Question for Abit owners - would you recommend them?

[Nelly.]

The problem recently with the newer Abit Motherboards were the release bios, I just hope we don't end up waiting 2-3 months for a stable bios & letting their faithful customers end up being the guinea pigs!

They should send out engineering samples of their boards to people who actually care about fixing any issues instead of sending them out to people who only care about seeing what the highest FSB is i.e:- Benchers etc. All they seem to do is post results on various websites, bigdeal how about sorting the bios out . . . . .

I'll still be buying the Abit IP35 Pro though. . .

[gilgamesh]

The problem recently with the newer Abit Motherboards were the release bios, I just hope we don't end up waiting 2-3 months for a stable bios & letting their faithful customers end up being the guinea pigs!

They should send out engineering samples of their boards to people who actually care about fixing any issues instead of sending them out to people who only care about seeing what the highest FSB is i.e:- Benchers etc. All they seem to do is post results on various websites, bigdeal how about sorting the bios out . . . . .

I'll still be buying the Abit IP35 Pro though. . .

Mate I can help you there buddy. I review abit boards. I always give a honest review on the boards. Such as when I critisised the autodetect timings on the IN90HD etc.

THe new ip35 pro arrives in the country TOMORROW, I shall be getting it the DAY after. That gives me the weekend to do an an INITIAL impression only!

I do hope the IP35 Pro overclocks BETTER via quadcore than the IN932MAX with its problems with the GTL regsiters. BAH! Wish I had a quadcore when I did the review of the in932max otherwise I would have mentioned it.

Gilgamesh

[Dreaming]

Lol, went into a computer store on the high street, self proclaimed 'experts', and asked him about the IP35. Didn't even know what it was. So then said about the new intel P35 chipset. Didn't know what that was either! Then said there'll be some new gimmick just to get people handing over more cash when they don't really need to.

This is the same store that sells kettle leads for £4.99.

Can't wait to hear your review gilgamesh

[gilgamesh]

Lol, went into a computer store on the high street, self proclaimed 'experts', and asked him about the IP35. Didn't even know what it was. So then said about the new intel P35 chipset. Didn't know what that was either! Then said there'll be some new gimmick just to get people handing over more cash when they don't really need to.

This is the same store that sells kettle leads for £4.99.

Can't wait to hear your review gilgamesh

LMAO @ 5£ for a kettle lead
Actually IP35 pro looks good. Looks to be a much better overclocker due to abit taking their time on making sure the gtl registers are better. PLUS they have at last (on this board anyway) got rid of the digital mosfet chip, so i t should run a lot cooler.

If you have a quadcore on want to overclock it then the ip35 pro looks like a good deal. My review will not come this Monday (providing my board arrives on time)rather my inital first impression will be there instead until I can get down a FULL detailed review.

To be honest if you have a core 2 duo board already and do not overclock then your better off sticking with what you have. However if you wish to overclock then go for it.

Most high street stores and there so-called experts arent actually experts really. They call themselves experts as they can 'put a PC together' however we all know that you can almost train monkeys to do thatgrins:
Most high street shops do not even stock any decent cooling products never mind knowing what the 'bearlake chipset is'

For overclockers and any overclocker worth his salt knows that the best chipset to overclock on is the 965 Intel chipset, and since the P35 is the replacement 965 chipset =well update and the X38 is the 975 update, so in theory it should overclock a whole lot better than my 680i= in932max for example.

As for DD3 there is not much of a performance difference AT THIS MOMENT, but there will be soon!

Anyway we shall see in the next few days hopefully


Gilgamesh

[BUFF]

I do hope the IP35 Pro overclocks BETTER via quadcore than the IN932MAX with its problems with the GTL regsiters. BAH! Wish I had a quadcore when I did the review of the in932max otherwise I would have mentioned it.

to be fair all the other 680is were poor quad clockers too so blame nVidia for their advice on chipset implementation.

QuadGT is already a good quad OC board & I've seen results on XS that suggests that IP35 Pro is even better.

Think that I'm sticking with my QuadGT until X38 though - can''t justify the cost for the couple of % improvement it might give.

[Dreaming]

My asus was a good overclocker - but I think something has gone wrong with it. At 400mhz fsb you get blue screens saying there are memory issues, but I've tested the memory thoroughly (and they've never run over the 800mhz they're rated for). Having seen the abit offering I wanted to get another tried and tested motherboard, and my old board can be given / sold on as a non overclocking board (don't think I can return it under warranty, as at stock speeds it operates fine).

But then the new chipset came out and I thought why not , why get p965 over p35? Can't wait for your initial impressions. I'm probably going to get it anyway...

Just saw this gilgamesh: http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12612

look at the screen - http://techreport.com/etc/2007q2/com...=abit4_big.jpg

4550mhz

is that a strong overclock on a qx6700? Notice they're cheating with the liquid nitrogen though . At least it seems the board isn't bottlenecking it.

[DratUK]

Hmm well I hope the X38 isnt going to as toasty as the 680i? If as Gilgamesh has said take their time and release with a stable bios then Abit should be in the front running for the best P35/X38 boards. I notice more and more people either suggesting buying Abit now than ever before. Lets hope it continues with the new chipset.

[Dreaming]

Does say in that link I posted that abit said the x38 runs quite hot.

Since I like my quiet (but also enjoy overclocking) P35 seems alright . I can't wait to get my hands on one. Newegg have them in stock but I'm not sure if they ship to the UK (just checked, they don't). They are selling @ $184.99 which equates to £92 according to xe.com. It's a shame there was a change in the pricing over here, but microdirect still have it at the lower initial price so with any luck I can pinch one from there.

[BUFF]

Newegg have them in stock but I'm not sure if they ship to the UK (just checked, they don't). They are selling @ $184.99 which equates to £92 according to xe.com.

remember that price doesn't include sales tax so to compare it to the UK price you have to add VAT which takes it to £108 or so - still cheaper but not by much.

[Nelly.]

Mate I can help you there buddy. I review abit boards. I always give a honest review on the boards. Such as when I critisised the autodetect timings on the IN90HD etc.

THe new ip35 pro arrives in the country TOMORROW, I shall be getting it the DAY after. That gives me the weekend to do an an INITIAL impression only!

I do hope the IP35 Pro overclocks BETTER via quadcore than the IN932MAX with its problems with the GTL regsiters. BAH! Wish I had a quadcore when I did the review of the in932max otherwise I would have mentioned it.

Gilgamesh

Hi I hope you didn't think I was pointing any fingers I just think Abit should send out samples earlier to release date so that any bios related problems can be dealt with earlier instead of when people who pay good money end up having to suffer.

I'm tempted to buy a QX6700ES chip to test on this board along with my Week 28B E6600.

[DratUK]

Does say in that link I posted that abit said the x38 runs quite hot.

Since I like my quiet (but also enjoy overclocking) P35 seems alright . I can't wait to get my hands on one. Newegg have them in stock but I'm not sure if they ship to the UK (just checked, they don't). They are selling @ $184.99 which equates to £92 according to xe.com. It's a shame there was a change in the pricing over here, but microdirect still have it at the lower initial price so with any luck I can pinch one from there.

Yep they seem to be the cheapest before accepting stock. Aria have it at £99 Scan at £121.

[gilgamesh]

My asus was a good overclocker - but I think something has gone wrong with it. At 400mhz fsb you get blue screens saying there are memory issues, but I've tested the memory thoroughly (and they've never run over the 800mhz they're rated for). Having seen the abit offering I wanted to get another tried and tested motherboard, and my old board can be given / sold on as a non overclocking board (don't think I can return it under warranty, as at stock speeds it operates fine).

But then the new chipset came out and I thought why not , why get p965 over p35? Can't wait for your initial impressions. I'm probably going to get it anyway...

Just saw this gilgamesh: http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12612

look at the screen - http://techreport.com/etc/2007q2/com...=abit4_big.jpg

4550mhz

is that a strong overclock on a qx6700? Notice they're cheating with the liquid nitrogen though . At least it seems the board isn't bottlenecking it.

erm remember mate its not just the DDR 2 speed you may need to slacken the Ram timings to get above 400mhs fsb and/or up the vdimm voltage slightly
I.E from 4-4-4-12 to 5-5-5-18 and 2.2volts to 2.3v vdimm

gilgamesh

[Dreaming]

The thing was I just left every setting on auto for the first 6 months I had it, then my computer started bluescreening saying the memory was faulty. At the same time I lost the hard drives from the PSU - so I got a better one but it still bluescreens at high fsb settings. Not too worried though.

[gilgamesh]

The thing was I just left every setting on auto for the first 6 months I had it, then my computer started bluescreening saying the memory was faulty. At the same time I lost the hard drives from the PSU - so I got a better one but it still bluescreens at high fsb settings. Not too worried though.

AH just noticed you had a P5WDH Deluxe!

I have a story for you there. As everyone knows I am abit fan, however I was given one of those boards( ASUS P5WDH Deluxe that is) as present from a family member. Anyway on my week 24 6600 and my OLD corsiar VALUE ram of 5-5-5-15 ddr 2 667 I could not get the FSB higher than 410FSB, however I sold that board and bought a Abit AW9D max at that time. I overclocked the same CPU and the SAME ram to 424FSB and with TIGHTER ram timings to boot tighter tha n what they where designed for 424FSB and timings of 4-4-4-12 (hehe admittedly I had to pump 2.4 volts through the VDIMM get that though)Grins
However it just goes to show that board (aw9d max) is a fantastic board and getting that by water cooling the cpu but AIR cooling the ram to boot, goes to show how good that board is (aw9d max that is) The Asus p5w dh deluxe in my opnion is not a good overclocking board, but more concentrated on the multimedia, i.e its wi-fi and that silly remote control it has-lol

I think I still have those screenshtos somewhere. It could be beceause of your board more than anything else.

I also forgot to mention this was all done on my oooooooold Hiper 570 watt (4 pin only p4 connector) PSU

gilgamesh

[Dreaming]

I think the problem is slightly more complex. I got a 0x00000124 error trying it the other day! When I first got my c2d and the board, I thought what the heck. I've never oc/d before, and the BIOS menu seemed quite friendly - if you leave the voltage settings on auto the worst that can happen is it will say 'overclock failed' when the computer starts and automatically resets to stock speeds.

I bumped the fsb up to 400mhz, the ram operating at 800mhz, and it worked great! It did so for several months until a few weeks ago when I started getting blue screens with 0x0000008E errors which indicate memory. I turned the overclocks down, the problem went away.

Never found the root cause though. Sorry, getting sidetracked a bit . I reckon I can keep the board for a basic PC or sell it as a non very good overclocking board (though atm I'm still up to 2.3ghz rather than stock 1.83).