(ASUS) P5K vanilla (p35) vs. P5N32-E sli (680i)

[100ll]

Hi everyone. First time post here.
I am building my first system around either the Q6600 or the 6750 and have already purchased the two mobos in the title. I am having a hard time deciding which to keep. I got a great deal on the 680i chipset - was only $160.

However, I don't plan on SLI since it doesn't seem to be worth the cost (SLI users, correct me if I am wrong!) And I don't think the 680i mobo supports over DDR2-800. Also, I have seen alot of messages posted about issues with BIOS and overclocks on this board.

The P35 chip on the other hand appears to overclock better than the 680i and be more newbie friendly. It does support DDR2-1066.

What I am looking for is something that will work well with the newer chips and ram, be user friendly, and overclock well. But the price of the SLI board was somewhat of a steal and part of me thinks I should keep it. System is for games and some apps (Crysis, Flight Sim X, Photoshop, etc)

Users of these boards, please help me out!

Other components of this computer are to include:
Vista 32 bit Home Premium
Antec 900 case
Antec TrueBlue 2.0 480 watt PSU with 18 ampsx2 12 volt rails
(I know the PSU will probably need upgraded for 2 graphics cards but is it ok for now?)
160 GB Western Digital SATA 3 GB/s 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache HD
2x1GB OCZ Platinum Revision 2 PC2 6400
EVGA 8800GT Superclocked
Samsung DVD/CD burner

Thanks for all the help

 

[aadamszc]

If SLI is useful is completely dependent at the resolution that you play at. My very uneducated opinion says that you would probably use the non-SLI mobo. On that note, I'm going to suggest that you keep the P35 P5K and try to sell the SLI mobo to someone for the regular price. You'd actually make money on that transaction.

PSU looks iffy, but it might be good.

 

[100ll]

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned, resolutions around 1280x1024 right now on a 19inch monitor. I may occassionally hook up to a 27inch LCD.

 

[ausch30]

I have a P5N32-E SLI and if I were buying today I would get a P35 board. The P5N is a good board but if you don't plan on SLI then a P35 would be a better option.

As for the 680i boards not supporting higher than DDR2 800 there is no JEDEC standard for DDR2 RAM higher than 800 and RAM which is listed higher than that is really just overclocked 800. To explain a little better the DDR2 standard is 1.8v and most high performance RAM is listed at 1.9, 2.1, 2.2v or whatever. So if the RAM in question is 1066 at 2.1v then you will just have to manually set it for that speed in the BIOS because it's really just overclocked DDR2 800 1.8v. If you got the RAM and looked at CPUZ it would show several different configurations take mine for instance which is sold as DDR2 800 4-4-3-10 which is the overclocked rating for it.