mobo choice and future-proofing

[MattM76]

I am planning on building a system arounf a E6400. I do not plan on overclocking, and do not game. The computer's primary use will be computational/phylogenetics..

I was leaning towards Intels p965 mobo, but want to maintain the ability to upgrade in a few years without having to totally revamp the whole system.

The question: Do I loose much in terms of futureproofing going with this mobo as opposed to the BadAxe or another of the 975x based boards?

 

[acegazda]

No such thing as future proofing

You won't lose any performance with that board if you don't game or overclock. It is probably your best choice right now.

 

[MattM76]

Originally posted by: acegazda
No such thing as future proofing

Yes, obviously. But there is such a thing as keeping ones options open. I just want to hear some peoples opinions on the difference between these boards in this regard.

I'd be happy knowing that there wasn't a difference- the p965 board is alot cheaper.

 

[acegazda]

Im not saying there isnt a difference, there is, a big difference, however in applications such as photoshop, and office, there is NO difference. The badaxe has just one pci slot as well, though the 3 pci-e x16 (actually when they are all full it runs x16 for the first one, x8 for the second one and x4 for the third one) can be used with a pci device.

 

[MattM76]

But in terms of upgradability (or lack thereof), you think that they are about the same?

 

[Blain]

If you don't need bleeding-edge, why not save some $$ and got for a cheaper AMD 939 combo. The prices on them are falling fast.
Since there is no "future-proofing", buy cheap but fast now and upgrade all you want on a different platform later.
"Future-proofing" would require you to buy at premium prices now. If your mind will let you dismiss the concept of "future-proofing", your eyes will be open to a whole world of options.

 

[Icepick]

I agree with the other posters here. Buy whatever is the best bang for the buck NOW. If you think you will be able to upgrade the CPU an "a few years" and not change motherboards then you're living in a fantasy world. If the past is any indicator of things to come, Intels CPUs will use an entirely different socket in a few years. Not to mention that there will be technology enhancements that will lead to better chipsets and more features than we see now. In my own experience, I can't see myself splurging on the latest and greatest CPU only to house it in a mobo that features an outdated chipset.

If I were you I'd drop down to the e6300. The slight performance increase of the e6400 is not worth the price difference, IMHO.

Futureproofing is nothing but a fairy tale.

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: Blain
If you don't need bleeding-edge, why not save some $$ and got for a cheaper AMD 939 combo. The prices on them are falling fast.
Since there is no "future-proofing", buy cheap but fast now and upgrade all you want on a different platform later.
"Future-proofing" would require you to buy at premium prices now. If your mind will let you dismiss the concept of "future-proofing", your eyes will be open to a whole world of options.

939 prices are dropping? Where? Newegg has some nice combos I've seen, what other places are competetive? Are the combos actually good boards or integrated gfx boards?

 

[Blain]

I'm thinking of the FS/T forum. Seems like people can't dump their non-Core 2 parts fast enough.