Should I ditch my 975x m/b?

[Twitch22]

Hello everyone!

I am currently running the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe m/b. Has been nothing but wonderful for me...fast, super-stable and flexible. I have a C2D Conroe 6600 that I have easily oc'ed to 3.0 GHz on air cooled by a Noctua 12-F and 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM. I'm looking to move onto DX-10 and Vista Ultimate and my proposed upgrade path is as follows:

- Get a DX-10 card like a 8800GT/GTS or HD 2900XT
- Move to a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
- Get another 2 Gigs of Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM
- Migrate to Vista Ultimate

My concerns are my current m/b. If I stay with the 975x, I know I have stability and can tweak it comfortably. But, am I losing anything in real-world performance by not being able to use the newer 1333MHz FSB? How about Penryn in the future?

Also, I know the X38-series of m/b's are supposed to be able to handle DDR2 memory, but would I be losing out by not switching to DDR3? That stuff sure is expensive...:shocked:

Anyway, with the upcoming release of so many new CPU's and platforms, I'm about as confused as I was 2 summers ago when C2D first came out! Just looking for some good builder-friendly advice...

Thanks for any suggestions!

Twitch

 

[Krogoth255]

I would hold onto that 975X board and wait until Nehalem. The 975x can unoffically operate a Penyrn-based chip, but you have to overclock the FSB to 333mhz in order run the said chip at full speed.

 

[jonmcc33]

I doubt that any 975 board won't be able to hit 1333FSB at all.

 

[Krogoth255]

ROFL, please stop trolling.

975X is quite capable of 1333Mhz FSB if you feed it a little juice. Granted, that it can't do much more without pumping more volts into it. My DFI 975X can go up to 430x4=1720Mhz.

From a support standpoint, I can understand why no motherboard manufacturer's 975X has official support for 1333Mhz FSB C2Ds. It is to prevent OEM mishaps and inexperience users from breaking their 975X boards.

 

[Twitch22]

Thanks for the suggestions...looks like I'll be keeping my board!

Also, was checking out this thread...pretty similar conclusions on keeping the 975X.

Looks like Quad-Core Kentsfield and 64-bit Vista will be good enough for me!! :thumbsup:

Twitch