Intel Desktop Board D975XBX2 - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 27th Feb 2007, 13:34

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...975XBX2/1.html

DarkLord7854 · 27th Feb 2007, 14:48

That motherboard is rather.. pathetic. Special considering the pretty high price for it. Makes me think of a phrase: "attrape niggaut" (French) which means it's a like, a trap for er.. un-informed people (different wording could be used but it'd be a bit offensive

)

randosome · 27th Feb 2007, 17:42

uhh :S there are 3 PCI-E slots, a x16 x8 and x4

so why when you use crossfire does it drop the first slot to x8, when the second slot doesn't get any speed increase
Did i completely drop the ball or does this seem completely stupid to you too ?

Bindibadgi · 27th Feb 2007, 18:26

I'm unsure. The manual says they are x16, x8 and x4 but then change to x8 by x8. Now every 975X board I've ever used is either x16 and x1 OR x8 and x8. I'm only going by what Intel has stated and I have to go on, but my gut feeling would be it's x16 and x1 or x8 and x8.

randosome · 27th Feb 2007, 20:05

that would make sense, but that means that the slots are either x16 x1 x4 or x8 x8 x4 ... (although they will fit x16 x8 and x4 cards, not that it matters as a knife can make them all support x16 cards)

Blacklash · 28th Feb 2007, 06:36

Disable EIST in the BIOS, save, then kill C1E plus Watchdog in the config jumper position. I am running 3.7 GHz 24/7. If you want to try for max FSB try 1.375 vFSB, 1.7 MCH, Ref Freq 333, and ram freq 667. I can run up to 3.8 on a 266 ref freq and need to shift to 333|667 for 3.9.

3.9 GHz, Highest I've been on 1.6v. Disregard the ram speed I am ref freq 333 and freq 667 here which is 1:1. CPU-z reports it incorrectly.

3.8 GHz

I've been able to run my memory @ up to DDR2 1000 @ 4-4-4-4 with a 266 ref freq:

Currently @ 3.7 GHz:

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=172866

My complete specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.70 GHz 1.55v (24/7)
Mushkin XP2-6400 (4-4-3-4)
Intel D975XBX2 (i975x)
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX
NEC 20WMGX2-BK
WD Raptor 74GB HD(x2)
Pioneer-710B5PK|NEC ND-3550A
Auzentech HDA X-Plosion|Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0
FSP FX700-GLN|Antec P180 B
AC Freezer 7 Pro|Vista Ultimate Edition

Guys over @ Xtremesystems have had this board up to a 470 FSB unmodded with an E6300. That's solid as far as i975x goes.

Bindibadgi · 28th Feb 2007, 09:07

Hmm nice. Maybe our board just isn't that great, thanks for the overclocking tip off. It still doesn't help the fact that the board we've tested doesn't pass our stress test, although another board with an earlier OEM revision we've got for CPU testing works fine under reasonably high load multitasking. It still doesn't forgive pretty crappy memory timing selection either though.

rowin4kicks · 28th Feb 2007, 16:12

wow i thought that it i would consider buying one of these untill i started reading the artile instead of just skimming
how can they ask such a high price?

francois_l · 28th Feb 2007, 23:35

Hello, I'm looking at possibly changing some of my computers parts soon. Up to now, I believed this motherboard was a great choice. One thing that grabbed my attention was one of last line of the review and I quote:

"Thus there is really very little that this motherboard offers the consumer over what else is available on the market for either performance desktop or entry level workstation. In many cases, competing boards offer more stability, more unique features, or simply cost much less."

I was wondering what other motherboard offer similar performance for alot less. I'm looking at getting an e6600 that I will overclock slightly, not extreme, just to get a little more performance out of it. I also want great stability. I've read good things about the P5B from asus and also about the GA-965P-DS3 from Gigabyte. Please help me make a wise decision on motherboard choice.

Thx you for the help
Continue the great reviews btw.

Bindibadgi · 1st Mar 2007, 09:30

Similar performance can be had from any P965 boards. The Asus commando is £140, £10 cheaper and offers LOTS more feature wise. It's also just finished out 24 hour stress test this morning: FarCry is still running, as are BOTH Prime95s and IOmeter.

The Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus is around £130 and offers more functionality in a newer southbridge and about the same in the box. The Gigabyte GA965P-DQ6 is up to version 3.3 now, the BIOS is mature and it works great. If you're investing in Vista, Asus has another P5B out: Vista edition with readyboost onboard and slideshow external LCD in the box. The Abit AW9D-MAX also looks better and offers more in the box. When we reivewed it, it had an early BIOS so the performance should be better now.

Jodiuh · 7th Mar 2007, 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

Hmm nice. Maybe our board just isn't that great, thanks for the overclocking tip off. It still doesn't help the fact that the board we've tested doesn't pass our stress test...

That makes me thing you had a bad board. You guys ran that stress test w/ everything stock right? As another poster mentioned, was watchdog/eist off?

I just took back my 2nd Commando for being a loud mouth. Something's making a high pitched whine on the board that I didn't care for. Some folks thought it was one of the reg coils for power to the NB/Dimms, but twisting those didn't help the noise for me. I didn't really care for the lowering of the GPU either as I'm only on a single 8800GTX, I would like the option of going w/ an HR-03 Plus in the future and it wouldn't fit very well w/ an X-Fi in the Com.

I haven't tried any OC on the new BX2 yet, but I'll post back w/ some results.

Cheers,

Jod

PS. C1E can't be turned off, do you guys think there's really any downside to that?

./^\.Ace./^\. · 9th Jun 2007, 21:10

Intel knows that it is the little details that matter to PC lovers, so making the little flam heatsinks was really neat

trueplus · 29th Oct 2007, 18:16

Has anyone run this board headless?

I've got a fedora 9 system that runs fine, but when I remove the video card it doesn't get anywhere. I can't ssh/ping the box -- which i can with video card in. The NIC LED also doesn't show any activity during startup as it normally would when services are started. Nothing appears in the linux logs (/var/log/messages, /var/log/boot), and nothing in the bios log. No error beeps. On most mobos you have to set "halt on errors" to ignore video errors, but this bios doesn't have such a setting.

I've look through a number of forums, but haven't seen anything about a headless configuration. According the manual it should be possible.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
TP.

27th Feb 2007, 13:34	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Intel Desktop Board D975XBX2 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...975XBX2/1.html __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

27th Feb 2007, 14:48	#2
DarkLord7854 Web Developer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 3,842	That motherboard is rather.. pathetic. Special considering the pretty high price for it. Makes me think of a phrase: "attrape niggaut" (French) which means it's a like, a trap for er.. un-informed people (different wording could be used but it'd be a bit offensive ) __________________ Current Computer: eVGA 780i Motherboard \| Q6600 Core2Quad \| eVGA GTX260 896Mbs 216-core \| 2x Seagate 500Gbs \| 8Gbs OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 \| Creative XtremeGamer X-Fi \| Thermaltake Armor Case Custom WordPress, ZenCart, Joomla, vBulletin, etc installs and skinning, PM/E-Mail for a quote

27th Feb 2007, 18:26	#4
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,280	I'm unsure. The manual says they are x16, x8 and x4 but then change to x8 by x8. Now every 975X board I've ever used is either x16 and x1 OR x8 and x8. I'm only going by what Intel has stated and I have to go on, but my gut feeling would be it's x16 and x1 or x8 and x8. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

28th Feb 2007, 06:36	#6
Blacklash What's a Dremel? Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1	Disable EIST in the BIOS, save, then kill C1E plus Watchdog in the config jumper position. I am running 3.7 GHz 24/7. If you want to try for max FSB try 1.375 vFSB, 1.7 MCH, Ref Freq 333, and ram freq 667. I can run up to 3.8 on a 266 ref freq and need to shift to 333\|667 for 3.9. 3.9 GHz, Highest I've been on 1.6v. Disregard the ram speed I am ref freq 333 and freq 667 here which is 1:1. CPU-z reports it incorrectly. 3.8 GHz I've been able to run my memory @ up to DDR2 1000 @ 4-4-4-4 with a 266 ref freq: Currently @ 3.7 GHz: http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=172866 My complete specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.70 GHz 1.55v (24/7) Mushkin XP2-6400 (4-4-3-4) Intel D975XBX2 (i975x) EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX NEC 20WMGX2-BK WD Raptor 74GB HD(x2) Pioneer-710B5PK\|NEC ND-3550A Auzentech HDA X-Plosion\|Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 FSP FX700-GLN\|Antec P180 B AC Freezer 7 Pro\|Vista Ultimate Edition Guys over @ Xtremesystems have had this board up to a 470 FSB unmodded with an E6300. That's solid as far as i975x goes. Last edited by Blacklash; 28th Feb 2007 at 07:12.

28th Feb 2007, 09:07	#7
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,280	Hmm nice. Maybe our board just isn't that great, thanks for the overclocking tip off. It still doesn't help the fact that the board we've tested doesn't pass our stress test, although another board with an earlier OEM revision we've got for CPU testing works fine under reasonably high load multitasking. It still doesn't forgive pretty crappy memory timing selection either though. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

27th Feb 2007, 17:42	#3
randosome Banned Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 226	uhh :S there are 3 PCI-E slots, a x16 x8 and x4 so why when you use crossfire does it drop the first slot to x8, when the second slot doesn't get any speed increase Did i completely drop the ball or does this seem completely stupid to you too ?

27th Feb 2007, 20:05	#5
randosome Banned Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 226	that would make sense, but that means that the slots are either x16 x1 x4 or x8 x8 x4 ... (although they will fit x16 x8 and x4 cards, not that it matters as a knife can make them all support x16 cards)

28th Feb 2007, 16:12	#8
rowin4kicks Hypermodder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Windsor, UK Posts: 761	wow i thought that it i would consider buying one of these untill i started reading the artile instead of just skimming how can they ask such a high price? __________________ Penguin v5.0 on it's way... AMD Phenom II X4 955 - 4Gb 1600Mhz Corsair Dominator - XFX Radeon HD 5850 - Corsair HX650W - 500Gb Samsung F2

28th Feb 2007, 23:35	#9
francois_l What's a Dremel? Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1	Hello, I'm looking at possibly changing some of my computers parts soon. Up to now, I believed this motherboard was a great choice. One thing that grabbed my attention was one of last line of the review and I quote: "Thus there is really very little that this motherboard offers the consumer over what else is available on the market for either performance desktop or entry level workstation. In many cases, competing boards offer more stability, more unique features, or simply cost much less." I was wondering what other motherboard offer similar performance for alot less. I'm looking at getting an e6600 that I will overclock slightly, not extreme, just to get a little more performance out of it. I also want great stability. I've read good things about the P5B from asus and also about the GA-965P-DS3 from Gigabyte. Please help me make a wise decision on motherboard choice. Thx you for the help Continue the great reviews btw.

1st Mar 2007, 09:30	#10
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,280	Similar performance can be had from any P965 boards. The Asus commando is £140, £10 cheaper and offers LOTS more feature wise. It's also just finished out 24 hour stress test this morning: FarCry is still running, as are BOTH Prime95s and IOmeter. The Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus is around £130 and offers more functionality in a newer southbridge and about the same in the box. The Gigabyte GA965P-DQ6 is up to version 3.3 now, the BIOS is mature and it works great. If you're investing in Vista, Asus has another P5B out: Vista edition with readyboost onboard and slideshow external LCD in the box. The Abit AW9D-MAX also looks better and offers more in the box. When we reivewed it, it had an early BIOS so the performance should be better now. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

9th Jun 2007, 21:10	#12
./^\.Ace./^\. Multimodder $./^\.Ace./^\.'s Avatar$ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 151 $./^\.Ace./^\. is on a distinguished road$	Intel knows that it is the little details that matter to PC lovers, so making the little flam heatsinks was really neat __________________ CPU: Intel i7 920 (Stock) \|RAM: 6GB OCZ Reaper HPC DDR3 1866MHz \| Mother Board: Asus P6T \|Graphics: Dual BFG GeForce GTX295 rev.B(Quad SLI) \| PSU Antec TPQ-1000 \| CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 \| Hard Drives: 500GB Seagate Barracuda, 500GB WD Caviar Black, 1TB WD Carviar Green \| Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-216D \|Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 \| Monitor: LG W2343T 23" \|OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit \|
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29th Oct 2007, 18:16	#13
trueplus What's a Dremel? Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1	running the bad axe 2 (INTEL D975XBX2) headless Has anyone run this board headless? I've got a fedora 9 system that runs fine, but when I remove the video card it doesn't get anywhere. I can't ssh/ping the box -- which i can with video card in. The NIC LED also doesn't show any activity during startup as it normally would when services are started. Nothing appears in the linux logs (/var/log/messages, /var/log/boot), and nothing in the bios log. No error beeps. On most mobos you have to set "halt on errors" to ignore video errors, but this bios doesn't have such a setting. I've look through a number of forums, but haven't seen anything about a headless configuration. According the manual it should be possible. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, TP.