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I bought an Intel Pentium D 920 recently (an intel processor that finally runs cool), and I need advice on motherboards. I am looking for something relatively inexpensive (in the $100 or less range) with PCI-E 16x. I was looking at a 915 chipset board, but someone told me that it is incompatible with dual core processors. Now I am stuck.

 

Any recommendations on LGA775 motherboards for dual core processors?

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Corrected: I have a 915gux with a P4 3gz (single core). I don't know if the 915 works with the dual cores.

 

The Intel 945gntlkr motherboard sells for $125 on pricewatch or $117 on ebay. Right now it is the most compatable board there is.

 

You may have noticed getting a fully funtioning graphics card is one of the bigger problems in using osx on a standard pc.

 

All the 945g cards have FULLY funtioning graphics cards built in. The graphics are very good. On both boards everyting works including firewire. Both have built in ethernet, usb2, sound, firewire all working in osx. The 945gntlkr has raid, efi and tpm built in (though not currently needed in OS X) Both are a great match for your processor.

 

For a $22 you can get an add2+ card. The add2+ card will give you a second FULLY working display.

Do 915P boards work with dual core processors? The sales guy at MicroCenter told me they don't. I thought he was full of {censored}.

 

Will my cheap ass Asrock 775Dual-915GL also work with the Pentium 920 D? This will make a nice upgrade path...

I do not recomend the asrock for a new system though. Primary because of the incompatibilty to the add2 card for DVI output.

 

Edit: the official support list says no: http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Support/...l=775Dual-915GL

Intel 915 chipsets do NOT support the Pentium D. The Pentium D requires the 945 chipset or later.

 

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/pentium_D/index.htm

 

 

 

The 915 boards work well the the dual core Pent Ds. I'm using one right now.

 

You are either lying or don't know what CPU or chipset you have. While the Pentium D might just possibly "work" in a 915 board (although I doubt it), you certainly won't have it fully working with both cores. You are most likely going to fry the chip.

It wouldn't fry the chip.

 

915 motherboards will POST with a Pentium D on them (for the most part) but it will not detect the second core, nor will it detect the correct clock speed. And that's with an 8xx series processor. I have no idea how that chipset would react with a 9xx series chipset, but I imagine it would be very much the same.

 

Bottom line: if you have a Pentium D, DO NOT get a 915 chipset board. It's not supported. The end.

It wouldn't fry the chip.

 

915 motherboards will POST with a Pentium D on them (for the most part) but it will not detect the second core, nor will it detect the correct clock speed. And that's with an 8xx series processor. I have no idea how that chipset would react with a 9xx series chipset, but I imagine it would be very much the same.

 

Bottom line: if you have a Pentium D, DO NOT get a 915 chipset board. It's not supported. The end.

The built in MB does not tear like the other video cards do, so far anyway. There is a small compatibility issue with 10.4.5, but those have fixes. I was happy for a while, until now I have a x1600. ALSO, when choosing a MB, 7.1 sound is NOT SUPPORTED UNDER AppleHDA. I have the Asus p5ld2-vm, with 2.1 sound and I am perfectly happy. Why do I need all those channels for a computer? Really now :dev:

The built in MB does not tear like the other video cards do, so far anyway. There is a small compatibility issue with 10.4.5, but those have fixes. I was happy for a while, until now I have a x1600. ALSO, when choosing a MB, 7.1 sound is NOT SUPPORTED UNDER AppleHDA. I have the Asus p5ld2-vm, with 2.1 sound and I am perfectly happy. Why do I need all those channels for a computer? Really now :dev:

 

I also have the ASUS p5ld2-vm with a Pentium D 920 OC'ed to 3.2Ghz and I am also very happy with it. I'm running 10.4.5 as well and it runs great. I only needed to add a kext for audio, everything else was detected automatically. I like that its a matx board too.

I would buy the AOpen i945Ga-PLF or the PHS version. They have an AOpen specific technology which automatically lowers the CPU clock speed when idle, just as for mobile processors and it overclocks the CPU when needed, i.e. full load. Other than that they offer more or less the same as the other motherboards with the i945G chipset.

I am an idiot :) but, I was lucky enough to get something that used a motherboard that was very close to the ADP. OS X on this machine works very well.

 

Before I got into the x86 thing I didn't know one board from another. I checked the specs on what I had and I indeed have a 915gux (I knew that already) but ....... I have a P4 3gz Prescot . Not an 830 Pent D. My confusion was that I was seeing two cpu indicators on my cpu monitor and assumed that since I had a 3ghz (what looked like a dual core) it must be an 830. My mistake. :P

 

I assume that the reason I am seeing two cpu indicators is because of hyperthreding.

 

Well, It just goes to show ........ A little bit of informaiton ..........

 

I'd still get the 945gntlkr board.

 

Any mouse tearing with the on-board graphics in 10.4.5???

 

 

 

 

This one I know for sure. NOOOOO mouse tearing in 10.4.3, 10.4.4. or 10.4.5 ;)

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