Asrock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2: 945P as good as 975x for E6600 Conroe?!

[Dance123]

Hi,

Is the Asrock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 a good performing mobo for an E6600 Conroe?!

Thing is it uses a 945P chipset, so what I want to know is if performance-wise the 945P chipset will get as much performance out of an E6600 then the 975x chipset or does the 975x has certain benifits for Conroe?! I don't intend to overclock in case that matters.

Reason I am asking is I read alot that 945P mobos for Conroe are "budget" solutions so how does it perform less then a 975x mobo for an E6600 Conroe?!! Anybody can explain this please?!

PS: by the way, anybody knows if the above Asrock mobo is completely passively cooled?

Thanks for all good info!!

 

[dandragonrage]

If you want no OCing and a single video card solution, and you don't mind that ASRock STUPIDLY decided to go with ATX12v 1.x (20-pin) for that board, then it should be fine.

 

[MattM76]

How much of a problem is this 20 pin connection. Can it me modified? I am interested in this board as well with a E6400 and SeaSonic S12-430 ATX12V PSU (among other things obviously). I am in the no OC/no gaming (hence no SLI) boat as well.

 

[dandragonrage]

It should work fine, but I wouldn't be willing to try an X1900XT(X) card in it.

I'd much rather use a 20-pin power supply on a 24-pin motherboard (I've done it with the Ultra-D before I got my Seasonic), but there I would also not use the higher power GPUs.

 

[tiward]

i've got myself exactly what you are thinking about getting, they work fine together, with a sata2 drive and 7900gt is a really fast machine!
only problem is it doesn't overclock at all. even setting FSB to manual with same speed causes mobo to reset! (if any one can solve this let me know!)

 

[Dance123]

Originally posted by: dandragonrage
If you want no OCing and a single video card solution, and you don't mind that ASRock STUPIDLY decided to go with ATX12v 1.x (20-pin) for that board, then it should be fine.

I am no tech expert, so could somebody please explain what the problem is with this "ATX12v 1.x (20-pin)".. what is that and what should they have used instead and why?

Has this something to do with connection to the PSU or videocard or what??.. somebody can give a clear explanation about this please.. Thanks alot!!

 

[Dance123]

Nobody who can explain what this "ATX12v 1.x (20-pin)" problem is all about?! I want to know if this board has perhaps an unsafe connnection or something that could lead to problems..

Please somebody explain! Thanks!!

 

[legacyNW]

Dance, the 24-pin connector supplies more power to the motherboard to support the higher current draw of high-end PCI cards (typically, we're talking grafix cards)...so your hi-power cards might have to have a dedicated power connection on them to work.

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

may also want to consider the Gigabyte GA945P-S3 motherboard also.

 

[Damn Dirty Ape]

Originally posted by: legacyNW
Dance, the 24-pin connector supplies more power to the motherboard to support the higher current draw of high-end PCI cards (typically, we're talking grafix cards)...so your hi-power cards might have to have a dedicated power connection on them to work.

which most higher powered cards have had a pci-e or 4pin molex connector for some time now.. I have the conroexfire w/ 7900gt and it works fine. Don't cave to the FUD peddled by some. I don't OC so I couldn't care less.

 

[legacyNW]

Originally posted by: Hellspawn

Originally posted by: legacyNW
Dance, the 24-pin connector supplies more power to the motherboard to support the higher current draw of high-end PCI cards (typically, we're talking grafix cards)...so your hi-power cards might have to have a dedicated power connection on them to work.

which most higher powered cards have had a pci-e or 4pin molex connector for some time now.. I have the conroexfire w/ 7900gt and it works fine. Don't cave to the FUD peddled by some. I don't OC so I couldn't care less.

"Don't cave to the FUD?!"

You wrote "most higher powered cards have had a pci-e or 4pin molex connector "

I wrote "...so your hi-power cards might have to have a dedicated power connection on them to work"

I said the same thing you did, so what FUD? Please read the whole post before replying, thanks.

 

[smac770]

Intel E6400 at stock 7x267 with stock cooler, Corsair Twin2X2048-5400C4 at 4-4-4-12 at 667 at 1.9V (per the review that said the "high" BIOS voltage setting equated to 1.9V, which is the DIMMs' rating), MSI X1900XTX with Accelero X2 cooler, SB X-Fi card, Samsung 400GB 7200rpm SATA-II drive, Plextor 8X DVD burner, all on a ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 board powered by a Seasonic S12-380 power supply. Works great, running games (farcray, rtcw, civ4, nothing brand newish) all maxed out at 1600x1200 on my 21" CRT. Kill-A-Watt never showed more than upper 200's as far as power draw from the wall by the power supply. Idles at about 120w power draw and non-3D maxes out around ~150+-10w.

I have a hard time understanding the need for an overspec'd power supply when they say that power supplies are least efficient at low loads relative to their rating.

I have no intention of OC'ing this setup. Board was lowest cost C2D solution with an AHCI capable SATA port as a stop gap till the AW9D-MAX finally arrives. That said, it smokes in my older 2500+ Barton / 6800 AGP system. Civ IV runs without a hitch. I finally get to see the wonder building movies. I think I'll be sitting happy with this for a while, since Abit does need to learn how not to force "PCI board or Crossfire" decisions on a customer.

That said, this board was a bit of a pain. Ended up having to install XP Pro SP2 with the SATA port in IDE mode since the F6 method kept "iastor.sys caused unexpected error 18 in line X in ...oemdisk.c". Stupid crap. At least it's still an ICH7R, so no floppy mess of the ICH8R to deal with. Other than that, the floppy connector at the bottom sucks, and the IDE connector, literally under the end of the video card, is less than idea, and completely rules out a rounded cable.

I'm surprised the 16x PCI-E slot doesn't lock in the video card like the AGP slots.