Mobo that's Conroe and 7950GX2 Compatible?

[Nightmare225]

Does anybody know of any good motherboards that are Core Duo 2 and 7950GX2 compatible? I'm having trouble finding one, thank you.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Which one isnt?

 

[Nightmare225]

As in, the 7950GX2 needs a manufacturer created BIOS update and so does the Core Duo 2 for most motherboards.

 

[Nightmare225]

Bump?

 

[modn00b]

I have pretty much that same question as I'm looking at both those components for my new system as well. From what I've been reading here...the Conroe boards haven't been released yet. Maybe 1 or 2. I'm waiting until launch day of Conroe, by then numerous solid boards should be available. And once they are finding one that works with 7950GX2 should be very easy. That's my guess anyway.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I may have wasted space posting my own question about this compatibility issue.

eVGA wrote back with a link to the nVidia compatibility list. I'm interested in an i975X, Conroe, 7950-GX2 configuration.

They don't list the ASUS P5WD2-E and variants. Instead, they show successful tests of the 7950 GX2 with an Intel D975XBX (Bad-Axe?) mobo.

But both of these boards uses the 975X chipset. You would think that the P5WD2-E, the P5WDG2-WS, and a mythical P5WD2-WS (supposed to appear this summer according to THG) -- would work with the 7950 GX2. If they don't, you would think that a BIOS revision or driver revision would "make it so -- warp speed."

As in T.S. Elliot's "Prufrock" poem, "There will be time, there will be time . . . . " and I can wait for the right board and driver revisions, I can wait for Conroe to become "established" in the market -- "While the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo. . . . . "

 

[Talcite]

Not all 975x boards are compatible with conroe, not even though bios updates. There was a revision on the conroe requirements after the 975x was released. As a result some of the initial boards, like P5WD2-e arn't compatible with conroe. The requirements involved VRMs i believe, so it was hardware related. Oh and btw, the asus website doesn't list the p5wd2-ws or -e as conroe compatible so...

I've never heard of the 7950 gx2 requiring a bios update 0.o What kind of changes is it make?

 

[edpearson]

Does anybody know of any good motherboards that are Core Duo 2 and 7950GX2 compatible? I'm having trouble finding one, thank you.

Did you solve this problem? After the recent Anandtech shootout the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe came out on top but isn't listed at The Nvidia List. I'm looking to do the same thing - 975X board, GX2 and Conroe (prob E6600 FWIW). I'm not particularly interested in QuadSLI at a later date so the lack of SLI support isn't an issue - the GX2 seems to be the fastest single card solution at the moment.

Does anyone run a GX2 in the P5W?

Cheers in advance,
Ed

 

[siksi]

I went for the Intel Bad Axe 975XBXLKR mobo. It seems to be the only one that's pretty much guaranteed to work with both 7950 GX2 and E6600. P5WD2-e boards seem to have compatibility problems with both Core2Duos and 7950 GX2 (a conclusion drawn from a number of google searches).

That being said, they might work just fine and there'll probably be BIOS updates soon enough. I didn't mind the extra few euros so I went for the 'safe' set compatibility-wise.

(For the record, I'm ordered E6600, the bad axe 975XBXLKR mobo, twinx2048-6400 ddr2 kit and Asus' 7950 GX2)

 

[hermanz3]

Yes, please check out my signature.

It works, so far I have no problem with the card and the mobo.

 

[lopri]

P5W-DH works w/ 7950GX2 out of the box. (Just make sure you install ForceWare 91.31 or above)

 

[Nightmare225]

So, can anyone else confirm that the P5W-DH Deluxe and the 7950GX2 work with each other?

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Nightmare225
So, can anyone else confirm that the P5W-DH Deluxe and the 7950GX2 work with each other?

Yes just as Lopri stated, if you buy that board then get bios 0903 or above. The Gigabyte DS3, DS4, and Dq6 support the card also. Testing it on the Biostar P965 board currently with their latest bios.

 

[savvy]

Where do you get BIOS 0903?

I saw 0801 on the ASUS website only.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: savvy
Where do you get BIOS 0903?

I saw 0801 on the ASUS website only.

Bios Link

 

[jose]

I thought the 975 chipset didn't support SLI , whether is was a dual or single card implimentation..

hmm......interesting ...

Regards,
Jose

 

[tylerw13]

Originally posted by: lopri
P5W-DH works w/ 7950GX2 out of the box. (Just make sure you install ForceWare 91.31 or above)

so do you you need any certain bios?? i have 801 right now

 

[imported_trajan]

Originally posted by: jose
I thought the 975 chipset didn't support SLI , whether is was a dual or single card implimentation..

hmm......interesting ...

Regards,
Jose

Aiiiiii now I'm scared again. Plenty of people have reported that it works though.
Another remaining source of nervousness is that those who have helpfully replied saying they have successfully done this combo were doing it with non-core 2 duo chips. I know that probably doesn't make a difference, though.

 

[imported_zpert]

Hey I was a little nervous too, but I found a couple of discussions that came to the same conclusion... With updated BIOS, the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe will work fine with both the Core 2 processors, AND the 7950GX2. The first discussion is here, and they have a link on that page to the actual benchmarks here.. I did a search on google, and found a more recent discussion about the same setup here. This should help you relax; It helped me. I haven't officially tried it myself, because I'm still waiting on my X6800 and P5W-DH to ship, and for a couple other parts to get here. Hopefully I'll be able to try it soon.
-Paul

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: trajan

Originally posted by: jose
I thought the 975 chipset didn't support SLI , whether is was a dual or single card implimentation..

hmm......interesting ...

Regards,
Jose

Aiiiiii now I'm scared again. Plenty of people have reported that it works though.
Another remaining source of nervousness is that those who have helpfully replied saying they have successfully done this combo were doing it with non-core 2 duo chips. I know that probably doesn't make a difference, though.

It works fine....

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: tylerw13

Originally posted by: lopri
P5W-DH works w/ 7950GX2 out of the box. (Just make sure you install ForceWare 91.31 or above)

so do you you need any certain bios?? i have 801 right now

0701 and up... still, upgrade to 0903, it's a really nice bios. :thumbsup:

 

[tylerw13]

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: tylerw13

Originally posted by: lopri
P5W-DH works w/ 7950GX2 out of the box. (Just make sure you install ForceWare 91.31 or above)

so do you you need any certain bios?? i have 801 right now

0701 and up... still, upgrade to 0903, it's a really nice bios. :thumbsup:

Just a stupid question...why doesnt asus have the 0903 bios on their page?? is it a beta or anything like that? now that page you showed us before has bios 1101 is that a bios that we should upgrade to??

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: tylerw13

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: tylerw13

Originally posted by: lopri
P5W-DH works w/ 7950GX2 out of the box. (Just make sure you install ForceWare 91.31 or above)

so do you you need any certain bios?? i have 801 right now

0701 and up... still, upgrade to 0903, it's a really nice bios. :thumbsup:

Just a stupid question...why doesnt asus have the 0903 bios on their page?? is it a beta or anything like that? now that page you showed us before has bios 1101 is that a bios that we should upgrade to??

They wil not release a beta bios due to support issues. I have a 12XX bios for testing now, tried the 1101, still thought 0903 better with the higher end memory (PC8500).

 

[Madellga]

Gigabytes 965 are fine. Look at Gary's thread on the CPU forum.

Look at my signature also. It worked with shipping bios.