Hi everyone,
Can someone tell me the REAL world differences between these chipsets? I want to build a computer around a e8400 for gaming only, the price diffs in these boards are unbelievable here in Toronto.

650i - $120ish
680i - 180$ + more around $200
780i - $220 +

Now I am planning to OC my chip from stock 3.0 to 4.0 with some good ddr-2 800 memory (that should OC to 900) and a good cooler (Thermal right 120 seems popular).

I've been looking at some reviews online and performance wise (ie gaming FPS) seems to have a very minor improvement 3-4 fps while the price diff is gigantic!

The vid card I'll be using is the 8800 GT. I haven't built this system yet, but this is the plan. I'm on a budget here so if someone can please recommend a board/chipset that won't break my bank but will let me do what I need it to do?

Thanks a million, you guys are the experts.

What CPU?

Maybe I wasn't clear, here is the system I want to build:

Intel Core 2 Dual e8400 cpu (3.0 Ghz)
Nvidia 8800 GT graphics card
2 gigs ddr-2 800 Mhz ram (that can OC to 900 at least)
500 gig sata HD

So I am missing my Motherboard and my PSU still and I'm set!

Thanks!

The 650i can handle the e8400 cpu with the latest bios update to the motherboard. However, it can only use the PCI-e 1.1. With the 780i or 790i you have the PCI-e 2.0 for future video cards. It doesn't make a big difference right now but it likely will if you ever want to upgrade your video card to the next generation or two and see it's full potential.

Hey,
Ok fair enough, but realistically won't my cpu be a bottle neck as well?

Also, how does one go about updating a bios when the CPU isn't recognized by the board? Can my local computer store update the bios for me with a spare cpu? Kinda wondering about that as well.

eh i would go with the nforce 700 series.if its your budget your worried in get the 750i (going to get the msi 750i board myself since the asus one has alot of heat problems.) costs around $150. the nforce 700 series supports the wolfdale chipsets out of the box and is pci-e 2.0. as for ram and overclocking, i dont know, i havent overclocked seriously since the athlon 1500+ XP several years ago. but from what i hear get ram that operates at higher voltage like the corsair xms2 ddr2 800 2.1V. thats what i have, will test overclocking once i get it built. (im using the E3110 xeon, same exact cpu as the e8400)

Go 750i. As a 680i owner I planned on getting an E8200 when it came out (or E8400), but even though the BIOS update supposably fixes the issue, too many people have had problems with it.

why do you need to choose between these? you never once mentioned anything about SLI only that your budget was small...

You will get better stablility out of a x38 or p35 intel baised board. Although this wont give you an SLI option but SLI is overatted anyways and by the time you want to add another GPU youll be better off buy a single next gen card.

SLI maybe overrated, but $150 for 2 pcie 2.0 is about the minimum you would pay if you went x38 with pcie 2.0 why not get an sli mobo so that you have the option to go sli anyway?

I'd go for a 790i. If you really want to OC like mad, ultra, if not, get the N790i, it boosts SLI performance and has lower power consumption.

In any case, don't get a 780i, they were just a quick band aid to fill the gap before the 790i hit the markets (Today).

*** My budget was around $800 give or take, but it looks like I have to go up to 1k.....I didn't consider the 750i, but given that the processor works immediately, that's also a good option. How is the xeon? I've heard it has higher voltage thresholds and is a better quality chip than the e8400. Given that I haven't bought anything yet, I could pick that up instead if its better than the e8400. I haven't overclocked ever, but I have read up on it for years so I don't think it should be too hard.

*** Hey, now there is something I had no idea about. Thanks for the tip, I would be extremely upset if off the bat i had spend hrs upgrading the bios to make it work.

***Easy there man, why are you making it personal? Yes I have a budget b/c I'm a real person with a mortgage and not a kid in highschool with $ to burn. My budget is 800 up to 1k, but the lower the better for me right now. As for SLI, ideally I'd like to be able to add the same card later on and run in SLI. You might be right though in 2 years, the next gen card will probably be way better than the 8800 GT. I'll think more about this, if you're right, I can get a p35 board without a problem, that would solve my $ issue as well. Thanks.

Another good point here (i'm going through these messages in order, sorry). Having pci-e 2.0 would be nice, I am hoping to be able to upgrade my cpu in 2 years to a quad (when $$$ come down) and they are much faster so I do want to be able to keep this same board and just upgrade the vid card as well. Having SLI although doesn't truly double performance, it is a nice thing to have....Haha, even more confused now, let's see the next post....

The 780i is way out of my budget, $250+, I can only imagine what the 790i is.

***** From what I've gathered so far, the 700 series is the way to go. There is only 1 retailer near me that is selling the 750i and it's only $150 (good price) ASUS P5N-D

http://www.infonec.com/site/main.p [...] &id=352071

The specs look good, both pci-e 2.0 both at 16x unlike the 650i where in sli they are 8x.... This board should be preloaded with the Penryn bios, so that solves another dilemma since I'm moving from a p4 2.8c to this chip.

Can someone please look at that board and tell me what you think? I'm definately not an expert at MBs.

Thanks everyone, this is extremely helpful for me.

i have a 780i by evga. personally i had wanted to wait for the 790i but a couple of reasons pushed forward the time line of my build. all in all the 780i is a very solid board. it overclocks better than the 600 series uses higher epp rated ddr2 ram (1250mhz for 2 sticks, 1066mhz for four). running a qx9650 i can achieve a 4ghz over clock with little effort and with 3 8800 gtx's it pushes my 3dmark score over 20k at default settings. running at 1920x1080 i do indeed find sli benefical. i can''t speak for the 750i's but if there anything close to the 780i, though yes a bandaid solution for for 45nm quads, its well worth the money if ur not yet ready to make the ddr3 leap and wish to have an sli capable board.

From what I read, the 750is are an upgraded 650i (not 100% on this), they added 2.0 pci-e and 1 extra x16 pci-e slot, but again I'm no MB expert here.

User reviews are good, except some ppl say it runs hot/ while others say on the e8400 it won't OC more the 3.6, not sure about what those neweggers are saying.

Atomic: You're definately more hard core than myself, I can't spend 2500$ on a rig, I'm looking more towards 800-1000$

ive been looking at that asus board along with the msi 750i board. ive decided to go with the MSI only becuase i hear MANY MANY MANY unhappy people with the the northbridge on teh asus p5n-d getting too hot and causing instabillity. the only way to combat that is to have a well circulated case with airflow right over it and an expensive cpu cooler. other than that it seems ok.
as for the msi the only downside is it doesnt have any pcie 1x (i plan on using regular pci anyway for a tv tuner and possibly a sound card). and the second and 3rd pci-e 2.0 are 8x (granted i dont think theres graphics cards out that will use the full 16x and 8x bandwidth in sli)


heres link to the msi http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130159

and to the asus if you want to read the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131232

as for the xeon E3110 its more than likely tested more than an E8400 and ive seen lots of people overclock slightly past the E8400's (saw some guy get 4.3ghz on E8400 and 4.5ghz+ on the Xeon E3110, same mobo and everything)

as for overclocking on the MSI people have posted how to be able to oc more in the newegg reviews (according to them it gets stuck at some point in OC but you have to disable something in teh bios to get it to go past)


basically if you have a well ventilated case and plan on getting a premium cpu cooler like the Zalman or that thermaltake V1 i think it is, go ahead with the asus. if not go with the msi.

edit: ack i forgot to mention lot of people complain about the space needed to mount cpu HSF on the asus, couplel of the top of the line coolers dont fit. so check reviews and check asus forums.
http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.as [...] uage=en-us