You know what's funny? UT2004 is an "nvidia the way it's meant to be played" game and it pulls higher frame rates with ATI cards!
As for the P5N-E, what can I say? It's interesting about the chipset though, that explains the sudden drop in actually-working-ness.

Quote:

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As for the P5N-E, what can I say? It's interesting about the chipset though, that explains the sudden drop in actually-working-ness.

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I don't know if that's the exact story. But the 570 versions seem to work and the 650i versions seem to not work. So you tell me, lol

I was aware though, that most of the P5N series is top notch stuff. Am I right? So far, my biggest complaint for ASUS is that their AMD motherboards overclock, but most of them can't go more than about 100MHz OC without blue screens and lock-ups. My M2N32-SLI could only do a 400MHz OC without loss of stability.

Well, consider that the P5N-E SLI is so badly made it doesn't pass the Vista installer for stability reasons, I'm not so sure. The P5N32-SLI is a Striker variant, but then that doesn't necessarily make it much better.

Well I suppose it doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm gonna stay a Gigabyte fanboy until Gigabyte screws up, lol.

ASUS needs to shape up. Most of their boards aren't stable and have failing chipsets.

Both of the Nvidia chipsets themselves are actually very good though. Awesome reviews. I loved the 680i and it never failed on me. That and I loved the fans on the chipset heatsinks. That was Evga's work methinks.

Also seems that Evga is now screwing up. There are a lot of returned 7600GT's and 7950GT's. But I don't know if that affects the GeForce 8 cards.

The EVGA 650i board seems a bit dump too, don't know if that also affects the 680i, but right now, nvidia chipset boards seem a bit of a minefield.

The only thing I know about the 650i is that the north bridge chip gets really hot. But from what most of my internet friends say(not many geeks in town) the 650i is a solid chipset. Granted, the nForce 5 chipset was better.

I'm gonna stick to AMD and Intel chipsets for future builds, though. I've had the best luck OC'ing with them(Intel, anyway. never used AMD yet) and they seem to have the best options and stability.

How's this for a budget conscious dream machine? lol

Used Gamecube - $30
59 block memory card - $10
3 used games - $35

Total price - $75

having friends at Gamestop that still accept your employee discount card - priceless :D

Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Worked at Gamestop for 2 months. Employee discount card has 2 years left. I'm glad I kept mine :D

Whoops, double

Hehe, hot? Try 83C... lol. Don't forget, even with those Silverstone FM121 fans at max speed, it was still too hot to touch!

i have done something that will shock AD to its roots.....

for £30 i bought the P5N-E :O

Originally posted by Estuansis:

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Well I suppose it doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm gonna stay a Gigabyte fanboy until Gigabyte screws up, lol.

ASUS needs to shape up. Most of their boards aren't stable and have failing chipsets.

Both of the Nvidia chipsets themselves are actually very good though. Awesome reviews. I loved the 680i and it never failed on me. That and I loved the fans on the chipset heatsinks. That was Evga's work methinks.

Also seems that Evga is now screwing up. There are a lot of returned 7600GT's and 7950GT's. But I don't know if that affects the GeForce 8 cards.

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Nvidia chipsets while are very good, became very unstalbe (very true for the 680i) when trying to OC with all for DIMM slots occupied.

and after the p5n fiacso (and the striker (to an extent)) any intel chipests (P5B, P5K, P5E) have been some of the worlds best mobos, along with their ROG counter parts.

the world top 3d06mark(er) http://service.futuremark.com/resultComp...reResultType=14

uses the P5E-WS pro

infact 4/5 of the tpo use this.....indicating something?

A discussion we've had before is that Asus boards are good, but only the expensive top end ones. We're all living proof that the P5N-E is a heap of crap, and my A8N-SLI SE was just as bad.
Oh, and why waste £30, out of curiosity?

well i have a factory locked packard bell gigabyt p915 chipset board. i found this for £30, and thought not bad so i took it.

going to get some DDR2 ram now (as i have DDR1) and an E2140 (who previuos owner got it to 3.45GHZ on air (tuniq tower).

and i get pissed of when people slate ASUS when they make good mobos. the p5b and p5k series are superb aswell, and i havent ger many horror stories( if any at all) abut them.....same goes for the gigabyte p35 chips aswell.

Yes but the P5N-E is crap, and that's inexcusable. Plus, only having 1 out of my 3 boards still work beyond 1 year is poor, and since their customer service is so dire, that isn't something you need.
Asus are good if you're willing to shell out big bucks, but unless you're going for top end stuff, they're best avoided. You shouldn't have to spend three figures on a motherboard so it doesn't fall to pieces. Gigabyte and MSI seem to manage alright in that department.

I may be being naive here, but it seems to me you're buying a P5N-E board just to try and find a working one, to stick up for your beloved Asus. I wouldn't bother, based on the threads at aD in the past year and a bit, you're not going to change anyone's minds about this board.

The 650i is a pretty poor chipset which is where the problem originates, but I hear far less grief about other 650i boards.

Originally posted by sammorris:

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Yes but the P5N-E is crap, and that's inexcusable. Plus, only having 1 out of my 3 boards still work beyond 1 year is poor, and since their customer service is so dire, that isn't something you need.
Asus are good if you're willing to shell out big bucks, but unless you're going for top end stuff, they're best avoided. You shouldn't have to spend three figures on a motherboard so it doesn't fall to pieces. Gigabyte and MSI seem to manage alright in that department.

I may be being naive here, but it seems to me you're buying a P5N-E board just to try and find a working one, to stick up for your beloved Asus. I wouldn't bother, based on the threads at aD in the past year and a bit, you're not going to change anyone's minds about this board.

The 650i is a pretty poor chipset which is where the problem originates, but I hear far less grief about other 650i boards.

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oh no i know its a horrible board, but for £30 i would resist. i do hope its crap, or else i will ahve to contradict EVERYONEs experiances, which wont be great xD

i have aslo names some miud range to highend stuff that has been superb for asus, so i still dotn see your points.

all compaines are good, and i am not slating them, but i dont liek it when peopel slate asus' midrange when it actually is good.

Then why buy it? For £30 you could get a proper board on ebay.

to take the chance xD

if it turns good, ill be happy, if not its only £30 :)

RECOMMENDED BUDGET-CONSCIOUS GAMING BUILD - USA:

E2180 CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052
GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
2GB Corsair RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034
500GB WD Hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073
XFX Geforce 9600GT Graphics http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150277
Corsair VX 450W PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
NZXT Apollo case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146025
Pioneer 20x DVD RW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018
SB Audigy SE Sound card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102003

Comes to c. $600 after rebates. This PC build will run any current game to an adequate detail level.

gotta love that rig bro!

you really love NZXT case, anyway is Coolermaster CM 690 a good case???

which one will win, P182 or CM690?

WIN!


its not a race m8.

id go for the p182, but caus the CM-690 is under £50, if your on a budget, id go for that.

The RC-690 Dominator and P182 are both superb cases, but have different roles. RC-690 for cooling, P182 for quietness.

i like that idea sam.

UK £400 budget

I really like P182, it looks "clean" or "neat" and it's quiet, but the cooling is ok/moderate. But it's not that cheap!

CM-690 is different, it's cheap and awesome cooling but it doesn't look as good as P182.

i need good cooling, buying good silent fans might lower the noise

@shaffaaf
you forgot about the power supply.

that case is ok, motherboard i prefer GA-P35-DS3L, gpu 9600GT is much better, i don't think E2200 is needed, E2180 is really enough plus with GA-P35-DS3L one can OC it over 3GHz np!

The cooling on the P182 is still good, let's not forget that. it's just not quite as good as the RC-690, but realistically, that's never going to be an issue unless you use multiple passive graphics cards.

the motherboard is a good OCer aswell.

and the E2200 was added to add the extra multi, for more OCing as the same FBS.

the case comes with a PSU (and a very stable and 80+ one at that)

and for £400 adding the 9600GT is hard.

the 3850 OCed to 3870 speeds with a Vmod, so its the same at a 9600GT anywasy with a bit of OCing

NEVER vmod a graphics card. I've seen several people do it and every one of them has destroyed their graphics card. On the upside though, the HD3850 is not dissimilar from the 9600GT in performance anyway, you probably won't notice the difference.