Legit Reviews

I need a second PC for wife. I have a D975XBX2 with core-2 duo and am quite happy (after getting some firmware/raid issues worked out).

I'm tempted to get the same board again so I basically have two systems with mostly same hardware, then any debugging is a bit easier. I'm looking for stability in general use systems, and good performance on mine in particular as I do a lot of photo editing. I do not overclock or game.

And so thought would build a new system with a quad processor, which the D975XBX2 also supports, at least the older versions.

But this MB is getting a bit old. That might mean 'stable' might mean 'stupid to still buy'. STable is good, I hate debugging intel's problems. But a Pentium 3 is also stable.

Opinions?

The Intel Bad Axe 2 D975XBX2 board retails for $135 now. Newer Intel enthusiast boards like the Intel DX38BT retail for $189.99 plus shipping, so the lowest price is $196.49. The newest chipset is the X48 and that board is the Intel DX48BT2, which is a pricey $257.55.

If you are going to run a 65nm dual-core or quad-core processor I'd stick with the Intel 975 Express chipset. The BIOS is pretty solid and stable like you noted and you've already dealt with the Marvell controller on the bad axe 2 motherboards. For $135 the D975XBX2 seems like a bargain for 65nm CPUs compared to the $257.55 Intel DX48BT2. It you are going 45nm or plan to down the road then maybe pick up the X38 or X48 as it's getting way more attention than the D975XBX2 as far as BIOS support and so on.

I've been considering the same thing since the Q6700 has come down in price. Tempted to build another using my E6700 and give it to my daughter. I must say that I've been fortunate, as over all I've not had any real issues with this set up and it does what I need it to do at a pretty decent pace.

Thanks. I found that CompUSA (which is still open here in S. Florida) had them. Not cheap exactly ($179), but off the shelf. I picked one up yesterday, and have built it and am finishing up an install. So got a Q6600 and swapped. I think that will work very nicely, I get a good boost on CS3 (the primary hog, also Visual Studio) and wife gets a plenty fast system.

I got way ambitious, and decided to actually run wire to my wife's desk. Had been using a Netgear wifi and have had nothing but trouble, so might as well solve several problems at once. That's done, so back to installing.

The only problem so far ahs been memory. They had Corsair XMS2 memory cheap, so got 4G, and got a no-beep, no-video post. So I pulled out 2 (of 4) and tried again and got 3 beeps -- noticed I pulled out of the wrong slot, so pretended I was testing the post speaker (it worked) and tried again. Worked. Tried other pair. Worked. Tried them all in machine again -- worked.

Hmm.... And yes, it was well seated the first time, I had actually pulled each one out and replaced and still had it fail.

So there's something about that memory in certain arrangements that is problematic. I saw a bunch of nots about it also, but mostly from people trying to over-clock/voltage/etc. which I am not.

What's troubling is that the Corsair web site specifically mentions a voltage of 2.1, but the intel board says it is running at 1.84 (1.8something, going from memory). Does that imply that I should change the board from the defaults to get stable performance? Again, I'm not looking to overclock or otherwise get enhanced performance, looking for stability.

For stability, yes. It would be a good idea to run the memory at its recommended voltage.

Dan

One of the issues I did have was that I was unable to get 4GB of memory to work in a 4 X 1GB configuration. I've read various posts that it's better to get 2 X 2GB for some reason.

Sparky wrote:One of the issues I did have was that I was unable to get 4GB of memory to work in a 4 X 1GB configuration. I've read various posts that it's better to get 2 X 2GB for some reason.

A year ago when I first built this, I bought the system from an enthusiasts shop, and they had OCZ memory, I dont' recall which, I think the gold series. It would not work with all 4 loaded. I returned it and their reaction was more or less "yes, that memory won't work in some systems". I picked up some PNY from a local retailer, and it worked fine (still same speed, don't recall if same latency specs).

So I've seen the same thing, and wonder if I have the same situation again just not quite as bad, on the edge of something.

I'm trying to debug a raid issue now (I reused some spare drives and it may actually be a bad drive) so am trying to change only one thing at a time, then will reset the voltage. If that doesn't work, will return the Corsair memory and get the PNY which has run fine for a year (generally speaking I'm not a PNY fan but what works, works).

this board certainly seems to have a reputation to being picky about memory.

Strange. I Have 3GB's of OCZ XTC Gold in my system runs great.

yeah either the clerk was just lazy and didnt feel like troubleshooting or the farthest extent of his computer knowledge was how to upgrade RAM sounds to me like it just needed more chipset voltage to be able to run 4x1gb