Intel D975XBX2 vs. the ASUS P5B deluxeÂ….P965 vs. 975X

[philmar]

Newbie question here.
Intel D975XBX2 vs. the ASUS P5B deluxeÂ….P965 vs. 975X

I am building my first custom designed computer and have decided to go with the:

Conroe E6600 Core Duo 2.4 GHz processor
2 GB RAM
EVGA e-GeForce 7600GT nVidia 256MB PCI-Express
3 Seagate Barracuda hard drives
Coolermaster Centurion 5 silver mid-tower ATX Case with 380 WATT PSU
Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX CPU cooler and a fan for the hard drives

Here is what I plan to do with this new rig. It will be solely dedicated to processing large batches of multiple RAW and TIFF files in PhotoShop CS2. I plan to use an even more memory intensive program in the future Adobe Lightroom with Vista 64 BIT. It will NOT be used for gaming, Internet or MP3 burning/ripping. I state this because I think digital photo buffs have much different needs from gamers. I do NOT overclock right now. I think I MAY get in to oc’ing as this system gets older and I need to squeeze everything out of it but that is maybe 4 years down the road when I decide to learn more about oc’ing. I may add another hard drive and set up a RAID configuration in the future when I learn more about this. My passion is photography not computers – but now that photography is digital I am going to commit myself to learning this stuff since it will improve my photography.

I decided to stay away from RAID at this time. My passion is photography not configuring hard drives and worrying about redundancy or data loss. I have a Maxtor OneTouch external HD for backup.

Any advice? I really am stumped as to what motherboard to get. I am not too concerned about the cost – I’d like to get the best possible mobo for my needs. However, I don’t want to spend money on a mobo that has bells and whistles that I will never use like remote on-off switch, ability to play MP3s while it is powered off, or dual video card ports, crossfire ready, HighDef. But, I don’t mind spending more if it means I can safely not worry about upgrading for an even longer period of time in the future. I want a mobo I can grow in to. The mobo must be good for an overclocking novice.

Can anyone suggest the best motherboard for 2 GB RAM and an Intel E6600 2.4 Ghz processor? It seems to me the Intel D975XBX2 and ASUS P5B deluxe mobos are high-end boards designed for the Extreme series processors. Am I wrong? Would they really buy better performance over a cheaper mobo with 2GB RAM and a E6600 2.4 Ghz duo core Intel processor? Or am I paying for features I wouldn't use like easier to extreme advanced overclock BIOS, slots I'll never use? Does one of the two perform better at stock while NOT overclocked? Is one more likely to perform at a higher temperature or more likely get my PSU to fry it? Is one easier to be overclocked by a novice? Is the P965 chip better than the 975X for speed and performance when UNclocked?
Mobos bewilder me – their array of slots and features get my head spinning. I can’t seem to grasp them. Thus I seek your help.

I am a photographer, not a techie. So I ask you bigger-brained guys: Which of these motherboards best suit my needs as a digital photographer who may oc in the future and whose future plans include 4 Hard Drives in RAID. I will also increase the RAM to 6 GBs when I go to Adobe Lightroom on Vista 64 bit in the future.

Also what type of 2gb RAM should I use with this E6600 processor and motherboard? DDR2 667 or the DDR2 800?

 

[Jrod]

Just get 2-4gb of DDR2 667. The only way you'd notice the difference between the 667 and the 800 is if you're overclocking, and you already stated you're not.

When it comes to the motherboard...I'm still kind of iffy on that myself. The big differences though besides the # of ports mostly are only important when overclocking. In other words, I bet either of those boards you're looking at would be perfectly stable for what you're wanting to do.

Get a separate PSU. Even just a Fortron 450w would be good for your build and it's only around $50. If you don't mind spending a little more, the Seasonic S12 430w is around $90. A lot of people tend to skimp on the PSU, but if you get a dud bundled with your case it could possibly end up frying your components. So worth it imo, unless you know for sure it's a good PSU. Btw, people here will probably tell you to get more wattage, but from what I've read most comps like the one you're building run at less than 400w so you should be fine with either of those.

 

[Sora]

I don't reccomend DDR2-677 memory at all. It will eventully become standard for some builds just as DDR-400 was. Some of your old DDR-333 just couldn't be used with the 800 FSB CPU's later on. Plus overclocking is safe and you might decide you want to so i think it is better if you just payed the extra few bucks for cheap DDR2-800.

 

[philmar]

I am hoping to do a build that will last me 5 years without having to upgrade much.
Why buy DDR2 800 RAM if it won't make much of a difference? just in case I buy a new CPU later?

 

[philmar]

I read the Badaxe2 supports EPP RAM. Does that mean I can use 800 MHz RAM and not have to do the memory BIOS overclocking myself? That would speed up the memory and not oc the CPU - right?

 

[Sora]

Eventually in a couple years DDR2-800 will be as standard as DDR-400 ram is now for older CPU's.

It's not much more at all so you might as well get it.

I'm quite sure what you mean by your last post.

 

[Jrod]

EPP ram auto-overclocks itself as long as the motherboard supports EPP. It doesn't auto-overclock the cpu as far as I can tell. Now you're sounding like you want to OC, so I'll put it simply. If you plan on OC'ing, get the P5B Deluxe and ddr2-800 ram. If not OC'ing, get either board since it doesn't really matter and ddr2-667 if you want to save money, ddr2-800 if you don't care.

 

[philmar]

EPP RAM is expensive and looks like it is geared to someone who wants the benefits of oc'ing yet lacks the time/confidence to learn how to do it. My passion is PHOTOGRAPHY, not learning about RAM pins, timings, BIOS, latency, bus speeds.

The Badaxe2 is a STABLE board. I'll use it for my digital photography. It's stability is paramount as it will contain precious data. If an overclocked gaming rig fries a part or crashes, the user probably won't care as much as someone who is using their rig to store, process their life's photographic work. Sounds pretentious but it is true.
I value stability and data integrity first, THEN I look for ways to get increased performance. EPP looks interesting. It is a way to get increased memory performance without the hassle of learning how to overclock. Overclockers may sneer at it the same way experienced photographers sneer at an expensive point and shoot camera.

 

[Jrod]

No one here is telling you that the badaxe2 is a bad board, or to get an unstable board. Like I said, either board will be good. Intels are usually really stable so just go with that one if you're worried. Make sure it supports EPP ram before you go and buy some though.