ASUS P5E question

Hello folks - first post here. I'm a noob, planning a build as follows:

Asus P5E
Core2 Quad 6600
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 (pc2 6400)(on the Asus qvl list)
PCPC Silencer 750 Watt PSU
EVGA 8800 GT graphics card
Seagate 500GB hdd
Thermaltake Tsunami Case
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
LiteOn optical DVD burner

I'm just wondering about this board, and even more so about Asus. I've
been researching this build for months ( I know by the time I build I
may be a bit behind the times but it's a huge step up from my 02' Dell
running a 4x agp slot and a gig of RDRAM!). I've read Asus's forums for
a while and they seem to be having a terrible time w/ this board as it
pertains to the bios, particularly memory timings and what not.
Frankly, I'm a neophyte, I really don't want to have to go flashing bios
if it can be avoided - I sort of think you should be able to put the
components together and the darn thing should work (ol' fashioned
thinking, I suppose). And apparently, their tech support is pretty much
non-existent, which is a shame.

I am not planning on overclocking, at least, not at first, though i know
the potential of the 6600. but there's a lot of concern over the bios
issues, even the latest 601 release and I'm just wondering - should I
simply pursue a different mobo?

Thoughts, opinions greatly appreciated

Feldrew

"Feldrew" <feldrewRemove.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:DaKdnfP_e6xfcSTanZ2dnUVZ_hmtnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Hello folks - first post here. I'm a noob, planning a build as follows:
>
> Asus P5E
> Core2 Quad 6600
> 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 (pc2 6400)(on the Asus qvl list)
> PCPC Silencer 750 Watt PSU
> EVGA 8800 GT graphics card
> Seagate 500GB hdd
> Thermaltake Tsunami Case
> Vista Ultimate 64 bit
> LiteOn optical DVD burner
>
> I'm just wondering about this board, and even more so about Asus. I've
> been researching this build for months ( I know by the time I build I may
> be a bit behind the times but it's a huge step up from my 02' Dell running
> a 4x agp slot and a gig of RDRAM!). I've read Asus's forums for a while
> and they seem to be having a terrible time w/ this board as it pertains to
> the bios, particularly memory timings and what not. Frankly, I'm a
> neophyte, I really don't want to have to go flashing bios if it can be
> avoided - I sort of think you should be able to put the components
> together and the darn thing should work (ol' fashioned thinking, I
> suppose). And apparently, their tech support is pretty much non-existent,
> which is a shame.
>
> I am not planning on overclocking, at least, not at first, though i know
> the potential of the 6600. but there's a lot of concern over the bios
> issues, even the latest 601 release and I'm just wondering - should I
> simply pursue a different mobo?
>
> Thoughts, opinions greatly appreciated

I have been using this board for a few months now. First with the Q6600 and
more recently with the E8400.
Both cpu's overclocked.
I haven't had any of the problems that you mentioned. The BIOS did need
updating to VER 0502 for full recognition of the E8400 but that is to be
expected.
BIOS updating is dead easy especially if using a USB stick. Don't be put off
as these days the boards have BIOS recovery features using the motherboard
CD built in.
I haven't personally used BIOS ver601 as I have not needed to do so.
IMHO this is a good board with a very straightforward easy to adjust BIOS.
Having said that people are always going to have issues with any motherboard
especially with finicky memory.