Asus Motherboards

[geoffphuket]

I'm considering building a new PC to replace my ageing laptop. My local dealer sells mainly Asus motherboards so I've been checking out the Asus web site for more info'.

Trouble is, there's over 50 listed and frankly I've no idea which one to go for. I don't need the machine for gameing, and my budget is going to be a bit limited, but it would be nice if had the latest core2 processor and 1Gb ddr2 ram so I could eventually upgrade to Vista

So which board is flavour of the month?

Thanks,

Geoff

[Tywais]

I just finished building my new system last week. A partial list:

ASUS P5BE-Plus (P965 Chipset Core2Duo - Quad core ready) 6,140.00 Baht or the P5B for about 4700.00 Baht

Intel Core2duo E6600 - 8,960.00 Baht or Intel Core2duo E6300 - 6,580.00 Baht

2GB DDR2-800 Corsair XMS memory - 8,980.00 or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR2-800 - 4,140.00 Baht or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR-667 - 2,140.00 Baht.

[geoffphuket]

Quick as ever Tywais...cheers mate I'll check these out for availability

[Tywais]

Quick as ever Tywais...cheers mate I'll check these out for availability

The delay was from rechecking the prices. If you have problems locating them in Phuket, I ordered all the listed items from Thanni.com - 2-3 days delivery.

[Firefoxx]

Yep, the P5B series is good. You choose whichever one has the right amount of gadgets on board, like RAID, Firewire, etc. You don't need the latest Core2 processor, just get a Core2 that has good enough FSB, like those mentioned above. Your money is better spent on the 2GB of RAM (yes, it helps, I have 2GB and often use nearly all of it).

They should be available in Phuket, since there should be the normal IT shops there.

[Crushdepth]

2GB DDR2-800 Corsair XMS memory - 8,980.00 or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR2-800 - 4,140.00 Baht or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR-667 - 2,140.00 Baht.

Just curious - what is the benefit of Corsair RAM over 'other' RAM? See a lot of people rave about it but no idea why - the speed is the same isn't it? (800)

[Tywais]

2GB DDR2-800 Corsair XMS memory - 8,980.00 or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR2-800 - 4,140.00 Baht or Kingston ValueRam 1GB DDR-667 - 2,140.00 Baht.

Just curious - what is the benefit of Corsair RAM over 'other' RAM? See a lot of people rave about it but no idea why - the speed is the same isn't it? (800)

It is due to latency (internal delays of the ram). The lower the latency the faster the response from the memory. Corsair is also good when it comes to modifying the latencies (overclocking). Most memory chips come from Micron but the differences is in the selection process from batches where they are tested for performance and separated from the batches for use in higher performance memories. Plus, Corsair comes with a lifetime warranty, though I believe Kingston does also on most of their modules.

Latencies explained

[Firefoxx]

Most ram is lifetime guaranteed now, although the big brand names might actually be a bit easier to claim that warranty. Remember that the benefit is not in the brand (please don't get stuck with a single brand), it's in the specific model. In this case, XMS ram is actually better spec'ed, but Corsair also sells value ram, which isn't that much better than most.

[Crushdepth]

Thanks. How much of a difference would the high spec RAM make? Would it be noticeable or is this something that only a purist would appreciate while benchmarking their computer?

[Simmo]

Tywais: what video card you getting with that system?

[bdenner]

I just finished building my machine most of the components were bought from Fortune Town:

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 M/Board with similar specs to the P5BE - Plus

E6600 Core 2 Duo Processor

A matched pair of 1 gb Corsair XMS2 6400C3 DDR2 800 memory modules

320 GB 7500 rpm SATA2 HDD

550 watt PSU, DVD RW, graphics card, TFT monitor, a case with 4 fans giving a total of 7 really blowing up a gale and I need it in my non airconditioned enviroment.

etc. etc.

AND an 850va UPS.

Just on 50K Baht all up.

It all went together very easily, how boring, I was looking for a challenge to cure my free time, still pissing around with some software packages that want to hang up but I’ll get there. I haven’t started to over-clock the machine yet so it has a reasonably low PCMark05 score of 5998. Still way fast enough to do what I do.

Have fun

Edited April 27, 2007 by bdenner

[Jimmyd]

I was planning on buying a motherboard, cpu and ram on my trip back to the US next month because prices are lower, but seeing the thanni.com site has me reconsidering--the prices there are not much more than in the US.

Thanks for the link.

[Jimmyd]

I just finished building my machine most of the components were bought from Fortune Town:

...snip...

It all went together very easily, how boring, I was looking for a challenge to cure my free time, still pissing around with some software packages that want to hang up but I’ll get there. I haven’t started to over-clock the machine yet so it has a reasonably low PCMark05 score of 5998. Still way fast enough to do what I do.

Have fun

Congratulations on your new system. I would love to hear how your overclocking efforts go. The e6600's seem to be easy to overclock and I'm thinking about trying it when I get a new system soon (I've never tried overclocking before).

[Tywais]

Congratulations on your new system. I would love to hear how your overclocking efforts go. The e6600's seem to be easy to overclock and I'm thinking about trying it when I get a new system soon (I've never tried overclocking before).

Several forums have shown the settings to get the E6600 overclocked to 3.5GHz and stable with stock coolers. Haven't had time to do it yet, but will when my workload goes down. The P5BE-Plus has a substantial amount of adjustability as I believe the P5B.

[Tywais]

Thanks. How much of a difference would the high spec RAM make? Would it be noticeable or is this something that only a purist would appreciate while benchmarking their computer?

Probably not a lot unless you are trying to squeeze the absolute most out of your machine by tweaking the RAM specs. Probably a few percent to several percent depending on the mainboard capability.

Anandtech is an excellent place to get detailed performance information on a variety of components > http://www.anandtech.com/

[Tywais]

Tywais: what video card you getting with that system?

At the moment I'm still using my ASUS EN6600GTX Silencer Video card because it hasn't shown to be a limiting factor in the games yet including BF2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R and F.E.A.R. Will probably get the 8800 later when the prices drop some.

[Richard-BKK]

For a budget system which also is able to run Windows Vista I would advice the new Nvidia 8500GT and the 8600GT chipsets.

This are DirectX 10 VGA cards and cost around 3500 Baht for the smallest to 6000 Baht for the advanced.

Also for a budget computer I can advice a Asus P5ND2-SE, cost less (3200 Baht) then a Asus P5B-E (5700 Bht) and is also able to use all the new Intel processors. Without being that much slower...

[cali]

I was planning on buying a motherboard, cpu and ram on my trip back to the US next month because prices are lower, but seeing the thanni.com site has me reconsidering--the prices there are not much more than in the US.

I probably saved 50% purchasing parts in US last month. I built a SFF (small form factor) build so it would easily fit in a suitcase. Have a look at newegg. They are not the cheapest but probably the coolest web site for finding stuff. Even their prices stomp all over Thanni. But again, you can find cheaper and free shipping elsewhere in the US without too much trouble.

Also slipped a Acer 24" LCD with 1920x1200 widescreen in a suit case that has been out a year yet Acer for some reason does not sell in Thailand at all! That was way cheap and way better than you can find in Thailand. Got a Nvidia 8800 640MB to go with it too and it flies.

I got an Asus motherboard and like it. Again, one of those nicer boards you won't find in Thailand yet cheaper than the lower end stuff Thanni offers.

Edited April 27, 2007 by cali

[Tywais]

I got an Asus motherboard and like it. Again, one of those nicer boards you won't find in Thailand yet cheaper than the lower end stuff Thanni offers.

The top of the line ASUS mainboards now are the Striker Extreme (available at Thanni) and Commando (not sure if available yet). These do command premium prices in Thailand. Striker Extreme (Retail) about 13,000 Baht versus newegg price of around 12,000 Baht - so not a large differential.

[cali]

The top of the line ASUS mainboards now are the Striker Extreme (available at Thanni) and Commando (not sure if available yet). These do command premium prices in Thailand. Striker Extreme (Retail) about 13,000 Baht versus newegg price of around 12,000 Baht - so not a large differential.

newegg is a great web site for researching components because it has such a nice search engine, huge amounts of specs, and customer reviews. But usually it is not the cheapest out there. For the Striker Extreme, savings is more like $100 US with a little shopping around.

In my case I needed Micro ATX . Thanni's nicest one is the Asus P5B-VM which is actually a nice board, but I got the next higher model in the US for less.