P35 Boards. Asus P5K or Abit IP35-Pro

[Dreaming]

They're both at a similar price;

Scan: Asus P5K Standard - £97.42

Yoyotech: Abit IP35-Pro - £94.96

They both have similar features, except:
- the Abit has 2 e sata ports on the back vs 1 on the asus, with regards to another thread on here may be useful as I do want to move to external storage.
- the Asus has an extra pci-e x1 slot which would be good for a wireless lan card
- the Asus deluxe version is supposeduly a BRILLIANT overclocker. But I only do a bit of habitual overclocking really.

Having used both an asus P5W and abit nf-m2 I have to say that although there was a lot of faff, once the abit was set up it was very speedy, even if the asus has loads of extras (but I've never used them, like a remote control lol)

I can't make up my mind in all honesty.

[BUFF]

the basic P5K only has the ICH9 whereas the IP35 Pro has ICH9R.
IP35 has dual Gigabit LAN if that's of use to you.

Basically the IP35 Pro has a better spec. but there's no public feedback of it's prowess yet.

[Dreaming]

Oh well I use raid so it's the abit then. But I will keep an eye on reviews. Why do you get so much for your money with abit then? *shrug*

Should hear about my new job in a few days then I can spend money!

[samir883]

I am looking at buying either the Abit IP35 Pro or the Asus P5K Deluxe. They both seem to be around the same price bracket and apart from the odd features seem to be the same. Can anyone reccommend one over the other? I've heard that the Abit is excellent for its uGuru Technoogy allowing you to OC straight from Windows but the VDroop on Intel's quad core processors seems to be an issue.

[NightshadowUK]

I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I vote for the IP35 Pro.

[samir883]

Does anyone have any experience of the Asus P5Q deluxe P45 chipset. Just wondering whether it would be better to buy this one over the Abit IP35 as the chipset and some of the specs are upgraded. WOuld it make much difference apart from being able to use 16gb of RAM and the ICH10R etc. I'm only looking for mild overclocking as i'm a newbie to it.

[BUFF]

A P5Q Deluxe is going to run you quite a bit more than an IP35 Pro/Pro XE.
if you are only looking for a mild oc & aren't interested in Crossfire performance (where the P45 has more lanes) then no, there will be no performance difference.

[Thorsson]

IMO the IP35-Pro is one of the 'sweet spot' mobos that comes along every couple of years, which combines great layout, great features, good performance, and good overclocking at a very reasonable price. Reminds me of the NF7-S v2, although it might be a little short of that legendary board.

Although it is getting a bit long in the tooth, if you're getting the even better (in terms of value) Q6600 (one of those 'golden' CPUs that comes along even less often), or any other C2D 65nm CPU, then there's no point in spending any more. Spend less if you like, but make sure you don't want any of the features you'll be missing, and that you don't want the improved stability under OC that the superior capacitors of the Pro bring.

I'm not keen on the P45. It doesn't have native support for the Wolfdale and Yorkfield. Sure the boards will support the CPUs, but I can't see how they will work (let alone OC) as well as a board with native support. They are a lot cheaper than an X48, but if the objective is to save money then a Conroe/Kentsfield with a P35 board is better bang per buck. IMO there's not a lot of reason to get a P45 board. YMMV.

[TheKork]

IMO the IP35-Pro is one of the 'sweet spot' mobos that comes along every couple of years, which combines great layout, great features, good performance, and good overclocking at a very reasonable price. Reminds me of the NF7-S v2, although it might be a little short of that legendary board.

Currently running one of them now It is the greatest board that ever was no doubt about that!

[Whiternoise]

I've got a P5KC, so a variant on the standard one. Very happy with it, generally. Overclocked well, good layout and so forth. I had it running an E2160 at 3.0Ghz so a standard overclock, but very easy to do.

I've heard good stuff about the Abit though! Though i've switched to DFI recently..