Asus P5B + Q6600?

[TehBluebear]

Hey guys.

I'm looking into upgrading from my Pentium 4 to an Intel Q6600. However, I was wondering if my current mobo, an Asus P5B or P5B Deluxe (Not sure which of the two it is), would take a Q6600.

Also, would you recommend any boards that may be better suited to a Q6600 than the current one? My budget would be up to £100. Of course, hardware here in the UK seems so much more expensive than it does in the US.

I may venture into the realms of overclocking once I get a Q6600, so any recommended mobos, could you please state if they are fairly newb-proof to overclocking?

Cheers.

 

[Rafael]

Yes it will, as long as you have the latest BIOS version for your board.

Well, a newer chipset is always better, the P35 would be better suited for the Q6600 with DDR2. The X38 is not worth all the money with the DDR2. The performance difference is very small compared to the P35.

But since you said you already own the P5B based on the 965P chipset, I don't think it will be worth it upgrade to P35 nor the X38. The performance increase is not all that much.
Unless you have a very good deal upgrading the motherboard, I would say the upgrade is a good move.

That is just my 2 cents!

 

[TehBluebear]

Ok, so you recommend the P35 chipset then?

Would this be a good mobo to get then?

And in case I don't decide to upgrade, how would I go about making the BIOS the latest version?

 

[Xvyz]

You can go to the asus.com site and download the latest bios for the P5B. And download the Asus Update program also, which allows you to update the bios from Windows, rather than flash it. You have to open the .rar with winrar and direct Asus Update to the opened bios file. I use the P5B board and it is just as fast as P35 boards, except it runs a bit hotter, so the maximum overclocks might be a touch lower. The P5B is also Penryn-ready with an updated bios.

 

[TehBluebear]

Excellent, thank you very much Xvyz! And as for the heat thing, I'm sure my Antec P182 case will keep it in check

 

[Rafael]

The mobo you pointed is just fine to run.

What are you planing to do? Overclock?

Anyways, I would try first what Xvyz said, because you still have a very good mobo there.

 

[TehBluebear]

No overclocking for the moment, but I have just noticed that this current board has some ASUS software that overclocks? Or something like that, I dunno. It's called AI Suite.

 

[Regalk]

AI Suite = total garbage - do not use this. My opinion.

 

[TehBluebear]

Ah ok, I'll bear that in mind.

Just a quick question, how do i tell if my mobo is either a P5B, or a P5B deluxe? Would I have to open the case and look?

 

[Rafael]

I think during the POST screen it will say the model too.
And you can try CPU-Z, but I am not sure if it will tell you the exactly model you have, or it will point out just P5B, Asus manufacturer, etc.
And opening the case you can check the silk screen on the motherboard, normally it is around the CPU area, close to the memory slots, or between the PCI slots.

 

[MrMajestyk]

Got my P5B deluxe and Q6600 running sweetly @3.0ghz.

Unless you MUST have the latest and greatest, I say soldier on with what you have. :thumbsup:

 

[TehBluebear]

Ok, I checked, and it seems to definitely be a normal P5B (checked the board, and CPU-Z). Would it be ok just to stick with this then? I expect there isnt a great deal of diff between this and the Deluxe?

 

[Oerekum]

Not much, only a few features like Firewire (I think, not sure) and a heatpipe cooler which actually isn't very good. With decent cooling overclock results should be quite similar.