Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

[GPSeek]

@ Supertim0r,

The only things I don't like with this board so far are:
1. USB ports do not provide enough current to power my 80gb 2.5" USB drive. My laptop can do it.
2. The capacitors on north side around CPU are higher than the CPU surface and a litte bit too close to CPU. Those obstructs TT120. I have to install the heatsink parallel to the viedo card, 90 degree different from yours. I just wonder how you managed to install TT120 that way without hitting the capacitors. I also had to remove the center tab (pilot tab for the H clip) on the heatsink to make more space for the H clip on the capacitor side.

[GPSeek]

Does anybody feed the alternate 5v molex socket which is located near the usb sockets?
I tried both way and found no difference. I had the 8-pin cpu cable.

[NP7]

It's an alternative PCI-E power connector. I understand you don't need to use it if your PCI-E video card is hooked up to the PSU directly.

[Supertim0r]

@ Supertim0r,

The only things I don't like with this board so far are:
1. USB ports do not provide enough current to power my 80gb 2.5" USB drive. My laptop can do it.
2. The capacitors on north side around CPU are higher than the CPU surface and a litte bit too close to CPU. Those obstructs TT120. I have to install the heatsink parallel to the viedo card, 90 degree different from yours. I just wonder how you managed to install TT120 that way without hitting the capacitors. I also had to remove the center tab (pilot tab for the H clip) on the heatsink to make more space for the H clip on the capacitor side.

the tower120 fit perfectly for me...weird

[GPSeek]

the tower120 fit perfectly for me...weird

weird to me at least the way you installed it
I think you may need to check it to see if it hit the capacitors and all the screws stand vertical to the board

[loafer87gt]

Dang - my Bad Axe 2 just came in today and I just ordered a Tuniq Tower this morning. That would suck if the two don't play together nicely. I wonder if I should order a second heatsink as plan B if the two don't work together?

[NP7]

If it doesn't fit I recommend Zalman 9700, fits quite nicely. Here's a good review: http://www.frostytech.com/articlevie...articleID=2045

[GPSeek]

Dang - my Bad Axe 2 just came in today and I just ordered a Tuniq Tower this morning. That would suck if the two don't play together nicely. I wonder if I should order a second heatsink as plan B if the two don't work together?

I don't know if Tuniq has different versions of this cooler. One possiblity is that Supertim0r has one with smaller foot print.
Mine defenitely needs some modificaton to fit the cpu area.
Tuniq 120 is really good. I run it at lowest speed as Supertim0r does.
It's a kind of overkill for my xeon 3060 if I want to run it at 3.6Ghz with 1.40v v. However, overclocking with much less noise is a good thing anyways.

[GPSeek]

I wonder if I should order a second heatsink as plan B if the two don't work together?

I don't think you need another one. The bottom line: mod the heatsink

[loafer87gt]

Maybe they have done some changes to the base of the latest TT120's. GPSeek, did you purchase your Tuniq Tower fairly recently? I know that there were several users using the TT120 with their original Bad Axe 1, and from the looks of the area around the cpu socket, the cap locations are same on both generations of the boards.

Here's hoping I can get her to all fit together at the end of the day.

[BAR*B*Q]

anybody got clockgen working on the board ?

[Supertim0r]

my 2 tt120 are maybe 1-2 months old (bought from OPB)

it fit perfectly

pic 1
pic 2

[apt403]

where did you get the BX2?

[GPSeek]

my 2 tt120 are maybe 1-2 months old (bought from OPB)

it fit perfectly

pic 1
pic 2

Well. Another possibility is the manufacturing variation of the position of center tab and the dimensions of the copper base. Yours varies to the good side, mine to the mod side

[willow]

where did you get the BX2?

Got mine from Clubit.com. They had the BOX retail version the week of Thanksgiving, for $234 + $7 shipping.

[bofors]

I ordered two BX2's from ClubIT too, but they have raised the price a few bucks (like $238).

[Teratism]

Newegg is now selling the blk version for $259
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121060

[GunnySpook]

Incredible that they still have the BOX version at $329!

The Gunny

[Teratism]

I guess their figuring of it is that some HT speaker cables can be $1,000 for a meter, why not sell the BX2's cables for some extra cash too?

[GPSeek]

I guess their figuring of it is that some HT speaker cables can be $1,000 for a meter, why not sell the BX2's cables for some extra cash too?

I found the egg often jacks up the price if a product receives good user reviews. I simply don't bother to do any review for the bad egg again.

[willow]

Incredible that they still have the BOX version at $329!

The Gunny

...& they keep going oos at that price!

[astrodave]

There's a sucker born every minute. Some people are so loyal to the egg that they will pay just for the peace of mind that they feel they are getting. I can get this board at my local microcenter for 70 bucks cheaper. That's pretty sad.

Do you all like this board so far? Any memory brand quirks? I plan on super talent 800mhz memory and an e6600. Just got the TJ09 on friday so i guess I will start ordering the other parts this week or next.

[Jay T]

Hi, long time viewer - first time poster. Thought it was maybe time to join the forum.

I'm thinking of replacing my Asus P5W64 WS for this, as I'm sick of the cold reboot still not being fixed yet.

Can anyone tell me if the bios has the "power on by keyboard " feature, as the first badaxe didn't have this. Also, I'm fussy and like to see the detailed post screen rather than the intel picture on boot up. Can this be enabled like on most motherboards?

Cheers

Jamie

[malachi1313]

It does have wake on usb and ps2. Great board but for me was a little tricky to overclock because it took a little while to figure out the voltages properly. Once I got past that hurdle everything is going smooth. I personally need a larger PSU and that should solve my weird boot issues. It crashed once while playing BF2142 and I'm pretty sure that it's PSU related. Running a 8800GTX and the system is overclocked. I was hoping I could squeak by with an Antec 500w but I don't think it's going to give me the stability I REALLY want.

[GunnySpook]

Great thread - thanks!

How about this then:

My Intel XBX2 MB has 2 frequency references in the performance/memory config section of the bios.

Reference Frequency (Default/333/266/200/133) currently at 266

Memory Frequency (800/667/533/400) currently at 533

My memory is Corsair DDR2-6400C4 and my FSB is at 334, running at 3:00 GHz.

CPU-Z currently reports the FSB:RAM as 1:1, which I thought was the ideal.

What is the difference between Reference freq and Memory freq?

And what should they be for best performance at this FSB?

Thanks!

The Gunny