Which motherboard for Intel E8400 cpu?

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:41 am

[Edited away]

wojmos · Post by **wojmos** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Hi,

I am very interested in this discussion, because is touches my current plans. I tried to browse some forums, but this look smost professional

. Ok, enough of teasing

I am planning to purchase new platform, and E8400 suit me (and my bank account) best. Motherboard is the question. I look forward to Gigabyte P35-DS3R.

Well, I should point out my prioirites:
1. silence (thats why I look for this Ga mobo - it has passive heatsinks and I am happy about my current KNF-9).
2. overclocking (but not extreme)

Silence is worth much for me: right now I use Athlon64 3200+ with passive cooling on Gigabyte KNF9 Ultra (passive cooling) with GeForce8600 GTS (SilentPipe). Tagan power supply is also quiet, so my computer is almost noiseless

OK, I am thinking about E8400 because of its nice achievements and 45nm process. I wonder if it will be cold enough to use passive cooling. What if I will be using slight OC? I have read on some Polish forums that E8400 temperatures in stress are surprisingly high, but I am not sure about professionalism of this exercise

So, to sum it over:

1. is P35 best chipset, and is this Gbyte mobo good enough (for slight OC?)
2. what is your opinion on passive cooling of Penryn? Have you tested it under slight OC?
3. What are the real Penryn temperatures (I mean: not the marketing stuff)? Have you got some experiences?

4. I have heard some comments, that its good to wiat until new processor revisions will be available (as first wave usually have some teething problems - esp. temperature). Do you think this is rational?

I will be very happy for your help,
wojti

Stacey Melissa · Post by **Stacey Melissa** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:43 pm

KenAF wrote:One should be aware that the current bios for the Abit IP35 Pro does not fully support the E8x00 line of CPUs. It reports temperatures incorrectly which causes warnings in the bios and any system monitor programs that you have.

You can still install Windows, but without accurate temperatures, the bios fan control doesn't work as it should.

Abit has said it is working on a solution for the problem. Before buying another IP35 Pro for my new E8400 PC, I intend to wait for them to fix this problem. If they can't, I suppose I'll buy the Gigabyte.

Thanks, KenAF. That's handy stuff to know.

jtr3030 · Post by **jtr3030** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:59 pm

KenAF wrote:One should be aware that the current bios for the Abit IP35 Pro does not fully support the E8x00 line of CPUs. It reports temperatures incorrectly which causes warnings in the bios and any system monitor programs that you have.

You can still install Windows, but without accurate temperatures, the bios fan control doesn't work as it should.

Abit has said it is working on a solution for the problem. Before buying another IP35 Pro for my new E8400 PC, I intend to wait for them to fix this problem. If they can't, I suppose I'll buy the Gigabyte.

The beta 16 BIOS will give more accurate temps, but still off by ten or so degrees. I got my parts but am afraid of overheating the cpu by putting the heatsink on incorrectly, so I think I need to wait for a BIOS fix so I'm able to know my temps

.

This might be helpful to those interested in the IP35 Pro: http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.ph ... 649&page=8

UnknowNick · Post by **UnknowNick** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:51 am

I recommend MSI Neo2 P35. I own it with E6750 and is great for overclock and cheap(100$). Here is a good review: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3169

krille · Post by **krille** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:52 pm

So does the Abit IP35 Pro fully support Intel Wolfdale / 45nm Core 2 Duo / 8x00 processor line now or not?

Because if it doesn't, I think I'll go for a Gigabyte board. (No sense in using Abit's FanEQ if it doesn't read temps accurately anyway.)

edit: And what is Gigabyte's (new?) GA-EP35 line all about (in comparison to the "old" GA-P35 line)

Fragelroque · Post by **Fragelroque** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:04 am

I'm expecting this to arrive next week:

- Intel Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz
- Asus P5N32-E SLI, nForce-680i SLI, ATX, Socket-775, 2xGbLAN, DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex16
- MSI GeForce 8800GTS 512MB GDDR3, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI-I/HDCP
- Corsair Dominator TWIN2X8500C5DF 2048MB, DDR2, 2x1GB(KIT), DHX, E.P.P, with FAN
- Thermaltake Toughpower 750W, 6xSATA, ATX/EPS, 2xPCI-E, 20/24pin
- Zalman CNPS9500AT Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 775
- Western Digital Raptor 150GB SATA 16MB 10000RPM

Putting it all into an Antec Sonata case, just bought a Vista Home Premium and the LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray writer to go with it. Going to try and put it all together and see if it 'just works'...

You really don't want to know what I'm upgrading from...

I'll post my experiences here mid- to late next week.

krille · Post by **krille** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:06 pm

"GeForce 8800GTS" sounds worryingly. I used to have a 8800GTX and although the stock cooler was surprisingly quiet, it was indeed the loudest component in my system. Quite bearable at idle, but once I fired up a a game it would just swoosh away. Got replaced quite quickly by the passively cooled 2600XT I'm using atm.

ACook · Post by **ACook** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 5:27 pm

am also in the market for a new system, and the 8400 looks really nice performance and temp and price wise.

was hoping to wait a while, but mom's pc is starting to crash she says, so she wants mine, then i'll have to get a new one....

my big question pertains to what coolers are available on certain mb's, cause that popular gigabyte seems to have some space issues

krille · Post by **krille** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 7:55 pm

ACook wrote:my big question pertains to what coolers are available on certain mb's, cause that popular gigabyte seems to have some space issues

What makes you say that?

I'm very interested in the Gigabyte P35 motherboards, but if that would rule out the best CPU coolers I'm not so sure anymore.

ACook · Post by **ACook** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:47 pm

it's the heatpipe nb cooling thing that is worrying me. they all look very tight.

mcv · Post by **mcv** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:03 pm

Only the P35-DS3P and DS4 have a NB heatpipe. Other models probably shouldn't have any problems with most CPU coolers. Lots of people seem to be using a Ninja or Thermalright Ultra on Gigabute motherboards.

krille wrote:edit: And what is Gigabyte's (new?) GA-EP35 line all about (in comparison to the "old" GA-P35 line)

As far as I understand, GA-EP35 is the same as the corresponding GA-P35 rev 2.1. The main feature if Dynamic Energy Saving (which seems to save a handful of Watts) which is probably standard on EP35s, whereas P35 rev 2.1s need a BIOS update or something.

At least, that's how I understand it.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:02 pm

KenAF wrote:One should be aware that the current bios for the Abit IP35 Pro does not fully support the E8x00 line of CPUs. It reports temperatures incorrectly which causes warnings in the bios and any system monitor programs that you have.

You can still install Windows, but without accurate temperatures, the bios fan control doesn't work as it should.

Abit has said it is working on a solution for the problem. Before buying another IP35 Pro for my new E8400 PC, I intend to wait for them to fix this problem. If they can't, I suppose I'll buy the Gigabyte.

I have the IP35 Pro and E8400 and I wish I had researched more before I bought this combo because not having the numbers / bios support is a major pain. It's my fault but still very annoying. Looking back I should have just gone without the Wolfdale cpu.

Fragelroque · Post by **Fragelroque** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:00 am

The 8800GTS is apparently the next generation on from the GTX, and like the E8400 (based on 45nm process) it is has more transistors in a smaller space, and is much more energy- (and therefore heat-) efficient than the GTX, with nearly the same performance. That's the theory anyway.

I'm putting everything into an existing Sonata case which I currently sleep right beside. The new components (see above) will be quieter than the current ones (I have 3 7200rpm Maxtor drives and a K6-2000 with a stock fan in it at the moment).

The kit arrived this morning so I'll post a first-taste report asap.

Fragelroque · Post by **Fragelroque** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:17 am

Rebuilt the PC with the new kit (see sig.), 30 min to disassemble the old PC, 1 hour to build and boot the new one. You guys were right about the GeForce 8800 GTS - it's much, much noisier than everything else in the system (and makes the new PC noisier than the old one with its passively cooled GPU), but after booting it settles into a non-annoying but noticeable hum.

I'll have to see if I can get it to be quieter. It is very, very fast.

Which motherboard for Intel E8400 cpu?

Motherboard for E8400

From-scratch E8400/Asus P5N32/GeForce 8800 GTS/Raptor build