X38 or x48 with dual IDE sockets on board?

[Sigismundo]

Just got finished upgrading one of our computers with the GA-MA78GM-S2H, and Ihave to say the 780G chipset is SEXY!!!!

However for my other machine I plan on going with Intel.....the possible choices are so staggering that I do not know where to begin...but i do know what i need, and like.

My requirements.

1.) Stability and longevity I tend to hold onto a motherboard a long time. I would prefer one that is as upgrable as possible.

2.) I still use many IDE devices and drives....if there is a board that still allows for two dual IDE slots and also has esata that would be swell.....otherwise I will have to purchase a IDE PCI card to allow the use of my DVD writers and hard drives......I can't seem to find a single x48 or x38 board with the ability to run 4 IDE devices.....I would REALLY like this possibility.

3. Must have PCIe 2.0, Firewire, etc the ability to run at least 4 Sata devices on top of the 4 IDE devices...

4.) I have no plans or ANY desire to run any cards SLI.....when I need a boost i get a new graphics card....SLI to me is a waste unless you have a unlimited budget and can get multiple cards of the fastest GPU's out.....running older cards SLI is silly, when a newer single card will usually blow them away.


Does what I want exist? My biggest problem seems to be finding any mobo that still has two IDE slots.

I would prefer to go with intel chipset over nvidia.

 

[AmberClad]

Well you have a big problem right off the bat - there are no X38/X48/P35 boards with two IDE slots. The only recent Intel board with that feature is the MSI P7N Diamond, and that's an nForce board (780i), not an Intel chipset board.

Just get any board and a separate PCI card with IDE ports on it. $10 + S&H. Simple, problem solved.

I'd have to check to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that PATA/IDE is not even supported by the recent Intel chipsets. Those IDE ports that you see on boards that have them are actually enabled by a separate chip.

 

[Sigismundo]

Eh..... The more I look the more I dislike the price for what you get on the intel based boards. Sure the Intel CPU's may kick AMD's butt in performance of CPU alone.....but you just get much better platforms off the AMD chipsets and for a reasonable price....the more I added up the costs to get the sort of features that come out of the box with the new 780g boards the more i decided i rather just stick with AMD. Bang for buck there's just no comparison. Similar features on the intel platform and support for PCIe 2.0, and faster bus speeds etc mean spending literally about 3 times as much for mobo+CPu for a like AMD system....and as i have no plans to get the fastest Intel CPU's I just am giving up on this generation of Intel.....maybe when their next socket comes out I'll look again....Not to mention I can always turn the on board 780g graphics into a mean HTPC should I decide to upgrade or replace later. I have been spoiled by the GA-MA78GM-S2H.....under 100 bucks and better features then these 250-300 dollar intel monsters. Maybe if i wasn't on a strict budget....but I am.

 

[AmberClad]

Eh, you can find plenty of enthusiast Intel boards between $80 and $150 dollars. (Somehow, you missed the massive stickied thread about the budget IP35-E...). But only you can say what best suits you, so go with whatever's right for you.

 

[krnmastersgt]

The reason you don't like the price is because the X38 and X48 are the enthusiast chipsets, price-tags on those compete with nVidia chipset boards. The p35 is the more budget friendly chipset, like Amber said. Might I ask why it HAS to have PCI-E 2.0? No card out right now requires that much bandwidth, in fact I doubt even the G200/RV770 cards will be able to saturate the bandwidth on a PCI-E 1.1. So that's a nice feature, but useless for at least a year or two.