Asus P5K-E or P5Q-PRO

[kuddin22]

Hi all,

Does the P5K-e wifi/app has any advantage over the P5Q-Pro. My friend says the former is a good overclocker. Buying a Q6600 to go with it. Also I'm not really fussed about the wifi. Just want to tinker with this O/C business everybody seems to be into. If its any help in the decision making process, planning to buy couple of PC8500 2gig sticks not sure which and would like to be able to use nehalem chip in future maybe.

Many Thanks

PS both are priced around the same here in the UK (£85)

 

[ultra laser]

Either would be fine. However, I'd get the P5K Pro and save $45. P45 offers virtually no performance gains over P35. More importantly, P35 has had plenty of time to mature, and most of the kinks have been worked out; whereas with P45 you're essentially a beta tester.

 

[ultra laser]

(double post)

 

[The Odorous One]

P45 if price is the same. Asus P45 (P5Q-E) has been less troublesome and a better OC'er for me than my Abit boards, IP-35 and IP-35 Pro. That says quite abit (no pun) about where it currently is. It certainly doesn't feel "beta" and there are more than a few users on this board that would agree.

 

[kuddin22]

Originally posted by: ultra laser
Either would be fine. However, I'd get the P5K Pro and save $45. P45 offers virtually no performance gains over P35. More importantly, P35 has had plenty of time to mature, and most of the kinks have been worked out; whereas with P45 you're essentially a beta tester.

So when a m/b 'matures' does that mean that it has had hardware changes or just bios revisions. I guess what I'm asking is that if I was to get a P45 board then would it be able to 'mature' easily with bios revisions I presume would be available for download?

I know where you are coming from but its hard convincing oneself to purchase an older board over a newer one when the price differential is so little. If there was any one significant factor I would go for the older board. My intention is to moderately overclock (when I know how!) and was wondering if the newer boards would give me better scope. Being a novice would the P5K offer enough scope to max out my cpu and ddr2pc8500?

 

[ultra laser]

Originally posted by: kuddin22

Originally posted by: ultra laser
Either would be fine. However, I'd get the P5K Pro and save $45. P45 offers virtually no performance gains over P35. More importantly, P35 has had plenty of time to mature, and most of the kinks have been worked out; whereas with P45 you're essentially a beta tester.

So when a m/b 'matures' does that mean that it has had hardware changes or just bios revisions. I guess what I'm asking is that if I was to get a P45 board then would it be able to 'mature' easily with bios revisions I presume would be available for download?

I know where you are coming from but its hard convincing oneself to purchase an older board over a newer one when the price differential is so little. If there was any one significant factor I would go for the older board. My intention is to moderately overclock (when I know how!) and was wondering if the newer boards would give me better scope. Being a novice would the P5K offer enough scope to max out my cpu and ddr2pc8500?

This is hard to predict. It may just be newer BIOSes, but some boards go through actual hardware revisions. My Gigabyte P35 board went through three, namely 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1. Buying a P35 board now will ensure that you get a board that has been thoroughly tested by a lot of people. Furthermore, early adoption of technology is always risky, and whether or not you take the risk is up to you.

 

[ultra laser]

Originally posted by: The Odorous One
P45 if price is the same. Asus P45 (P5Q-E) has been less troublesome and a better OC'er for me than my Abit boards, IP-35 and IP-35 Pro. That says quite abit (no pun) about where it currently is. It certainly doesn't feel "beta" and there are more than a few users on this board that would agree.

I've heard a lot of reports of hardware incompatibility with this board, namely with raptor drives. HardOCP even mentioned it in their review. And after reading the article about ASUS's abysmal tech support, even the slightest chance of something not working would make me reconsider purchasing.

 

[The Odorous One]

One hard drive brings the whole board down? And what other hardware? Links would be nice. I have heard of Raptor problems on other platforms as well.

Edit: If you take a cruise through the stickied P5Q thread, look in the sigs of users. Lots of Raptors showing up in there.

Well, even the matured Abit P35's to this day have issues.

Abit IP-35 Pro......cpu fan still sticks at 100% on boot occasionally. Solution: Turn the psu off and then back on.

Abit IP-35.....still loses OC settings when psu unplugged, every single time.

Even with these slight problems, the boards are awesome. My P45 simply doesn't have these quirks, not to say that all of them don't.

 

[DSF]

For what it's worth, there's no reason to pay for DDR2-1066 with a Q6600. Since the chip has a fairly high multiplier, DDR2-800 has enough headroom to take the chip as far as it will go.

 

[kuddin22]

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it.

Would the 1066 memory be better if I were to upgrade the cpu later? say if i get a cpu with 1333FSB or more?

 

[ultra laser]

Originally posted by: kuddin22
Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it.

Would the 1066 memory be better if I were to upgrade the cpu later? say if i get a cpu with 1333FSB or more?

This will sound a bit confusing.

1333FSB is quad pumped, or 333 x 4
DDR memory is dual pumped, so you'd need DDR2 667 for a 1333FSB intel CPU, as 667 / 2 = 333.

1066 memory is good for overclocking. It gives you a lot of headroom.