mATX: Which one for q6600?

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

I'm selling a slow AM2+ set up for my htpc and I plan on upgrading.

I am looking at these two boards:

DFI LP JR P45-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P45 Micro ATX

or

ASUS P5Q-EM LGA 775 Intel G45 HDMI Micro ATX

The asus is $15 cheaper and has 16x pci-e slots. The Dfi has dual 8x, but i don't plan on doing crossfire, but its p45, not g45.

Question is, for OCing a q6600 (Hopefully 3.0-3.4 ghz) on air, will it matter? I plan on using it to fold and maybe encode/decode bluray. I'll have an 8800gts on here and later dump a gtx260 once I move to westmere or nehalem next year.

What do you guys think?

[bot@xs]

i would check out this board
ASUS P5N7A-VM - $119.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131348&Tpk=P5N7A)
i have it in my htpc and the onboard nvidia 9300 also supports CUDA and Hybrid SLI. i haven't done much oc'ing with it yet thou, so i can't speak on that

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

i would check out this board
ASUS P5N7A-VM - $119.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131348&Tpk=P5N7A)
i have it in my htpc and the onboard nvidia 9300 also supports CUDA and Hybrid SLI. i haven't done much oc'ing with it yet thou, so i can't speak on that

Yeah, I need to know how it OC's. Newegg people posted 3.0 ghz for a q6600. I just wonder about the vdroop. The g45 fixed the g35 vdroop problem from what I've heard.

I'll be folding on an 8800gts, so cuda will work b/c the card is supported.

[v0dka]

I owned the P5E VM HDMI and currently use the DFI JR P45, but I cant comment on the P5Q-EM as I only had the P5Q-E (ATX).

I achieved the same max clockspeed on all three boards and at the same load voltage. But the DFI has a lower idle voltage because of a working voltage damper. All boards run the same NB strap and PL stable, but the DFI gets the memory stable at a slightly higher speed than the Asus boards.

I like the DFI better. But the DFI board is picky about booting up on high clockspeeds, it tends to hang on boot and requires CMOS clearing when you aren't very carefull. The Asus boards (also taking into account the P5Q-E here) are very forgiving and clock easily. Knowing the very high vdrop and vdroop on the P5E VM, and the useless voltage damper on the P5Q-E, I would say get the DFI unless maximum clock isn't that important to you.

[sabe]

I have no problem doing 4GHz on my DFI JR + Q9550, YMMV with a Q6600, but its my 24/7 OC that's linpack stable.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

I owned the P5E VM HDMI and currently use the DFI JR P45, but I cant comment on the P5Q-EM as I only had the P5Q-E (ATX).

I achieved the same max clockspeed on all three boards and at the same load voltage. But the DFI has a lower idle voltage because of a working voltage damper. All boards run the same NB strap and PL stable, but the DFI gets the memory stable at a slightly higher speed than the Asus boards.

I like the DFI better. But the DFI board is picky about booting up on high clockspeeds, it tends to hang on boot and requires CMOS clearing when you aren't very carefull. The Asus boards (also taking into account the P5Q-E here) are very forgiving and clock easily. Knowing the very high vdrop and vdroop on the P5E VM, and the useless voltage damper on the P5Q-E, I would say get the DFI unless maximum clock isn't that important to you.

I do not know what my q6600 will do on air. It's only ever been under water. I'll be running it in a silverstone sugo sg02, so I am limited in what heatsinks I can buy. That being said, I have to run on a zalman. :rofl: As long as I can get 3.0-3.2 ghz, I think I'll be fine. My G0 always needed a lot of volts, so I'm not expected a super high OC on air anyways. Since it won't be a main PC, having a max OC won't be that big of a deal. That being said, I like the idea of a good voltage damper and I'll go with the DFI. Its only an extra $25 over the p5e-vm, so why not.

Thanks guys!:up: