x38 or p35 or x48? Please help! :)

Hi lads.

I'm torn between these three chips (p35, x38 and x48).
My system is based on E8400 and i want to overclock it to 4ghz.
I've never overclocked so an easy BIOS is appreciated.

I got the impression that the p35 was old technology but reliable (supporting 45nm).

I was impressed by the x38 chipset which is rather expensive, it is the fact that it supports PCI 2.0 that impress me (Good graphic insurance for the future) but the x48 is supposed to replace it and that would normally turn my attention to the x48 but then i heard that it was basically a x38 with some minor tweaks and changes which then again made me want a x38.

My budget is limited and currently i have a Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 in the scope (is the ds5 so much better? it costs $20 more).

I guess i have around $145 for a new mobo (i could collect some bottles and get the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 but it's a bit out of my range).

I could ofc also stick with a p35 mobo, that is my dilemma!

Thanks and best regards!

Its seems that you would like a X48, but money is a major problem. Given the money problem, I think its best that you stick with a P35 at the moment, unless you happen to find a X38 on sale. Other than that, start saving money now so that later you can buy a top end mobo. Just my opinion.

A good P35 board will last you for quite a while, at least to the end of the Penryn/LGA775 days. You will probably want to upgrade to Nehalem some time next year regardless of what you purchase now. X38 is only justifiable if you are serious about Crossfire or want to pull off some extreme, unpractical overclock.

PCIe 2.0 looks good on paper, but I would guess that if you had a hypothetical GPU capable of saturating the PCIe 1.1 bus you would be getting more than playable framerates.

After doing my homework I went with the P35 over the X series chipsets. The only real downside to the P35 is 22PCIe lanes, but that is not an issue if you don't have a million add-in cards and don't need 22 lanes. Its better to spend less now than double to get something you 'think' is future proof but will probably be outdone in 6-12 months anyway.

My selling points were Intel RAID, Bus speed and cost. ( I did not need SLI)

Not much if anything will actually utilize DDR3 let alone DDR2 1066, and it is shown that there is no advantage to PCIe 2.0 at this time. I would see it at the point that 2.0 is in use you could buy a board that will support it for the price of a P35 board + the new board than paying 250+ for a PCIe 2.0 board now. Spend the money on a good case and power supply which will be future proof.

BTW I am running an E8400 @ 3.6 on stock volts on a MSI P35NEO 2 FR, there is plenty of room go further but I am content here. The BIOS IMO is as good as any, some will have better features than others in some points and worse than others in other points.

I do think that the P35 is nearing the end of its lifecycle but I don't think it will be until Nehalem is released that new chipsets will be worthwhile, and DDR3 will be of use (and price)

Anyone have any thoughts on the Abit IP35 Pro, I really have that mobo in the cross-hairs???