gokhan76

Distinguished
Jan 12, 2007
61
0
18,630
Hi,

I can't decide on three mainboards that I have choosen,

Asus Maximus Formula X38 chipset DDR2

Gigabyte DS4 or DS3P

Asus P5K E WIFI

Now, If you would have some money to burn would you guys buy the Maximus forumla which is around $400 or would u stick to bit lower models like DS4 and spend the rest money on Graphic card maybe.

The reason that I am asking this question I don't know that high end motherboards will make any difference regards to the system performance at all.

The price difference between them is a lot DS4 sit on $200 where as Maximus $400

Questions is is it worth that value for the money Maximus formula?

PS: I want a chipset that will last long for me for future technology as well beside DDR3 which is at the moment expensive.

Thanks
 
I'm voting for the DS4.

A $400 motherboard and a $200 motherboard will differ by 0 to 3 fps in games, and sometimes the cheaper one wins too. Buy a motherboard based on the features you need, not on performance.

Forget DDR3, it's absolutely pointless at current speeds (similar to DDR2) and prices (several times DDR2). By the time DDR3 is cheap enough to make sense, you will also want a new CPU, which will reqire a different socket than LGA 775, so you'd need a new mobo anyway. That is, mobos with DDR2+DDR3 make no sense at all to me. (Yeah, I know, I have a GA-P35C-DS3R which supports DDR2+DDR3, but things looked better for DDR3 when I bought it)

It's MUCH smarter to spend the money on the video card. Let's say you have $500 and you distribute it $400 for mobo and $100 for video card. You end up with 7600GT or similar and get 4.6 fps. Now let's say you spend $200 on the mobo and $300 on the video card (8800GT or 8800GTS G92 512MB). You end up with 33fps.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=716&model2=1057&chart=297

Edit: there is a case when the Asus Maximus would be worth the money: if you have a 24" monitor at 1920x1200, or something even larger, and you absolutely want great performance, and you buy two HD 3870 cards and use them in Crossfire, then yes the X38 chipset is what you want because both video cards would work at x16 speed. With the other boards you listed (based on P35), the second video card would be handicapped by the x4 slot so they're not as good for Crossfire.
 

gokhan76

Distinguished
Jan 12, 2007
61
0
18,630
Ok.

I do understand now but if it comes down to the:

P5K E

and

DS4

What would you choose between them.

They both have similar specs the only difference gigabyte uses solid capacitors.

So What would you buy and also I guess at this stage X38 is out of question for us as well.

Thanks
 
Well, let's see. I'm looking at both boards at newegg to compare them. I also like aBit IP35Pro, so I'll include it here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131196 P5K-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128064 DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127030 IP35Pro

P5K-E Wifi: $157, 3 PCI slots, basic RAID only, 2 SATA cables
GA-P35-DS4: $177, 2 PCI slots, good RAID support, 4 SATA cables, solid capacitors
IP35Pro: $180, 3 PCI slots, good RAID support, 4 SATA cables, solid capacitors

Solid capacitors mean the board should last longer. A SATA cable cost me $9 recently. The better RAID support matters only to some people, not to the majority IMO. Missing PCI slots have an easy workaround: USB sound cards/TV tuners/modems. Still, these tend to cost more.

I hope this helps you decide. If I just increased the confusion I'm sorry :)

Forgot to add: all three boards are popular, have Firewire, and have a x16+x4 combination of PCI-E slots for video cards. Personally I'd get the IP35Pro because I need 3 PCI slots and prefer fewer USB devices lying around and tempting the cats. Anyway, all 3 are good. If you intend to have a DVD burner and a single hard disk then you don't need more than 2 SATA cables or sophisticated RAID types and the P5K-E is fine.

 

gokhan76

Distinguished
Jan 12, 2007
61
0
18,630
Thanks for your quick answer,


I did have a look the Asus website but the when you have sad Raid support as in basic that part I didnt understand both motherboards do RAid 0,1,5,10 as Gigabyte and Asus I checked from Asus website from their manual but when its comes down to the solid capacitors yes you have the point over there.

Now 2 more questions for you:


1st question:

If you compare P5K Deluxe WIFI to Gigabyte P35-DS4 what would you say overall?


2nd Question:

As you have sad about saving money, If I end up getting a motherboard which cost around $200 I will have about $150 left for to play for Graphic card as I am thinking to spend this left over for maybe 3850 ATI graphic card.

Now the question is as you know 3850 PCI.E 2.0 supports so Don't you think having PCI.e 2.0 graphic card on a motherboard that only supports PCI.e 1.0 will slow down the graphic card?

Unless if I understood incorrect about the PCI.E 2.0 performance informations.

Thanks.
 
Hmmm, newegg shows only RAID 0 and 1 for the P5K-E WiFi. If that's wrong then sorry, and please ignore all RAID comments because it means all 3 boards are the same there.

P5K Deluxe: the features are very similar to the DS4. Bad: it costs more, it has only 2 SATA cables, overall weaker Newegg rating (56% love it, 12% hate it; 74% love the DS4 and 5% hate it). Good: it has the third PCI slot and the wireless feature. If you're interested in the wireless part it could be a good choice IMO. If not, the DS4 is a better deal.

A PCI-E 1 slot is absolutely enough for any video card out there today, including HD 3850, HD 3870, 8800GTS G92 512MB, 8800 GTX. You will not lose any performance by using such a card in a PCI-E 1 slot. Guaranteed. The PCI-E 2 slots may make a difference for 9800GX2 later, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

Let's rethink the motherboard strategy a bit to save some money and upgrade the video card instead.

A $100 GA-P35-DS3L and a $300 8800GTS G92 512 MB will be much better than a $200 motherboard and a $200 HD 3850. The problem is, does the GA-P35-DS3L have the features you need? It has no RAID, 2 SATA cables, 4 SATA ports, 3 PCI slots, no second video card possible, no Firewire. There's also the GA-P35-DS3R (it has RAID, 4 cables, 8 SATA ports, solid capacitors, 3 PCI slots, no second video card, no Firewire, $127)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119 BFG 8800GTS G92
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059&Tpk=GA-P35-DS3L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050 GA-P35-DS3R

Can you afford the GA-P35-DS3R at $127 and the 8800 GTS G92 at $300? Does the DS3R have all the features you need? If you don't need Firewire and you don't expect ever to use 3 monitors then the DS3R should do nicely.
There are cheap PCI cards for Firewire too.

 
Sounds very good.

Remember to download the latest driver and the latest nTunes from Nvidia's site. Then use nTunes to check fan settings and temperatures. The 8800GT tends to run hot with default settings. If it's too hot you can use nTunes to make the fan spin faster.
 

gokhan76

Distinguished
Jan 12, 2007
61
0
18,630
I don't think 8800GT will be more hot than my old 8800GTS

Because most of the websites saying they actually run cooler than
8800GTS.

Also the Graphic card that I'll be buying Gigabyte 8800GT which has ZALMAN cooler on it and + Ultra durable solid capacitors on VGA.

Hopefully should be ok.