Need advice on choosing a new motherboard. p35 v. p45

[darkdisciple]

I plan to put a computer together soon, but there are some components I am undecided on. One of those is which motherboard to get. Basically I am undecided between a p35, and waiting to get a p45. I have no doubt a p45 would be better, the asus p5q-d looks amazing, but by the time a nice stable revision of a p45 board comes out, it could be october. I have also considered buying a "cheap" p35 when the p45 hits and knocks prices down, and then buying a good p45 once the kinks are worked out. Think it is worth the wait? Here are the components I have decided on for sure.

Case - Antec P182

Processor - Core 2 Duo e8400

Memory - (2) G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800

Power Supply - Corsair 620W Modular

DVD Burner - LG dvd burver / dvd ram

Cooler - OCZ 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

OS - Vista 64 bit

Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

[evongugg]

Welcome to the forums!

Top 5 heatsinks

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Optical drive suggestion: Samsung SH203B or N.

You need a video card also. Not sure if you are a gamer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1923.html

 

[darkdisciple]

Welcome to the forums!

Top 5 heatsinks

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Optical drive suggestion: Samsung SH203B or N.

You need a video card also. Not sure if you are a gamer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1923.html

Mainly looking for mobo advice in this thread but thanks.

 

[outlw6669]

Welcome aboard!

I think the P45 will be an excellent midrange MB, especially if you are planing on using CF.

If you are not planning on crossfire, you will probably never know the difference between a P35 and a P45 (besides a few W of energy saved).

Just so you know, the P45 is not supposed to support FSB1600 either.
It will be limited to FSB1333, same at the current P35.

I would recommend you get a decent P35 and keep it till LGA775 dies.

 

[Scotteq]

Buying now?? If you aren't going with a dual card setup, I'd highly recommend a quality P35 now, and skipping P45 entirely. IMHO, there will be next to no performance increase (if there is any at all) going from a 35 to a 45. So rather than spend money twice, for the pleasure of building twice, buy a better 35 now than you would have done otherwise and ride that sucker all the way to the next major build.

 

[rubix_1011]

Agreed with Scotteq; minimal differences from P35 to P45 to justify cost. To get those *modest* improvements to show up, you would need to buy a high-end chip and high-end DDR2/3; neither of which are on your list. P35's have made many people happy.

I approve this message.

 

[halcyon]

Based on the above...

Nice economical P35: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

...and if you want bargain basement (but still highly popular):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

 

[darkdisciple]

Buying now?? If you aren't going with a dual card setup, I'd highly recommend a quality P35 now, and skipping P45 entirely. IMHO, there will be next to no performance increase (if there is any at all) going from a 35 to a 45. So rather than spend money twice, for the pleasure of building twice, buy a better 35 now than you would have done otherwise and ride that sucker all the way to the next major build.

I might consider a 2 card setup and a 750i board. When the new gpus come out next month the 8800gts might come down some.

 

[Scotteq]

OK then - Understand that if you want to SLI a set of nVidia cards, then your "choice" is an nVidia 750/780 based board or.... well... nothing.

This, of course, renders the P35/P45 conversation entirely moot unless you decide on ATI/Crossfire. In that case, I would recommend an X48 now, since it has dual 16x PCi 2.0, and riding *that* all the way to the next build.

I'm not a big fan of dual GPU setups - Too dependent on individual vendor support. Some things work... others don't. So I prefer a single superior card instead, because I'd rather not deal with the nuances. That doesn't mean there isn't improvement to be had, tho - Just that I highly recommend doing very detailed research on the issues involved before committing. The newer nVidia chipsets are reportedly somewhat finicky, for example.

 

[MooseMuffin]

I'm in a similar situation. I have no interest in dual card setups, so the only thing that I find attractive about the p45 is the pcie 2.0 slot. I know it doesn't really matter now, but I plan to use this config for the next 3 years. I don't really want to wait anymore however, so I think I'm just going to spring for the ds3l.