95 replies to this topic

[Ryanux]

these mobos seem to be "too new" for the moment :/

[plympton]

Ryanux, on Sep 8 2006, 07:56 PM, said:

Yes i agree, this is a definetly good mobo for an osx conroe based system, but i think that the Conroe945G-DVI is better because it's about the same price and :

- it's µATX, so can build a small system
- it has GMA950, which aloud those who wont play (like me) to avoid buying a pcie vga card, and it's "out of the box" no need to install anything, QE and CI running like hell

I'll 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th) this MB - I have what I consider a 99.9% working Hackintosh with this board.  I moved from a Dual G5, and this is just about as fast, and 1/2 the power!  It was either this board or the ASUS P5LD2-VM/C, which also sounds equally as good, but I didn't want to dork around with video cards until there's a bomber-solid working one that uses passive heatsinks (ie: low power).

The major problem with this MB is there's no Firewire (solvable), and audio-in doesn't work (most all MB's), and on-board LAN is not working yet.  I had a Gig-E card laying around that works natively, so I'm good to go.

Also, GMA 950 graphics is FASTER than I would have thought, and sleep works GREAT so far!

For under a grand, I got a pretty kick-ass system (4, er, 3.2 GB RAM and an e6600 was the biggest cost).

-Dan

[beepyou]

it doesn't have RAID tho... which I think could improve the speed by alot... maybe I'm wrong?

[beepyou]

oh. RAID isn't supported yet. no wonder nobody's talking about it

[alvinblank]

Why is this the best if the on-board LAN doesn't work?

[macssam]

alvinblank, on Sep 29 2006, 02:01 PM, said:

Why is this the best if the on-board LAN doesn't work?

the best is to be on an island without electricity

[passport]

Because you can pull 170's on xbench with the proper cpu/ram and with the addition of one or two dirt cheap parts it works with no bios/south bridge issues. I'm not using raid  on any of my systems due to past problems with backing up and restoring system from them.  Investing in a WD Raptor for the boot drive has made the system a total pleasure to use.

[aberracus]

I would recommend to anyone interested my configuration, its very very stable after putting 12 dollars in pci cards its 100% compatible and its super fast as you cans se from the xbench marck in my signature.

Its a Gigabyte ga-945p-s3 (around US$90)
an Intel E6400 2.14ghz stock overclocked to 2.61 ghz (around US$ 220, working like an E6700 beast of US$ 540)
A realtek nic (US$ 5)
A Via Firewire (US$ 7)
A Zalman C9500 CPU cooler mostly for silent operational working (US$ 50 temp in both cores idle 34 Cent. loaded 46C)
2 pair of Themaltake 120 mm fan working in slow speed (US$20 the pair)
A sppedy Seagate 320gb SATAII (around US$ 90)
A Pioneer A11D (around US$ 45)
A Zalman Multifan controller ZM-MFC1 (US$ 20)
An internal  Flash card reader US$ 10
A Thermaltake all aluminium Tsunami Dream Case (US$ 110)
A Thermaltake True Power Power supply 500 watts (US$ 65)
An Apple USB Keyboard US$ 35
A Razer Pro Mouse (white is so macish ) US$ 25 in www.woot.com
A Samsung 205BW 20.1" Widescreen LCD screen working @ 1600x1050 resolution tru DVI US$ 300
An Asus SILENT (Heat piped passive cooled) Radeon x1600XT (working everything perfect except two screens in expanded view mode -so only mirror-) US$ 140

Thats it, Faster than hell, cheap, and absolutely silent

[Wallstreet]

My vote is for the P5LD2-VM 2.0.  Working NIC out of the box, and a small modification to get audio working.  All of my other reasons are here: http://forum.insanel...showtopic=28915

My XBench results are here: http://db.xbench.com...tml?doc1=193831

Cliff's Notes: 154.86 using GMA950

[OSX86tester]

Questions about this Motherboard. (Asrock ConroeXfire-eSata2)

This is the specs so far of the rig ima build.

Memory Matchpairs 1GB of DDr2 if I get the conroe Asrock esata ill use 4GB

CPU: for under 100 bucks im sold on Pentium D 508 2.66GHz

Video I have no damn clue. I wrote down sapphire X1600 because everyone is talking about it, otherwise give me ideas. i dont game and im not spending more than 130 bucks on a damn video card lol!

PSU I already have 2 modular 500 watters sitting in the box sealed.

HD's I have sata and ide drives but ima use sata.

Case I got some thermaltake case (free) sitting sealed in the box gathering dust, and other dead creatures lay near it.

DVDRW Interesting challenge is the SATA plextor I have dunno if its gonna work in osx or not.

All in all this system is gonna be for osx, But if oSx fails hell im definately makin sure XP pro will kick ass on this rig. But again Im looking for something that could complement these items. I dont wanna buy a damn board using old outdated technology such as PC3200! Im done with them days! thats so 2002ish!!! also About this Conroe Esata Xfire deal has ANYONE!!! been able to make it dual boot! Yes or no???. i had to do a search 5 times and read scattered posts of No and i will try it, but nobody ever got back with their results?.

I dont mind patching as long as theres a patch im cool. It doesnt have to be this Assrock mobo. Just as long as sata 2 works and the functions such as Network and other stuff works im good. (suggestions any1 ?)

Thanks... tester

[rschultz101]

any  working  micro-atx   core 2 duo mobo/ motherboard  working ?
buildin-graphics is a plus  or fanless graphics

thanks, Robert

[Ryanux]

YEP : Asrock CONROE945G-DVI, awesome, uATX, and passive GMA950

[sheepdog43]

For Conroe users, the Bad Ax is probably best.

For other p4 775's the Abit AW8D is not a bad choice.
It needs a sound card patch (882, easy to do)
It also needs a network card patch, also easy, there is even an auto-installer for that.

Add an 805 P4d, 2 gigs ram, overclock it to about 3.7, add a x1900 All In Wonder or other 1900 with the auto install patch and an sata drive and you are good for 127+ on Xbench.

[sparc]

The ASUS P5WDH Deluxe works great. The only thing that doesn't work so far is one of the IDE controllers (JMicron I believe). Also wifi doesn't work.

The rest however all works. Sound, 2x Gigabit internet, Sata, all USB ports, firefire, chipset etc.. It all works perfectly.

And yes Wifi can be disabled in the BIOS.. The Wifi adapter is an onboard card which uses USB for it's communication so it's not a good choice to use it anyway. (I'm allergic to using USB when it's not absolutely required).

macssam, on Sep 1 2006, 06:48 PM, said:

I finally got my 6600
I'm still waiting for:
ASUS P5WDH Deluxe, 975X,
FSB1066,Audio,1394,RAID,GLAN

I heard you can NOT turn off  
Wireless LAN in BIOS
and have to do it through windoz

[jacklucifer]

Hi Sparc,

did you use any special BIOS Settings to install OS X86 with your P5W DH Deluxe? Which of the 5 SATA Ports did you use? Is there also a XP HDD in your System? ATI or NVidia?

Thanks for your help, Greetz, Jack

[Tommy]

any board with 945GC chipset should do the work.

rschultz101, on Nov 3 2006, 06:37 PM, said:

any  working  micro-atx   core 2 duo mobo/ motherboard  working ?
buildin-graphics is a plus  or fanless graphics

thanks, Robert