X38 or P35

[kevinali]

OK, so i need a new mobo to go with my new Q6600. I have chosen the P35-DQ6 from Gigabyte. Should i wait unitil the new X38 comes out in September (Gigabyte will have their X38-dQ6). A few questions though

1. Since i do not game, is their an advantage of the X38 over the P35 (which has two x16 PCIE (a 16x and 4x arrangement)) instead of the X38 (that has two PCIEx16 slots (both at 16x))

2. Is their any new features of the X38 over the P35 (besides #1)

3. To a non-gamer, any benefit from waiting for intel's top of the line chipset???

I do want a next gen board so i can simply swap out the Q6600 for a 45nm part later on (i will forgo DDR3 for quick DDR2 RAM). Stability and longevity are key for my next motherboard

Kevin

 

[vrdublu]

Since I own a P35 board right now I can tell you with all certainty that if you are willing to deal with the headaches of owning the next gen board you should be prepared to deal with the stability issues and problems that plague the afore mentioned.In short,if you don't game, save yourself some money and go with a P35 chipset, and stay away from MSI, trust me on that one.

 

[Colt4545]

Originally posted by: kevinali
OK, so i need a new mobo to go with my new Q6600. I have chosen the P35-DQ6 from Gigabyte. Should i wait unitil the new X38 comes out in September (Gigabyte will have their X38-dQ6). A few questions though

1. Since i do not game, is their an advantage of the X38 over the P35 (which has two x16 PCIE (a 16x and 4x arrangement)) instead of the X38 (that has two PCIEx16 slots (both at 16x))

2. Is their any new features of the X38 over the P35 (besides #1)

3. To a non-gamer, any benefit from waiting for intel's top of the line chipset???

I do want a next gen board so i can simply swap out the Q6600 for a 45nm part later on (i will forgo DDR3 for quick DDR2 RAM). Stability and longevity are key for my next motherboard

Kevin

1. X38 should offer slightly better performance and a little bit better overclocking.

2. X38 has PCI Express 2.0 Slots. These slots have 32x bandwidth and also deliver 150 watts to the card versus the current 75 watts. Current video cards are barely pushing 8x bandwidth let along 16x or 32x bandwidth. However, it will be nice to have fewer power connectors to plug your video card into. PCI Express 2.0 cards will be backwards compatible with current PCI Express slots and current PCI Express video cards will work in PCI Express 2.0 slots. I guess PCI Express 2.0 slots are more future proof if you don't upgrade often.

3. No

I think you're a little bit off thinking that X38 will be available in September. X38 will be out much sooner than we might think. On June 5 at Computex, Intel VP said X38 motherboards would ship within 90 days. The latest rumor mill is that they missed the ship date of July 27, but are on schedule to make a ship date of August 7. Either way, X38 is closer than we might think.

- Colt

 

[vrdublu]

As far as I know P35 also supports PCIE 2 specs with a simple bios flash. As far as X38 availability is concerned, no one ever really knows when something will be widely available, I just quoted what I read in some report I read a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to know if the X38 chipset offered anything for him over P35, since he doesn't use it for gaming, the answer is NO.

 

[kevinali]

So far the consensus is to go for the P35 gigabyte board...if the X38 is due anytime now, i may hold off a wee bit and see if there release will drive the price of the highend p35 boards down...i can currently get the GA-P35-DQ6 for $279 canadian

Any thoughts on this board?

Kevin

 

[vrdublu]

I think the consensus on the Gigabyte is well founded, I haven't read too many problems with those boards, but then again you will never know till you actually own it, and then it's too late. As long as you stay away from MSI and stick to Gigabyte, Asus and Abit I think you will do just fine.