Should I go with the PRO or Deluxe?

[rakuhntur]

Hi friends I'm attempting to build my first PC for gaming. I've only owned and gamed on laptops up to now so I'm new to the desktop arena. That being said, I will mostly be playing Warhammer Online with some friends and of course some other games out there if they peak my interest. Here's my proposed build:

22" Asus 1680x1050
E8500
P5Q Pro or Deluxe
4GB Ram
HD 4850
WD 640GB 7200 HDD
Earthwatts 500W
(yada, yada, yada)

This build fits my budget for the most part and with the 4850 so cheap compared to many other GPUs, this just seems like the right move for now. However, I want to be able to pop in another GPU to Xfire in the future so I'm trying to decide which mobo to get. Again, I'm new to building PCs and don't fully understand how Xfire works but I was told that the Deluxe supports "true" Xfire. There is a significant price difference between these two mobo's (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131299 vs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813131297) but I want to know is it worth it? Is there a big enough difference in performance between these two to justify the extra money?

Also, I don't even know what I'm looking for in the specs that distinguishes between the 2 mobos (I only see that one supports 16 phase). Is there a Gigabyte board that has the 16 phase "full" Xfire support like the Asus Deluxe? If so, how can I tell by reading the specs and can you post a link?

Thanks again for your help. I'm trying to keep the costs down if I can so would like to know if you guys think it worth the upgrade or not. Thanks!

 

[Butterbean]

No P45 board (which both of those are) will be full crossfire - they will be 8 x 8 instead of 16 x16. For 16 x 16 you want the x38 or x 48 board. From what I recall the performance difference can be around 5 - 10 percent approx. Those x38-48 boards cost more new of course. I would keep the money and get a 4870 1gb and drop crossfire. I already opted for P5Q-E which I liked a little better than P5Q pro (layout). I saw no reason to get the Deluxe. With Nehalem coming out I just wanted to get by until new boards/cpu's mature a bit.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Butterbean
No P45 board (which both of those are) will be full crossfire - they will be 8 x 8 instead of 16 x16. For 16 x 16 you want the x38 or x 48 board. From what I recall the performance difference can be around 5 - 10 percent approx. Those x38-48 boards cost more new of course. I would keep the money and get a 4870 1gb and drop crossfire. I already opted for P5Q-E which I liked a little better than P5Q pro (layout). I saw no reason to get the Deluxe. With Nehalem coming out I just wanted to get by until new boards/cpu's mature a bit.

im curious... what did you like better about the P5Q-E over the P5Q-pro?
i couldnt find too many differences.
8GB ram vs 16GB
SATA plugs at 90degrees vs vertical.
4 fan plugs vs 3.

 

[Butterbean]

First, there was a promo code for the P5Q-E and it was $124 and free ship at Newegg (I saved about $35). Second, it seemed people who had both boards liked the P5Q-5 better than the Pro because of the layout. Third, I liked that the P5Q-E had the power switch on board, stack cool, a third x16 slot, 2nd LAN, native esata. optical and coaxial S/PDIF In. The heat pipes were also more substantial. Actually I never considered the Pro and my second choice was the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P.

 

[sao123]

promo code? is it still active?

 

[Butterbean]

No it was just for a weekend 2 weeks ago. The $25 off code + free ship came in an email from Newegg. They had a few dozen things listed and I almost missed it because it was at bottom of page. The Gigabyte had a rebate as well. It pays to be on the Eggs mailing list if your in US (or Canada too now I think)