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

[Ender17]

Here's what I would do; make a base OC in the BIOS that has enough voltage for your higher performance ram then save. Perhaps start @ 3.0 GHz. Under windows use the Intel desktop control center to ramp up your OC. Use memset for fine tuning ram settings not available under the control center.

I have purposefully locked up my system a few times with the control center then forced a reset to see how the board behaves. It will beep a few times and not post. Turning off the psu for about 10 secs restores my last BIOS save when I power back up and boot. So everytime you screw up you would just end up @ 3.0GHz or whatever that base OC is that you decide on. I have found that way is far less painful than popping the side off the case, playing with the jumper, and having to pull a stick of my ram due to the voltage dropping to 1.84v.

You can also set three different OCs via the control center you can call up @ a touch of one button. For example; you could jump to 3.0GHz, 3.4GHz or 3.6GHz on a single tap of a preset number.

The desktop control center that will work with the BX2 is version 2.2 and you need the latest BIOS:

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd...c/download.htm

A detail of it:

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd.../dcc/index.htm

Latest BIOS and drivers. Select your OS and go:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...ProductID=2578

This is a very stable mobo and I am starting to like it a lot. My DVD drives behave the best on the BX2 over any other mobo I have tried for whatever the reason. On some mobos they would be very erratic, taking forever to spin up and often spinning down to stop when they should not.

thanks for the info
I'm thinking of replacing my D975XBX with this new one

[Teratism]

Did everyone's BX2 boot up when first loading all your hardware or did you have to set volts etc for things to be registered?

[theonlybabyface]

Booted up very first time. Very, very nice board....

[Teratism]

Thanks, was beginning to get a bit scared I might have to jumper a few times to get my system recognized and boot up even before I try an OC

[shawn1998]

Same here, booted the first time without issue. This is one nice board!

Shawn

[astrodave]

Mine booted right up as well with super talent 800hmz ram. I then set the timings and voltage manually for the ram and updated the bios. Installed the OS with no issues at all and am testing default stability until my o/c this weekend. Hopefully i will be able to figure out how to o/c this thing because im a noob at o/c'ng. Any help from you experts on the settings i need for an e6600 would be greatly appreciated.

[Blauhung]

Just put everything together last night. I made a night out of it.

Lapped my CPU and heatsink (zalman 9500AT) and made myself up a switch for the jumper for the BIOS configuration mode. Turns out that a standard 3pin fan header is the perfect dimensions to fit on the jumper pins so I just wired my switch to that and didn't have to modify the board. There are pads for a clear CMOS Jumper, but you would have to set in pins or wires yourself and i'm not that daring yet.

Personally i think i like the BIOS configuration jumper. Might take a bit longer, and not be as elegant as what Asus or some of the other board makers have come up with for a failed overclock, but it gets the job done.

anywho I got home at 5:00 and got everything in and running BIOS at 11:00. Had to work at 6:00AM so no fun with it yet.

[Blauhung]

oh, and it booted perfectly with my OCZ Ti alpha PC2-8000

[astrodave]

Sounds like we had the same night. Got my parts yesterday afternoon and got home from work at 4:30. By 11:00 i had the machine built and XP installed. No time for games testing or any stability testing since i have to wake up for work at 5:00am...Long day.

[Blauhung]

yeah, i want to go home and install windows. I brought the manual to work as reading material.

[shogo_ca]

yeah, i want to go home and install windows. I brought the manual to work as reading material.

exact same thing for me eheh.

i will be using it tonight!

[zipdrive]

Just finished mine, all powered up first time, loaded Win xp perfectly. Changed Mem volt to 2.20 and updated bios to 2330, all without a hitch.

[shawn1998]

Do you mean updated to bios 2333? If not, bios 2333 is the newest one.

[loafer87gt]

Hye guys, I am just hooking up my BX2 board and had a questions regarding the 4 pin power connector that was mentioned earlier on page 7. I am using a 8800GTX in the board, and this video card already requires a supplemental power connector. Should I supply power to the 4 pin connector on the motherboard in addition to the supplemental power connector on my GF card?

Thanks in advance for any info.

[Teratism]

Anyone know of certain ram types that may not work? Was reading a newegg review which stated super talent won't work on the BX1, wondering if it works with the BX2, same with buffalo firestix. I am looking into these rams for my build and hope to buy everything within a week or so.

[shawn1998]

I look at it this way. If there is a power connector, then it was meant to have something plugged into it. I have only one 8800gtx and plugged in a molex connector to it. Everything works perfectly. I honestly wouldn't think of running the board without it being used!

[loafer87gt]

Thanks for the answer Shawn. Just for clarification, you have both the supplemental 6 pin power connector connected to your video card, and the four pin power connecter connected to your motherboard?

Can't wait to get everything hooked up; I just have to wait for my memory to arrive tommorow AM.

[malachi1313]

Thanks for the answer Shawn. Just for clarification, you have both the supplemental 6 pin power connector connected to your video card, and the four pin power connecter connected to your motherboard?

Can't wait to get everything hooked up; I just have to wait for my memory to arrive tommorow AM.

It says in the manual that if you are using a card that draws 75watts or more that the 4 pin molex should be hooked up or it could cause damage to the motherboard and or video card.

[Blacklash]

BTW

You can leave all the power management functions on in the BIOS and effectively "toggle" them by switching your power profile under windows. The options are under Power Option Properties, and on the Power Schemes tab. If you set "Always on" you will immediately go to your default multi. If you set "Minimal power management" your system will idle @ a 6x multi and shift to your default underload.

So using my system as an example and those options; you could let it idle @ 2.4GHz and switch to 3.6GHz underload or force it up to 3.6GHz if you so choose at any time for whatever the reason.

[loafer87gt]

Thanks again for the help guys, this forum is an invaluable resource.

[zaarath]

Anyone tried Perc 4e/DC aka LSI 320-2E with XBX2?

The card works under XP and win2k3, but leaving a device related to the card unassigned because 'not enough resources'. The device is called "Intel PCI Express to PCI bridge -B 0332".

Under Vista RC2 however, it doesn't work at all, Vista can't find the card during installation.

I believe this is a compatibility issue since the card works perfectly fine on my old XBX with either xp, win2k3 or vista.

Edit:

I'm talking about a PCI-E SCSI 320 Raid controller, I have 2x 73GB MAX on Raid 0 attached to it.

[nattoNrice]

This was with 6600, 8800gtx.

Yes! 1.84v is enough for hz to boot with both sticks in dual channel!

So happy (><)

[Blacklash]

This was with 6600, 8800gtx.

Yes! 1.84v is enough for hz to boot with both sticks in dual channel!

So happy (><)

G. Skill is good stuff. I used them in my last rig. I went Mushkin this time for variety.

[JZX100]

Got BX2 yesterday, and it is already driving me nuts.

Can't reach 3.6 stable on E6600.

Vcore: 1.4625
Power Slope: ON
VFSB: 1.375
VMCH: 1.575

Patriot mem. DDR2-1000@800 4-4-4-12 2.2v 1:1

With less than 1.5 on vcore, 3dmark03 crashes.
With 1.5+ Pi32mb and 3dmark03 is ok.
It can't handle Orthos for more than 30 minutes.

Anyone can give me an advice?

Edit: OCZ GXS700W & Scythe Ninja+ with 70CFM fan, room temp@ 22o

[screwtech02]

Got BX2 yesterday, and it is already driving me nuts.

Can't reach 3.6 stable on E6600.

Vcore: 1.4625
Power Slope: ON
VFSB: 1.375
VMCH: 1.575

Patriot mem. DDR2-1000@800 4-4-4-12 2.2v 1:1

With less than 1.5 on vcore, 3dmark03 crashes.
With 1.5+ Pi32mb and 3dmark03 is ok.
It can't handle Orthos for more than 30 minutes.

Anyone can give me an advice?

Edit: OCZ GXS700W & Scythe Ninja+ with 70CFM fan, room temp@ 22o

Try this:

400fsb
1.35 vfsb
1.65 vmch
1.5 vcore
enhanced power slope -enable
memory set at 533
vdim 2.2

That ought to work...