anomaly Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 So I know the 975BX.... board is a good choice for enthusiasts and a near native OSX install, but I'm wondering about this new board revision D975XBX2KR. If you run a comparison of the two boards on Intel website [2KR vs. LKR] the differences are subtle; the BX2 board supports ddr2 800, has a 16x PCIe lane, has 2 audio ICs, and if you look near the bottom of the chart the BX2 board supports TPM. I'm not sure if I should jump for joy or be mad . I don't think this TPM will work well in favor of an OSX86 install but I don't know, anybody else have any thoughts? Think an install on this board will be the same? Be 100% native? Be a pain in the ? Someone fill me in if they have any insights. This particular board is not on the wiki yet I'm pretty sure.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avian Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 The LAD975XBX2LKR has TPM, but the way more common BLKD975XBX2KR doesnt (instead it has firewire). Chances are you will only find the BLK to buy, the LAD seems more an OEM/direct-to-manufacturer type thing. My BLKD975XBX2KR shouldve been here yesterday but seems I have to wait a few more days, I'll let you know what its like with OSX then. Also with the differences, there are reviews (not sure if its vr-zone.com or elsewhere) that show the XBX2 handles high FSB stupendously better (which apparently comes from improved track routing under the north bridge), and is a much better overclocker. Intel also states the XBX2 is the one to use with Kentsfield. I read on another site (sorry I cant remember where, google should find it), that a few intel employees demonstrated a water cooled kentsfield on an xbx2 board running stable at a stupendous overclocks, which is really weird activity from intel who have traditionally put on a conservative persona. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avian Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 Just did a quick search and found the links to the stuff I mentioned. The overclocking demonstration of XBX2 and QX6700 by two intel employees -> http://www.legitreviews.com/article/395/4/ Here is the vr-zone review/comparison between the XBX and XBX2 (link to page7 - overclocking) -> http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4111&s=7 And here is a vr-zone XBX and XBX2 comparison of the track routing between the northbridge and cpu-> http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=4130 It seems pretty consistent in all reviews on the web that the XBX2 is a better overclocker than the XBX. but I know your asking about OSX compatibility, Ill get back to you soon about that when I get mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anomaly Posted November 17, 2006 Author Share Posted November 17, 2006 Awesome, thanks for the reply. Yeah the board looks sweet but I was worried about the OSX compatibility - its the main reason I'm considering the board (apart from its enthusiast appeal). Let me know how your OC'n goes and how your install goes. What processor and video card are you going to be using? I'm thinking E6600 and a x1900xt but now that 10.4.8 has better support for nV cards I might just keep my 7800gt and try and roll with it. My ultimate goal is to game on OSX86, WoW specifically. Keep me informed, thanks for the links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 On a related note, TankGuys have an OEM version of the Bad Axe 2. The specs. they have listed on their page are wrong (they are the original Bad Axe specs.), so it is not clear exactly which version of the Bad Axe 2 they are selling. The TPM versions of the Bad Axe appear to be OEM versions so that might actually be what they have: http://www.tankguys.biz/intel-d975xbx2-sat...dio-p-1703.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avian Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 the one on tankguys has firewire so it'd be the one without tpm.. i just got my bad axe 2 today (same as the one on tankguys). so far so good. The onboard network worked immediately.. seems to detect both the intel (ich7r) and additional sata ports. onboard firewire seems to be working even better with my external firewire audio device than my old ADS Pyro64 card did (can run a more intensive session of "blue" within logic pro 7.2 without it crackling). The "about this mac" dialogue which i never bothered to fix to show useful info hardware (it used to tell me it couldnt gather info about the system or something), now it seems to show useful info. so i'd say this board is looking like a nice pick for osx86 if one wanted to be ready for kentsfield. i havent tried the onboard audio yet since i have an ediroll fa-66 firewire device, but ill try it next for the sake of completeness.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mifki Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Hmm, i have a 975XBX BadAxe, and im gonna upgrade next year, the XBX is a very good board as well but the XBX2 still canes, also OEM versions of intel boards all have TPM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avian Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 also OEM versions of intel boards all have TPM. Hey Kiko, according to the available configurations page, there are two versions of the bad axe 2 -: http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bx2/bx2_available.htm One has firewire and no tpm.. The other has tpm and no firewire. The one on tankguys has firewire and says OEM - unless theres a configuration you know about thats not mentioned on intels site, it wont have tpm. Mine was definetly OEM - came in a generic cardboard box, and it ended up being the BLKD975XBX2KR (no tpm). Not sure where intel sell the LAD975XBX2LKR (with tpm), I did a search and found it hard to find any anywhere :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anomaly Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 When I was looking around TigerDirect ( ) seemed to have the most reasonable price for the 2KR board; this one is retail --> TigerD - D975XBX2KR. I just ordered 2 opty 165s to see if I can breathe some new life into my current machine (this 4400+ has been very disappointing for OC'n), but if neither of these optys break 2.7 range I will be going Core 2. Just didn't want to get this board if the TPM was going to be an issue. EDIT: Hmm after looking at that comparison link from Avian it does seem that there are 2 XBX2 boards, one with TPM and one without. Fortunately the 2KR, the one I'm more interested in, doesn't have TPM (according to that link). The link I originally posted compares XBX vs XBX2 and said that XBX2 has TPM ; gj Intel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mifki Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 avian, mine came in a cardboard box, but it was the BLk not the LAd which has tpm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 When I was looking around TigerDirect ( ) seemed to have the most reasonable price for the 2KR board; this one is retail --> TigerD - D975XBX2KR. I have been ordering quite a bit of hardware from TigerDirect lately. My stuff gets here in two days, they have some good deals and I have not had any problems with them. The best price on the Bad Axe 2 I have seen is at ClubIT.com for $235 (plus $7 bucks shiping): http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA4838942 I may order one when they get back in stock, I have ordered some Corsair Micron D "fat body" RAM which need the higher vDIMM. Otherwise, TankGuys has the OEM version for $240: http://www.tankguys.biz/intel-d975xbx2-sat...dio-p-1703.html Just didn't want to get this board if the TPM was going to be an issue. If TPM turns out to be an issue, we can always special order those versions. But I suspect that TPM will be getting integrated into the chipset anyways, so this might not even be an issue with the new X38 (BearLake-X) chipset which should appear on the BoneTrail motherboard next summer: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35388 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esmith1977 Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 With one of these boards, can you use both of the PCI Express graphic slots at the same time.... with a two dual monitor graphic cards, one could have a 4 monitor setup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anomaly Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share Posted November 25, 2006 Both my opty 165s hit 2.7 so I'm gonna stay on the 939 platform a while longer, but let me know how your 2KR board works out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infamous Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Can you please guys tell me, is it good to order that version with TPM? What's the advantage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boo50 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) just bought this mobo (mine BOX version was in a plastic package, no box at all =)) ) XBX2 and intel Xeon 3050 CPU. have a one issue - processor lags, like stuttering effect... also CPU temp in bios 49 degrees celsius... i think it's too big... can anyone clarify me ?? maybe i missed any special bios settings ?? also i have TT Big typhoon - and it's fit on mobo not very good - main chipset radiator stand in the way of BT and my BT stand a little crookedly, but i think it fit good at all, just BT plate arrange in a little angle to CPU, so i don't think this is a problem. but maybe it is ! Edited February 1, 2007 by boo50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mifki Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 49C is a fine temperature. I can thelp u with any thing else, but ty booting with cpus=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boo50 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 49C is a fine temperature. a week ago i have Asrock 945g-dvi + e6300 and CPU temperature was over 38-39C !!! also i've oveclocked it to 2.33 ghz. and now i have stock 2.13ghz XEON CPU and w/o OC'ing it's HOTTER than previous OC'ed e6300 !!! but Xeon's must be COOLER !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kle500 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) I am realy sorry for the Off Topic, but, why you changed your Asrock board? Did you had any problems with it? I am about to buy it, in replacing my 965 Intel board. I realy appreciate your reply. Regards EDIT: I just saw that you had answered that in another topic. Thank's a lot. Edited February 1, 2007 by kle500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boo50 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 i've just reinstall mine TT BT and everything is fine. in bios i have ~30-33 C cpu temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sHARD>> Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Hrm, didn't notice this thread before. So here's a PSA: There's nothing wrong with the board with TPM. TPM itself is a feature, not evil. It's how you use it that makes it bad. More importantly however, I believe all current motherboards supporting TPM allow it to be disabled in the BIOS. So there you go, easy kill switch to stop those meddling **AAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scandic Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 What's the actual compatibility state? In 10.4.8 HCL is it listed as sound incompatible. Someone of the XBX2 users got sound running (Intel HDA patcher etc) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhalls Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I have a bad axe 2 here, but withvery very poor s-ata-performance . AHCI Mode, black connectors. Any Chance to get that better ? Results 121.53 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.4.8 (8L2127) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model ADP2,1 Drive Type SAMSUNG SP2504C CPU Test 124.39 GCD Loop 282.56 14.89 Mops/sec Floating Point Basic 136.95 3.25 Gflop/sec vecLib FFT 99.40 3.28 Gflop/sec Floating Point Library 88.85 15.47 Mops/sec Thread Test 480.14 Computation 439.35 8.90 Mops/sec, 4 threads Lock Contention 529.26 22.77 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads Memory Test 154.53 System 151.70 Allocate 124.05 455.54 Kalloc/sec Fill 161.36 7845.81 MB/sec Copy 181.26 3743.76 MB/sec Stream 157.46 Copy 145.56 3006.40 MB/sec Scale 144.39 2983.08 MB/sec Add 172.67 3678.14 MB/sec Triad 171.95 3678.41 MB/sec Quartz Graphics Test 177.05 Line 145.00 9.65 Klines/sec [50% alpha] Rectangle 182.69 54.54 Krects/sec [50% alpha] Circle 176.89 14.42 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha] Bezier 160.44 4.05 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha] Text 251.00 15.70 Kchars/sec OpenGL Graphics Test 167.95 Spinning Squares 167.95 213.05 frames/sec User Interface Test 450.78 Elements 450.78 2.07 Krefresh/sec Disk Test 36.79 Sequential 76.78 Uncached Write 93.39 57.34 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 84.39 47.75 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 55.46 16.23 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 86.90 43.67 MB/sec [256K blocks] Random 24.19 Uncached Write 7.53 0.80 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 88.62 28.37 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 81.11 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 110.84 20.57 MB/sec [256K blocks] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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