Originally posted by 715
Actually, I am an extremely conservative person and I went with an Intel mobo (D865PERL) with what was listed as compatible RAM and it still pooped in my lap. (The IRQ shuffle was indeed when I was still trying to get it to work with win98, not XP.)
When it comes time to research compatible components, what sites do you guys check? I've checked Anandtech, for example, and found 'horror' stories of some mobos not booting with the latest CPUs forcing you to find an old CPU to install so you can boot and flash the bios. Then they mention some earlier versions of certain mobos not supplying the proper voltage to the RAM chips. How do you research that you have compatible combinations? Or, with Core 2 Duo, has all that been ironed out by now and I'm safe as long as I make sure I get a recent mobo?
715
Ahhhh. Intel, for all thier expertise really do not make good motherboards. Maybe I should rephrease and say they are very inconsistent.
For motherboards, it all depends on what I am building. I use ASUS, ABit, and SuperMicro.
Many motherboard manufacturers jumped on the Core2Duo bus very quickly, by revving the BIOS ROM of any existing 975 chipset motherboard they had laying around. Those should all be flushed from the pipeline by now.
The RAM issue has to do with high speed DDR2 memory. Most, if not all, the high end DDR2 memory runs at 2.4V. The normal DDR2 RAM specification calls for 1.8V. So, you have to check the motherboard to make sure it will support the RAM you want to use. Take note, the higher volatge DDR2 memory runs very hot. Cooling considerations should be made when deciding to use it.