nVidia 680i or I975X for C2D System?

[T101]

I am currently considering what to get for my C2D upgrade. Intels I975X Chipset (Abit AW9D-Max) or any of the motherboards based on the 680i chipset from nividia. My impressions from the reviews was that the 680i was a better overclocker. But with the issues that seems to plague this chipset I am beginning to wonder (Sata Corruption etc.).
I have used nForce chipsets since nvidias first chipset, and only ever had any problems at all with the nForce1 and the Black Screen of Death issue. Since then they have proved to work very well. So I would like to run with nVidia for my next system again since I will get a 8800GTX firsta, and might want to get another later on. But well, if the headaches reported are as common as it seems, then I am at a loss what to choose.

How well does the I975X chipset compare to the 680i in overclocking and stock performance (not counting the non-SLI issue)?

 

[customcoms]

The 975X boards are more mature-that is why they have less problems (better bios support). The DFI Infinity 975X board can do around 430-450fsb with the latest bios, and there are SLI drivers available as well. Plus, they are cheaper than other boards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136168

sli:http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65964

 

[T101]

Ok. Thank you for that input. I wonder how much one can depend on hacked drivers being regularly released to allow SLI on this platform.
I have been thinking about the Abit AW9D-MAX for i975X Board. It is a sad fact that the vendors where I have my pickings do not have the DFI mobos. And the vendor online that does (I live in Sweden) charges a much higher price than any other brand for them.

So, what is the difference for video encoding and gaming between these two chipsets when it comes to performance?

 

[Tyhr]

I think I remember seeing that the 975 does better than the 680i for video encoding.
But honestly in my opinion - the difference in those benchmarks between 965, 975, and 680i for those things are so minimal and hardly a factor to me.

The bigger question for me would be which one could be oc'd the most with 100% stability. THEN you may notice a difference in encoding speeds.

No idea on games.

 

[T101]

True, that is also a big question. Which chipset is the best and most stable overclocker.

 

[UMfanatic]

I am waiting for the new gigabyte 680 board to come out, well that is if it comes out next month otherwise I would go with a EVGA 680 board

 

[deeznuts]

Originally posted by: T101
Ok. Thank you for that input. I wonder how much one can depend on hacked drivers being regularly released to allow SLI on this platform.
I have been thinking about the Abit AW9D-MAX for i975X Board. It is a sad fact that the vendors where I have my pickings do not have the DFI mobos. And the vendor online that does (I live in Sweden) charges a much higher price than any other brand for them.

So, what is the difference for video encoding and gaming between these two chipsets when it comes to performance?

I'm thinking of the Abit AB9 QuadGT, which is not the 975 chipset but a revised 965 chipset. Not sure if that is what you are looking for but it overclocks higher then the 975 (quite possibly as high or higher then the 680i), is much more mature, and very stable.

Several companies are going to be coming out with new 965 boards apparently. The only problem is not until January so I'm not sure you can wait that long. I can since I am playing with my PS3 and use my laptop for surfing until after the holidays.
Anandtech Pre-CES

We were also informed that the upcoming enthusiast level Intel P965 motherboards from ASUS and Gigabyte among others should easily reach 550FSB levels with 500FSB being the minimum level of FSB overclocking capability. The manufacturers are very comfortable with the chipset now and the next wave of boards should show additional maturity in their designs. Of course, this comes right before the launch of BearLake in the spring so if you are currently using Intel be prepared for more growing pains with this new release.

 

[T101]

Hmm, well. I do not have to build this rig right _now_. So waiting a while could be ok. But I have high demands on the cooling solution of the chipset. It must use heatpipes to be silent. What little I have seen and read of the 965 chipsets it seems they are more suitable for low end C2D (E6300 etc.) to overclock (only read info on AT) than the extreme edition cpus. My impression is that the 965 chipset is a low end budget chipset. Perhaps future articles and forum posts will change that. We will see.

 

[customcoms]

The 965 has been recommended as more suitable to lower end cpu's because they reach higher FSB speeds more easily, which is what and E6300/E6400 needs with the low multipliers. The difference between a 965 and 975 with a 4mb cache C2D overclock is more than likely negligible, especially on a rev.2 or rev. 3 965 board. rev. 1 there was a difference.

It sucks that you can't get DFI easily, in that case Abit or Asus is your best bet. If you NEED sli, then you only have the choice of Asus 680i at this point.

 

[T101]

Well, after reading up on the performance of the 8800GTX I think I can manage without SLI. I play games at 1280x1024 mostly, and I do not need to crank up AA and AF to their maximum, neither do I usually max out the shadow settings in games. So I think that one XFX 8800GTX should suit me just fine for at least a year. Beyond that point I can probably upgrade to a single card solution that still is faster.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

:thumbsup:
You are taking the right approach. The 8800GTX is overkill - the GTS will be aplenty but if you go big on the GPU, you will still be king of 3D for AT LEAST an year and still going strong into the card's second year. Since you don't need SLI/Crossfire, you can eliminate pricey 680i/upcoming-RD600 motherboards.

There are a fair bunch of good 975X/P965 motherboards out there - particularly from ASUS and Gigabyte. If you don't need SLI, you don't have to look further than these more mature chipsets. And a whole new wave of them is expected soon (new revision). Things can only get better.

BTW, HardOCP has an article today on their front page. nVidia's GM of the MCP division answers some questions. He says only the nvidia reference design boards had the SATA corruption issue and the ASUS (and others coming up) don't/shouldn't have them. A new BIOS has been released to fix it and the article links to a hardocp forum thread with user opinions.

 

[T101]

I have just ordered the following Hardware for my setup (I suddenly felt the urge to buy myself an Xmas present).
ABIT AW9D-MAX for motherboard. Intel I975X chipset. With silent otes, backside leds etc. Perfect for my silent rig that I am planning to build.
Unfortunately the faster CPUs was out of stock so I ordered a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. Will see what this will be able to do.
for memory; Corsair TWIN2X 6400C4 DDR2, 2048MB CL4, Kit w/two 1GB Dimm's, E.P.P Technology
XFX GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3. Had my eyes set on the Asus card due to the inclusion of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. But was out of stock.
Enermax Liberty 620W with modular cables. While I think the OCZ Powerstream 520W I have is at least as powerful (compare amps to amps on each rail) I need a second PSU to built current rig into a secondary.
PowerColor Theater 550 PRO <- Tv tuner card. Just love being able to watch tv in a window whilst working on the computer.
And to top it of; Thermaltake Sonic Tower, the same cooler I use in my current rig. By gently mounting a 120 mm fan in the middle of this (hard to explain but you will know what I mean if you see a picture of it) it becomes a very good CPU cooler.

Thank you all for your input on the subject.

 

[UMfanatic]

well at GTS is only slightly faster than a X1950 a GTX is faster than two

 

[T101]

Have not seen any in-detail reviews of the GTS cards. So have no good idea their performance. I went straight to the top dog instead.