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P35 or X38 or P45 (yes another one)

S

seriouscat

Member
Hey fellas,

Usual deal, looking at future upgrade. Just wanted your thoughts on a board based on my requirements. I tried to be specific as possible as to not waste anyones time.

1) Intel 45nm socket 775 cpu

2) PCIe 2.0 (will this really matter for top end Geforce 9 series?)

3) DDR2 (simply due to price of 2x2GB chips. DDR3 too expensive for me atm. 4GB needed for 3D rendering)

4) I will NOT use SLI or Crossfire. Only plan on having one vid card. I have a 8800gtx but might upgrade to the 9800gtx or ATi equivilent around xmas.

5) I will NOT overclock any components.

Basically looking for something to hold me over till maybe halfway into 2009 when I'll switch to the new Intel socket motherboards. Thus I dont want the super expensive top end overclockers models.

My front runner board is the Asus P5E coz its within my budget. However, am I heading in the right direction? Would an older P35 board do just as well?


Sorry, I hope people are not getting sick of these questions.

(yes I read similar posts beforehand but thought I'd ask with my specific requirments)
 
P35 is your best choice even though it doesn't support PCIe 2.0. PCIe 2.0 might actually be useful by the time you are ready to upgrade in 2009. Unless you need specific features, there are several good P35 boards well under the $150 mark that are top notch. The Asus P5K-E has a lot features for this price point. For another $10 bucks, you can get the wifi version.
 
Cheers. Thanks the for reply.

Yeah, I had that Asus P5K-E on the back of my mind after reading Anands holiday guide. Any thoughts on nVidia chipsets? I currently have a 570i chipset motherboard which cant support the new Intel 45nm cpus. Can any of them compete with the P35 in the features/price area?
 
P45 is going to be somewhat of an improvement over P35/X38, if you can wait that long; due out this summer AFAIK. P35, X38 = 90nm, P45 = 65nm. Should mean cooler temps, better OC potential. If you're not overclocking P35 is fine, PCIe 2.0 and DDR3 aren't going to matter any time soon, except maybe to overclockers.
 
Originally posted by: toadeater
P45 is going to be somewhat of an improvement over P35/X38, if you can wait that long; due out this summer AFAIK. P35, X38 = 90nm, P45 = 65nm. Should mean cooler temps, better OC potential. If you're not overclocking P35 is fine, PCIe 2.0 and DDR3 aren't going to matter any time soon, except maybe to overclockers.
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought about the 65nm factor. However, would it really matter relative to all the power used up by the CPU and 8800gtx gfx card? Also, dont new chipsets usual take a few bios revisions to mature, which means I'd would need to hold off a few weeks/months even after the p45 release date? (or is that just an internet myth)

Are there any links to the power savings of a 45nm mobo compared to a 65nm one?

(although I'm always partial to less heat)
 
I haven't seen any. but I doubt there will be a big difference, especially at stock speeds.
CPU and GPU will be your biggest, most noticable parts for power usage. I just don't think
P45 is worth waiting for.
 
Actually another question I had is about the x38 and PCIe 2.0. Since PCIe 2.0 will supply more power, how would that affect a card such as a topend Geforce 9 series with regards to PSU cables required?

If I went for a x38 as opposed to a p35, could that mean I might be required to only run one pci-e power cable from the PSU to video card as opposed to two cables on a P35? Sorry I know this kinda depends on the video card. I'm going with an educated guess that the power/cable requirements of the top Geforce 9 card around Xmas 2008 would be similar to that of at least an 8800gtx? (even though it would be a 65nm board)
 
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