New build: 680i, p35 or X38?

"Since I don’t want to do SLI, should I go for a p35 board instead of a 680i? "

yes, imo

"If so, any specific board recommended?"

I bought the asus p5k, just felt comfortable after reading a prelimainary review and years of asus boards, my p4p800e deluxe was a beast and my favorite to date.

"I heard the X38 will only support DDR3, is that true?"

not sure, the p5k(p35) series has a board, the deluxe I believe that is ddr3, the p5k is ddr2 only, they dont have a ddr2/3 board in the asus line that I am aware of, however I think the gigabyte board does support both.

"I’m a little confused about all the different brands of X-fi sound cards."

I went to creative site, looked up the x-fi line, then the specs, then I compared them, decided the extreme gamer card was for me but I didnt need a front plate or remote etc... so i bought the plain x-fi extreme gamers card, I think when you see the specs for the lot of them, you will be able to pick the one you want, realize the specs match, the sound should match, imo no expert here, just going by past experience and common sense.


"What about the pc8500? Remember that I want to overclock the max I can."

well im told you dont need to go more than pc800, I went with the pc8500 since memory is so cheap right now I bougth 4 gigs too, from all ive read though with cas latencies being better in the 800 or 6400? or the ability to run in 1:1 being optimal the 8500 may just be for experimenting and headroom, i just figured at that price memory wasnt going to be my limiting factor if I want to OC.



Good luck,
Lump

I'd go with a P35 DDR2 board and skip the P182 case. Traditional case layouts are better.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming!

Hey, I have an Antec P182 case with a Enermax Liberty PSU. The main power cable for your power supply will be long enough, that isn't something you need to worry about. There are 3 120mm fans on the P182 and they are all pretty quiet. They all come with fan speed controllers so i wouldn't recommend replacing them as they are really good already. I've read some review on the p5k deluxe motherboard and it has been over clocking quite well so I would say the P5K deluxe is your best option.

Also the wiring on the P182 is a little annoying because you have to route all the wires from the PSU out of a little slot near the bottom but its not that much of a problem as long as your willing to put some time into it.

Nobody knows yet if the 680i will support Penryn. It will certainly support the 1333FSB of Penryn but the VRM is still unknown. My guess is it's likely that it will with a BIOS update, but the key word is "guess". I also heard the X38 will only support DDR3, where the P35 supports DDR2 and DDR3, and the motherboard maker can configure the board to support either or both standards, although I read they are limited to 2 GB DDR2 and 2 GB DDR3 if they choose to support both. Any P35 board should support Penryn.


Personally, I don't like SilenX. This Noctua is a good choice, as are the Scythe S-Flex series. Here a link to the Scythe fan I use with the U120-X. At the time, the Scythe were cheaper than the Noctuas, I'd probably go for the Noctua today based on price, either will work fine.

You can get to 3.6 GHz with the E6600 with PC6400 (DDR2-800) before you even start to OC the RAM. The Ballistix will overclock decently past that as well. I really doubt you'll be able to exceed the PC6400 RAM's capability with air cooling on a 6600, so I'd get it.

go with ocz's 1066 or 1150 reaper edition memory, those kits are amazing and hit 1200mhz+ even on the 1066 kit consistantly  
Consider a modular silverstone powersupply, that will go well with the p182, or also consider the lian li v2000b 8O Pricey, but 150% worth it if you mod your cases
Like the ultra 120 extreme, but the ifx-14 should be coming out soon so keep your eyes peeled
Dump the e6600. Its been has been sucking for a while now. Go with either the e6850 because it has a better core revision that scales higher and runs cooler, or go with the xeon 3060, both are better bin wise and performance wise
and raptors are hype, a friend of mine found that out the hard way, either get one big terabyte drive that's actually as fast/faster than the raptor for seeking times, or just get a fast hitachi 7200.10 750gb drive. Those are faster than seagate's offerings
Wait for x38 if you want to clock to the max, that will come in handy since the e6850 is getting huge clocks (while the e6600 does not), but is fsb limited a lot of the time, so getting a mobo capable of close to 600fsb or even higher will be a must for overclocking to the max. And you may want to upgrade your cooling for that purpose, but I wouldn't worry about that so much right now
Silenx is a joke, their specs are so far off it's not even funny. Noctua is ok imo, but too pricey, if you are willing to spend that much money on a fan, you might as well get some deltas and volt mod them so they aren't screaming out 220cfm all the time.
Finally, go with the ram I said, if you plan to oc to the max you may get ram limited on the 1000mhz ballistix because some of them have d9dqw chips inside that don't scale as well as the d9gmh in the reapers :wink:

1200MHz data rate? I can easily to that with Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400!

1200mhz? A 400mhz ram oc? That's a bit unlikely, I know that you did it with your 1066 corsair xms, but that kit is binned higher than crucial's 6400 kit, not to mention some still use d9dqw, so it's unlikely you'd reach 1200mhz on them. Not to mention, the reapers can go far above 1200mhz from what I've seen at xs, so I'm just saying an amount that's higher than most things but not requiring to go through the bios for weeks to get it to clock up there

If you decide to go P35, DO NOT choose an ASUS board since they can melt anytime (means: theyre dang hot). Go for GigaByte cause these run up to 50°C cooler at the hotspots (not joking, no misspelling, I said 50).

The most important thing for overclocking really is how well designed the bios is and how well the board does voltage. ASUS does a good job with the bios, but fails miserably on the vdrop problem. That will hinder your oc more than anything, as you can simply add more cooling if you needed to, but the vdrop makes it a waste of time unless you mod the board then you have something worthwhile there

That's why many people go for dfi instead of asus

o rly?

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/21/overclocking-9-v...

OCZ has always gotten high speeds by using excessive voltage, even for their lower-priced kits. In fact their slowest "performance" memory is composed of cheap/slow parts rated at excessive voltage, and going up the line their best stuff is composed of good parts rated at excessive voltage.

YCON,
you said:

If you decide to go P35, DO NOT choose an ASUS board since they can melt anytime (means: theyre dang hot). Go for GigaByte cause these run up to 50°C cooler at the hotspots (not joking, no misspelling, I said 50).

source please? and explanation, I hadnt heard this at all and since these boards are barely out it is hard to find more than a few solo reviews, just wondering where you got that info from.

Lump

Ehh, I have some super talent with d9gkx that can't hit 1200mhz-_______-
Though the newer reapers are supposed to be good, someone hit 666mhz with 2.35v at xs, unless if you call 2.35v excessive, I'd say that's pretty damn good for stock timings of 5-5-5-15 (don't know which subtimings were used though)


As for asus boards, yes there is a heat problem with them, a lot of them use hollow pipes instead of actual heatpipes and so with the hot 680i northbridges and what not, they overheat and reach above 50c, I've seen it happen before. Can't say I've ever heard of a board actually melting like Mean white bitch of gnarnia...wait....wasn't that the sheep of faz.......

The X38 will be a DDR2/DDR3 beast according to Fudzilla atleast.. Fudzilla

Similarly if you go to Gigabytes site check out the GA-P35-DQ6 and GA-P35T-DQ6. The only difference is DDR2/DDR3 so Fudzilla seems right..

And if its the limit you want.. Source

Oh and i did some searching...

P35 - 90nm - Not really much new.. - 1333FSBX38 - 65/90nm?! - PCI-Express 2.0 - 2x16 Crossfire - New overclock unlock - Guaranteed Penryn support680i - 90nm - Rumoured to run the hottest - Getting on a bit - 2x16 SLIRD790 - 65/90nm?! - Probably a few months wait - 2x16 or 4x8 Crossfire 8O
If the X38 is 65nm it should be significantly cooler and be very overclockable if done well. Same goes for the RD790. The down side is when launched it will probably cost a bomb...

Personally im going to wait and see what the next round of Nvidia v ATIAMD v Intel brings  

I believe that the new motherboards and chipsets were supposed to support 45nm and the current 65nm, not 90/65. Am I wrong in this?

So the suggestions are wait for the new boards? I am in the same boat and am waiting for the new chipset release this summer. I was thinking of waiting for the x38, but does anyone have a clue when it will actually release?

Hay lumper

This is for you man
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=...

Just wanted to share this with you
It is out over sea's
Thinking it will be in the US middle or end of June. Just a guess so don't hold me to it.  

Hi sorry i was referring to the process that the actual chipset was manufactured on.

In terms of support the only thing i can say for sure if X38 WILL support the 45nm Penryns yes. The P35's may do also but not sure on that one.

According to the link i posted before the P35 is only a mainstream chipset, so it may well pay to wait.

It shouldnt be that long either, X38 boards are being shown at the Computex show apparently which starts in a day or so.

Something else i have learned is that the X38 will be the first board to support Crossfire in 2x16 lanes. Rather than 2x8 or 1x8/16 + 1x4.

Unless the new AMD processors wipe the floor i think il go for the X38 boards and take a Penyrn and OC the hell outta it  

The p35 will support the new chip (from the link last posted and it said the same on the other p35 Mb in the P5k line)

LGA775 Intel® Quad-core Processor Ready
This motherboard supports the latest Intel® Quad-core processors in LGA775 package. It also can support Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-Core CPU. It´s excellent for multi-tasking, multi-media and enthusiastic gamers with 1333/1066/800 MHz FSB. Intel® Quad-core is one of the most powerful CPU in the world

no you are correct, but I think he meant the northbridges themselves

Yep i did mean the actual northbridge  

Well thats cool, so only reasons to wait for the X38 are PCI-E 2.0, 2x16 Crossfire, and this new chipset unlock thing for 'extreme' overclocking.

Anybody know of any more X38 suprises? Like the Northbridge process or anything else new :?:

Sorry man

and as for the X38's all I can say is taco a little help I haven't heard much more then what you (aron) listed.

hmm, there's a .0001% chance intel will give you a free fish with every 45nm core 2 duo processor? 

Id prefer a heatsink thats up to the F***ing job  

LOL
Don't thay give you a free HS that is no good to most of us

D@m your fast 8O

LOL
Don't thay give you a free HS that is no good to most of us
true, though the ihs does have some use

LOL
Don't thay give you a free HS that is no good to most of us
true, though the ihs does have some use

Paperweight?  

LOL
Don't thay give you a free HS that is no good to most of us
true, though the ihs does have some use

Paperweight?  

LOL
throw at roommate when he needs to do the dishes

Off topic but did you guys see this
Vary cool to bad M$ has it
http://www.devilducky.com/media/62583/

LOL, or that..

Im guessing its still a 90nm Northbridge because of this..

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=5009

60 degrees so how hot will ASUS NB be????

That surface computing thing looks sweet!

Chip should be on par (heatwise) with current designs i guess :S

Really the only way to see is wait until after Computex, reviewers should get some boards, things always seem to leak now  

when is Computex (date or time of year) :?:

Opens this Tuesday (5th)  

just thought I would mention after about a week of 24/7 running and operating, loading testing, gaming, etc.. my temps are 80F mobo and 84F cpu.
The poster who was saying these asus boards running hot I think may have had his own issues with heat unresolved.

I have only basic air cooling and a zalman 9700, thermaltake case has a side fan and 4 others including top venting, and this thing remains cool.
also it is overclocked ever so slightly all this time as well.

Lump

I run ASUS and have never had a proplem.

hay lump did you see that link i posted for you?????

SLi = 680i
Crossfire = P35

The faster of the two is by far the P35. Most Intel chipsets support Crossfire and are usually the fastest in synthetic benchmarks. If there is a god, the X38 will support SLi and Intel will become the most powerful corporation in the world   . The P35 boards overclock ridiculously well. However, DDR3 is worthless right now. The timings really limit the effectiveness of its higher frequencies. DDR2 is the best choice ATM and will continue to be until DDR3 can reach much tighter timings. Right now I would buy a Gigabyte DS4 if I were to purchase a P35 board.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but let's see what the r650 and the dual gpu r670 can do first before we count out ati. I know the r600 was a huge flop that gave people a reason to flame ati, but from what mods I have heard, they are eliminating the bottlenecks one by one allowing the card to actually make use of the 320shaders

Did everyone see my latest review?

yeah, a very nice one I may add
but one thing you forgot to do was really test the fsb, what would really get that board attention would be to set the mult at 6 and then crank up the fsb to something insane like 600 unmodded, that would be worthy of getting fugger himself to come personally congradulate you. But I predict a bit over 500, perhaps 550 if you get a nice one

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7543

Nice find

Yeah, I am freaking psyched for the X38. Too bad no SLi support. I will most likely be going Bontrail, Wolfdale, and 8950GX2. How do you guys think the 8950GX2 will perform comparred to a single 8900GTX?

Moderately.

If you remember, the 7900gtx performed worse than the 7800gtx 512mb, it just ran cooler because of the 80/90nm? (don't remember). With that in mind, you can expect the performance of the 8900gtx to drop a bit from the 8800gtx unless nvidia seriously did some major changes (but I only expect higher clocks), and how the 8950gx2 has less shaders (just like the 7950gx2, the 8950gx2 only has the shaders of the 8800gts), I would say a nice increase, but not enough to be worth it especially if you experience the same driver problems with sli

I am not going to run SLi after I get my X38. Just a single card. I will wait to see the tests for the 8900GTX vs 8950GX2. I will probably spring for the GX2 anyway though.

Single card the gx2 should own, but don't count out the hd 2950xtx(2), the r650 and r670. With xfire support and an improved shrunken core, the x38+ati's top end could end up beating any sli configuration nvidia could come up with.

We'll have to see what nvidia plans to reel out for 45nm cpus for sli support

Damn am I psyched to get my Bonetrail, Wolfdale, DDR3, and 8950GX2!!!