ddr2/ddr3 combo motherboards based on p35 chipset

[murymury]

Hello all,
I am building a new decent rig, i am opting for the Core 2 Duo E8400 cpu. as soon as it is available for sale.
for the mb i want one that supports both ddr2 and ddr3. there are 3 gigabyte mb that supports ddr2 as well ad ddr3 like
GA-P35C-DS3 (rev. 2.0) no on board raid
GA-P35C-DS3R (rev. 2.1) on board raid
GA-EP35C-DS3R (rev. 2.1)
from the specs there is no difference between them, but what does the GA-EP35C-DS3R have that the GA-P35C-DS3R doesnt have?

any other candidates guys?
thanks

 

[Harvey]

Just a suggestion from personal experience -- Motherboards that support overlapping technologies only appear during the crossover period, and they may not be well supported for BIOS updates, etc., for very long. They can also encounter unique engineering problems because they're trying to accomodate alternative technologies.

It may save you some future headaches to pick either DDR2 or DDR3. If you really think you need DDR3, and you already own DDR2 modules, you can sell them to pay for your new RAM.

Good luck.

 

[murymury]

at the moment i wont buy ddr3 or even think about it. too pricey for their offered value. i was thinking ahead maybe next year when ddr3 becomes a standard.

 

[htne]

Originally posted by: murymury
at the moment i wont buy ddr3 or even think about it. too pricey for their offered value. i was thinking ahead maybe next year when ddr3 becomes a standard.

And next year you will want a new motherboard to support that new cpu which will require DDR4 or 5 or 6 or .....

The point is, buying a motherboard based on future upgrades is probably not a wise move. Unless it is very short term upgrade (something in the next month or so).

 

[Harvey]

If every year in the past is any indication, by next year, your choices will all be different, and this whole thought process will be moot. Computer stuff changes so fast that the only rational thing to do is build the best machine for your budget, now, and build the next one, then.

If you pick a good compliment of parts, when you get to that point, your current machine will be worth more as a whole, working machine you can sell or move it downstream to someone who could benefit from the performance it has.

Bottom line -- Compromise designs usually turn out to be compromised machines.

 

[PolymerTim]

Well, I can't for the life of me figure out what the EP stands for, but the R means that it supports raid.

I agree with the others that the combo board is probably a bad idea. You're paying $30 extra for a board to speculate on the future price of DDR3. I think 4GB of DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 for $100 will give great performance until you're ready for another CPU-MB-RAM upgrade.

 

[CrazyHorse]

I agree crossover motherboards are really not good supported and sometimes even have conflicts with memory. I used to have a SD / DDR memory motherboard for AMD Socket A, it was a pain in the .... .

Easy decision would be

You want new new new go with DDR3 and a DDR3 Board.

You are on a tight budget go with DDR2 and DDR2 Board.

I don't see any reason yet to switch to DDR3 and i can't justify a 300 or more Dollar price tag on 2gb while I pay 10/100 for DDR2.

 

[murymury]

seems reasonable enough for me. thats means numerous candidates from many suppliers. can you please help narrow them down.
some that i found are abit IP35 Pro, Asus P5K Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L and Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6

doesnt these boards support ddr2-1066 that should be better right.

btw i found out what does the "E" stands for DES dynamic energy saver

pls bear with me guys.

thanks

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: murymury. can you please help narrow them down.

what features (RAID, firewire tec.) do you need?
what features would you like if you could get but not deal breakers if you couldn't?
budget?

 

[murymury]

raid defintely, firewire why not, onboard vga no, onboard sound no although i couldnt find any, 8 sata connectors min, support Core 2 Duo E8400 cpu, ddr2 only and the abilty to use water cooling with it.
thats all i can think about now

 

[VirtualLarry]

The GA-P35-DS3R has 8 SATA connectors, 6 from the ICH9R, and 2 from the Gigabyte SATAII chip. It supports RAID, but no firewire. I have no idea how hard it would be to water-cool it.

 

[PolymerTim]

I think onboard sound is pretty much a given these days. I've even heard rumor that sound cards may be on the way out for the most part. Something about the way a future version of windows will allow onboard codecs to perform just as well as discreet audio (except for real enthusiasts).

Just another board for you to consider the abit IP35-Pro. It only has 6 internal SATA because the other 2 from the JMicron controller are routed as external eSATA on the back. Personally I like this since I think eSATA is the trend for all external hard drives.

 

[Team42]

I'm with Harvey and HTNE on this. I have the GA-P35C-DS3R which I bought anticiapating the lowering of DDR3 prices (using DDR2 in the meantime), but I think it was a mistake. It may be the board, it may be the BIOS but the board definitely has issues (high Northbridge temps, poor MOSFET cooling, poor voltage regulation, unexpeketed tipographical eroors....). It works, but prob not as well as it could. I can't really compare it to any other boards as this is the first that I've used for a new build, but I'm not totally pleased.

Stick with one RAM type. To make the most of the E8400, you'll prob need a mobo that supports DDR3 given the CPU's high FSB, but only if you really REALLY need a PC that runs over 4GHz. Unless I'm very much mistaken. (I hope I'm not, though: I want to move up to the e8400, but I doubt my PC6400 RAM and mobo are really up to it).

Good luck

T42