P35 or Nforce 780i for 45nm wolfdales?

[blu3ness]

Hello People, I am struggling between two motherboards, Abit IP-35 Pro and eVGA 780i. I am not purchasing online since newegg is not open to Canadians, and Canadian online retailers are usually way overpriced.

Therefore, aside from those two boards, other alternatives are the ASUS boards (P5K, P5E, Maximus Formula), Gigabyte at GA-P35-DS3P at $240 bucks.

What I am looking for in these boards.

* Good overclockability, able to handle 1333Mhz, or ideally 1600Mhz FSB
* Compatibility with 45nm processors without a BIOS update (I dont have an existing processor for me to do that)
* If possible, additional linux compatibility would be beneficial
* Budget oriented, but must leave room for further expansion (i.e. additional video card for xfire or SLI, support for quad 45nm CPUs when their price drop)


I appreciate your input greatly, thank you very much.

 

[Mondoman]

Maybe it's time for a quick drive across the border?

Seriously, though, Intel chipset-based boards tend to be more stable and more overclockable than nVidia chipset-based boards. The P35 chipset has an especially good performance record.

I wouldn't consider xfire or SLI video to be practical future expansion options, since you'd have to track down a 2nd video card with exactly the same GPU as your current card; meanwhile, a higher-performing single-card graphics solution should be available.

 

[ziegemon]

I've got an evga 780i. It runs at 1700 fsb no problems, however I haven't been successful in finding settings that are stable above 1700. You can't raise the fsb voltage over 1.4, and you probably wouldn't want to if you could for heat reasons.

I've heard many good things about the intel chipsets. I would advise doing some serious research in that direction. If I was building again today, I'd probably be looking at X48 motherboard.

 

[jerreece]

I can't necessarily speak for the 780i boards, but I can the 680i. I've read all over this and other forums that generally speaking the P35 motherboards are much better for OC'ing. I'm not having the greateast luck on my 680i board. Also have read the 680i (and 780i to some degree) run kind of hot compared to P35's?

Personally, I'd go with an Intel based motherboard if I had to repurchase my setup again.

As far as xFire or SLI goes, I always bought boards so I could do it. But frankly I've never had the extra cash to buy that 2nd video card later. Not to mention, by the time I had 'need' for a faster video card, it was a better buy financially to just replace my old video card rather than buy a 2nd one that was already out of date.

Buy one fast video card, and stick with it until it's time to replace. Or, if you have lots of cash to throw away, buy 2 identical cards at once, and send me your leftover funds.

 

[Zenthar]

I am not purchasing online since newegg is not open to Canadians, and Canadian online retailers are usually way overpriced.

Run your prices through www.shopbot.ca, you could be surprised on the deals you will find, I know I did. It ended-up costing less to buy online from www.ncix.com and pay shipping than to buy at any local shop.

For what you want you could either get a DS3L and ditch dual-GPU completely, or look at the 750i FTW form EVGA (2 x16 SLI support, without 780i premium price). The DS3L will support Wolfdale (dual-core) without BIOS update, but will require one for Yorkfield (quad).

 

[50bmg]

Has nvidia fixed the 7xxi video playback bug?

Or is that a BS rumor?

 

[blu3ness]

Zenthar, thank you for your input on the shopbot website, it was very helpful.
Based on a few searches I did on there, I think the Gigabyte GA-X38-D4S is a fairly good alternative toward the eVGA 780i. The good boards offer great potential.

Anyone have any additional comments?

 

[chiptouz]

I just built a machine for a client that used the ABit IP-35Pro with the Q9450 and 4gb Crucial BalistX with Vista 64bit. THe client did not want a full oc, but wanted some so it is running rock solid at 3.2ghz.

All I had to do was update to bios 17.

 

[r352alit]

BIOS 17 from abit? is the cpu cool be a problem? coz the abit bios version 16 really suck at cpu temperature (idle 54C, load 78C).

 

[r352alit]

@ blu3ness

If you dont want to update the bios for 45nm processor, don't buy abit IP35-Pro. It must update your bios to version 16 or better. And truthfully is that the version 16 abit BIOS is really sucks, wrong reading (i guess) on processor temperature.