Foxconn 975X7AA

[thefossil]

Thinking of finally upgrading. This mobo has latest chipset (for poss future upgrading)

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813186097

and the Pentium D930 is relatively cheap... Dont know exactly what memory to put in it, other than spec..but I may overclock slightly in future, so I need some good stuff. Will this work?

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820146526

Moderate priced video card, not a serious gamer..

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814150141

Any recommendations?

Thanks
thefossil

[rockinup1231]

It should, but overclocking with SDRAM is not a great idea if you plan to majorly increase speed (especially on the bus). Of course, it is newer, it should be ok.

Something you should specify a little better is by how much you mean to overclock in your description of slightly.

[thefossil]

I don't plan on water-cooling, or anything like that... maybe just a 10% increase in bus speed (coming from the old Celeron 300 days) where the memory can "keep up" without having to ratio-down (or whatever its called) the memory to 4/5 speed, etc... just a little tweak to get more speed without a melt-down.

Currently using a Tualatin P3 in an adaptor on an Abit BX6 Rev2 Board so I'm playing a little catch-up here... it's my third processor/adaptor on this board.

The Foxconn has dual-channel memory and can handle the core 2 dual processor, I'm looking for something that will be upgradeable in the future with processor, bios, and memory, etc. just like my Abit board was. Foxconn is not the fastest, but they do include some overclocking software and, from what I understand, make all the mobos for dell home pcs, so they must be doing something right.

I just dont want to get a good deal on something already out-dated that's not upgradeable in the near future, and I don't want to spent the big bucks on cutting-edge performance, either, cuz I don't need it.

Thanks

[Crashman]

Did you even read our review on that board?

1.) Future "possible upgrading" is not what this board is for, it's not designed to support Conroe. That's what the 775X7AB will be for.

2.) It's slower than the nForce4 version and cost a lot more. The NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 is a better board in nearly every way, supporting better overclocking options, more memory ratios, better performance, and a higher-speed firewire port. It's also around 30% cheaper.

3.) The 775X7AA won't even support DDR2-800 using an 800 bus CPU, or DDR2-1066 using a 1066 bus CPU. DDR2-800 runs at a 400MHz clock rate, the 800FSB runs at 200MHz clock rate, and this board is probably the ONLY one that won't support the neccessary 1:2 CPURAM clock ratio for 800:800 or 1066:1066.

The NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 is better in every way.

Your graphics card selection is a fine choice, and the NF4SLI7AA would of course support two of them in SLI mode. Now THERE's an upgrade.

[Crashman]

The Foxconn has dual-channel memory and can handle the core 2 dual processor

No it can't handle Core2 processors (not designed for Conroe as described in my earlier post), that info comes from Foxconn themselves. And all decent boards support dual-channel for memory, even the old 865 chipset boards of 2003 did.

[thefossil]

Thanks for the input, guys. Building these things is getting a little more complicated...

I'll keep looking, but I still want an Intel-based board that shows some promise of an upgrade in the future, and an Intel chipset would be ok, too.

[Crashman]

If you really want a board that supports Core2, you should wait another 1-2 weeks for more models to become available.

[thefossil]

Crash, I ordered this one, Intel BOXD975XBXLKR, but before I confirmed that it's rev304...keeping my fingers crossed!

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboa...425175704.html

I know there are faster boards out there, but this one is tweakable to a degree, Conroe-ready (if current rev is shipped) and a stable-running board with plenty of support via web.

Maybe I'm getting conservative in my old age.

OCZ DDR2-667 PC2-5400 just now has a rebate on Newegg...that should work just fine on the Intel board, right?

Thanks again for steering me in the right direction: future compatibility!

Foss

[Crashman]

Yes, that's one of the boards reviewers are using for Conroe as we speak.

The OCZ memory should work fine on that board, I just get a little testy about having to pay for RAM that's certified at raised voltage for its rated speed.

[thefossil]

Intel BOXD975XBXLKR revision update:

Looks like newegg is still shipping rev 302, ZipZoomFly is shipping rev 303 (I called and cancelled my order there until current rev is in stock).

I'll just order some more parts in the meantime...

Thanks again.