi of one of the two dies).

Bad Axe have come a long way, and the second bad axe board is a great leap forward on the first one. Not only did Intel fix the quad core performance (it is, after the P5B-deluxe, the best quad core board out there), but they made the bios and tweaking options far more accessible, and provide it out of the box (you had to perform a warranty voiding mod on the bad axe 1). Drawback of both bad axes is that you have to be patient with them : they sometimes react weird, and you have to put your time in them. On the other hand, when the board is stable, it's stable. Whatever you throw at it.

Lastly, when you ask me what I think is the best board at this moment, I wouldn't taken any of these two, but the Asus P5B-deluxe. Unless you absolutely need SLI or crossfire, this is definately the board to go for. The new Asus Commander should be even better, but I'd wait some more months, to let the biosses mature a little. Alternatively, I've heard many good things of the new Gygabyte revision of the DS3, I bleive it's called the DS3P. And last but not least, I still have to put my hands on a RD600 board to test, but that could be another contestant. I'd definately stay away from 680i boards for the moment, and wait for a second revision...

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KTMitch

Thanks for the link, jmke. But soldering a motherboard scares me a bit.

Wow, thanks for the in-depth answer, thorgal. I don't see myself going quad-core any time soon, however. Unless I won one . . . Same thing for SLI or crossfire. As far as patience with either of the boards, that won't be a problem in my situation.

I’ve looked at the P5B-deluxe before. It seems to be a fairly solid board. The one thing that turned me away from it (and what attracted me to the AW9D-MAX) is the onboard audio. While, yes, onboard audio generally isn't desirable, my thought was to wait until Creative (or Microsoft) fixed the sound card processing issues with Vista while using onboard audio during the wait. Many of the reviews on Newegg speak about the very bad performance from the onboard audio on the P5B-Deluxe. What is your experience with this?

In light of my interest on moderate performance from the onboard audio, what board would you suggest? Or would it simply be better to spend some extra money and get an audio card or an external DAC?

One thing I also have noticed with many of the motherboard reviews is the incompatibility with certain RAM brands. What RAM 'plays nice' with these motherboards?

The care for your readers on Madshrimp amazes me. I’ve never gotten such quick and knowledgeable answers from any other website.

jmke

I started out with Creative Live! cards, then when I made the switch to Audigy 2, I lost faith a bit, as the Creative drivers would lock up my NF3 based system every time, no fix provided by Creative... since then I'm using onboard sound on all mainboards I tested/used, would not say that they're bad, you'd have to have a pretty high end sound setup to notice a difference, and that difference is not big to begin with

the CPU performance impact of onboard sound is measurable, if you run a game at 640x480, which causes other things than the videocard to be the bottleneck, in such a case you'll see that the dedicated soundcard gives you more FPS. Now if you increase in-game detail to normal levels, the difference between the two audio solutions will be practically nihil. Current CPUs are more than powerful enough to take care of a few audio processing commands.

concerning memory incompatibility, if you stick with larger name brands and take the product line meant for the Core 2 platform, you're pretty safe + fact that all these enthusiast minded memory companies have pretty decent RMA, so if it doesn't work with your setup, an email or two later you'll be on your way to getting a new working pair. If you ordered in a local shop, you can just drop by to them out

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KTMitch

I have an Audigy 2 currently. I find the audio quality to be okay, but not ground-breaking. My problem is just that, however, I have audiophile rated equipment. It’s an older system, but the quality is still through the roof by today's standards. While neither an onboard audio processor nor even an internal sound card is the best option, I simply cannot justify the extreme prices for an external DAC.

I myself have never used onboard audio before, so I have no experience with it. But you guys have convinced me to give the P5B-D major consideration. A review on it would be great!

Okay, I have some more suggestions for reviews if you are interested.

OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341001. The public seems to like this one, but how does it perform in terms of noise output and heat generation?

ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194003. Yet again, many people suggest this one, but what about heat and noise?

Also, what wattage is needed in a power supply to drive a 8800GTS?

A write-up on modular PSU's would be nice. The community seems to be split in half whether it is a good idea or a bad idea.

I was also wondering about the number of SATA cables for the Corsair HX 520w & 620W Power Supplies.

Something else that might be beneficial to people shopping for computer parts would be a store guide. Most people in the computer sphere know about Newegg or TigerDirect, but so many of the smaller online stores are lost in the mix. Yesterday, I just found XBStore.com. The prices there are absolutely amazing. Core 2 Duo E6600 for $208, eVGA 8800 GTS for $260. The only catch is that all orders must be above $650. Now, I've never heard of XB Store until yesterday, and I cannot find any reviews or comments about using it. I'm not sure whether it is a great deal, or if I'll be scammed (by insane shipping, long processing time, order not going through, etc.). A store review section on MadShrimp would be great!

Rutar

As much as I believe in a limited catalogue to reduce costs, I do not think 100$ less the newegg price is posssible.


google says I'm right:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...store-com.html

http://www.epinions.com/msg/show_~th.../forum_id_~146

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102...geID=238775 9

KTMitch

Thanks for the links, Rutar. I never found those links when I did some background checks on XBstore. It was almost too good of a deal to be true.

This cements my idea (at least in my mind). It would be very useful if a shopper could look at reviews of online stores on Madshrimp. It would help eliminate people getting scammed, and give them a good idea of what sites are safe (and preferred). While this would get away from computer component reviews, it would cover the second half of the computer building process (the actual buying).

RobertM

I'm about to purchase all I need for my first build, and feel confident in my choices except fot the mobo. I'll be picking up a QX-6800, 4GB Corsair XMS2 8500 or 9136, BFG 8800 OC2, Galaxy DXX 1000W, 3 WD HD's, (1 Raptor boot, 2 RE2 Raid Edition, set for Raid 2), XP 64, TJ09.

I'll be working with some of the gaming editors as well as Maya and 3DMax which is why I want a good gaming system, but my primary use will be serious digital photography with Photoshop, Painter etc.

Stability is much more important to me than FPS, but I'm hoping with some of the newer offerings, I can have both. I almost picked up the Asus P5W64 WS Pro, but I think the newer workstation boards may now be offering more features and better perfomance. ???

The new P5NT-WS has PCI-X structure, 1333 Fsb, 3 PCIe x16 supporting SLI and has solid aluminum capacitors, RealTek Audio.
It seems to offer a lot, but as I said, I'm inexperienced so am unsure if this mobo is my best option. I would like a 680i for the features but am unwilling to chance being saddled with instability issues I'm unable to troubleshoot and fix.
It would be great to have your thoughts on this board or other options too...Asus P5K3 Delux???

Thanks!!!

RobertM

kwaksalver

I would very much like a review of Lian Li PC-71 case! Haven't seen it anywhere on the inet yet :'(

Things I want to know is if you can play with the HDD holder on the bottem of the case, if you can turn in around or move it anywhere else easely without de-attaching it.

Also a good look of what you get exactly would be kewl, since I need to know if the included ventilators are silent enough etc!

thorgal

The PC71 is actually already quite old, and exactly the same as the PC70 (but black instead of silver).

here is a review of the PC70 (from 2k01 already).

FYI, I've got a PC70 for everyday use, and replaced the 4 included 80mm fans because they weren't quite quiet enough...

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