Conroe Support

Do you folks know of any current boards that support this up coming processor?

 

i thought it was going to be the 975 chipset series boards ???

 

You don't know how well timed this question is, Necrosis. I just went through a couple weeks of research on this.

"Supposedly" the Asus P5WD2-E Premium board supports the Conroe (Core 2 Duo), however not one person I've talked with (Asus or Intel directly) can say for sure it will. All talk about it being "supposedly" able to support it is based on the fact that the board supports the 65nm current chips.

As for Intel direct boards, the Intel D975xbx board does support the Conroe (Core 2 Duo) chip as long as you get a revision 304 board or higher. Problem is that most of the boards out there are revision 302. So, if you can find one that is 304 or higher then your set.

Of note, an Intel rep mentioned that the 965 based boards "should" be out within 2 - 3 months, and those will support the Core 2 Duos.

 

i sure hope the asus board does that way this 930 pentium D can go to the wife

 

Well, no matter what, if you push off that processor to the wife you'll need to buy a new motherboard for her anyways since hers doesn't support that chip. So, if your P5WD2-E doesn't support the Core 2 Duo then you can push off both parts to her.

Right now I'm in a bit of a spot. I have a 975xbx sitting at the store, and I can't get rid of it at the moment. I would have kept it for myself, but since it's a revision 302 board... no deal. I don't want to upgrade my motherboard AGAIN in less than a year just to change CPUs. Thankfully I'm in no rush, and I can wait to see what the 965 boards will be like. I'm just pissed cuz I have an X1600XT that is just sitting here doing nothing. Such a shame. :tears:

 

you can pass off the board and gfx card to the man with no job, no car, and has a baby. he would greatly appreciate it! . he would just buy the remaining parts when he gets a job or somehow comes across extra money.

<--------- and he's right there

 

i just got stuck with one of those 302 boards. the 304 were released into channels 16th of last month but unless the co you are dealing with has fast turnover/knows what their speciific stock is you are rolling the die. your best bet is to go into a store, it will say 302/304 on the box so you dont hvae t obuy 1st.

 

I would advice avoid buying any any new CPU\system until Vista appears
Except if you have a OLD Pc system and you really need something new

There will be better sollutions for Core when it starts to mature a little
(and for AMD also)

Nicely said
Plus you will need to buy DDR2 memories also with that

It's like creating a new PC from the start and that surely will cost a pretty big amount of money
Core is surely not going to be cheap...we are talking about Intel right ?


There will be better sollutions next year for CORE and Quad Core CPU

and for AMD also because AM2 is not what i would call next gen sollution and surely not a so great sollution compared the current 939 sollutions...
something tells me AMD will change socket and chipset again to compete with Core

 

New tech is constantly available, with that type of thinking it is never a good time to upgrade. And Vista is a good 8-10 months away anyways.


If you have an Intel i975X board rev 302, it is possible to mod the board yourself to support Conroe if you are good at soldering. All it needs is a couple of resistors added to the board.

 

From what I've read, and yes I did read about the 304 board. The Asus board should have a version out in 2-3 weeks which will support Conroe. I'm not moving to Vista until 2008, and normally do a system upgrade every year. Currently have I have $1,500 set aside for this. Just thought it would be nice to get as much as I can now so I'll only have to wait on the processor. Guess it wouldn't kill me to wait a bit longer. I plan on doing some overclocking too, so one reason I'm not keen on the Intel board.

 

it's being launched by this coming holiday season. so, that means 6 months or less, but not earlier than july. i've heard it's being launched sometime in mid october.

 

That is really old news (November 2005). They have released newer stuff that says it will likely be a March 2007 release.

 

lol...you're right . how about this 13hr. old report (at time of my posting) for newer info stating it will be AFTER the holiday season in early to mid january?

 

Yes.. the last post was 6 days ago, so sue me.

Edit: BTW, this is all in regards to the Intel D975XBX board... forgot to mention that fact.

Anways, this seemed like the best place to answer this since people keep asking me different variations on this question, but it's always the same damn question, "I'm using version <such and such> bios which is above version 304, does this mean my motherboard will accept the Core 2 Duo?"

No.

End of discussion.

LOL.. seriously, bios version and board revision are 2 different things. Yes, you will need the latest bios in order to support the Core 2 Duo, however, you will also need a board with a revision that is at or higher than 304. You can find this out 1 of 2 easy ways: look for a large white label on the box for your mobo. What you are looking for is a number starting with AA, is 8 numbers/letters long, and ends with a -xxx number. It's that last number you are interested in. Also, you can find this very same number on the board itself, and infact THIS should be the number you go by, cuz the number on the outside may not match the number on the inside (trust me, I've already seen at least 3 labels that said 304 on them, yet were actually lower version boards). Anything with a board revision of -304 or higher is what you want inorder to support the Core 2 Duo/Conroe.

I surely hope for your.. I mean... my sake that this stops the PMs.

Pff.... probably not...

 

lol! good luck!!!!

 

I guess this is the place to ask.
Is the upcoming merom chip,compatable with aOpens i975x-YDG?Apparently both yonah and merom have the same number of pins and are in the same pattern.So if i were to put a merom chip into the specified board,will it work(provided the bios is up to date)?

 

To quote X-Bit Labs, "I would like to draw your attention to the fact that first-generation Merom processors supporting 667MHz bus will be compatible with mainboards and chipsets designed to support Yonah. For example, the desktop AOpen i975X a-YDG needed just a BIOS update to start working with Merom."

That article was pointed out to me by an Intel rep. One thing to point out is that they don't mention which of the 2 current bioses they used, OR if they used a newer one.

 

With the newest bios yes, however the bios it shipped with does not. Many people are running Merom's over @ XS.org, however they all have the same FSB limit as Yonah's do

 

got my asus mb today, rev 02g so i guess im S.O.L as far as conroe goes. just as well i guess. if i had tried to convince my wife i needed a new cpu in the year or 2 she would have...... well, you cant have a comp in icu, & it would be hard to type without hands anyway

 

Wait a while, then send it in for RMA with Asus.

Right now I'm seriously debating whether to mod the Inte D975xbx rev. 302 board I have here. I can easily do the mod, but then again... poof goes the warranty. Tough decision...