Upgrade Question, to PCIE2.0 or not

[kordesh]

A bit torn right now. I have a new rig essentially planned out already, but the motherboard I was originally planning on, a GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L is not PCIe 2.0 compliant.

Now, I know 2.0 cards will run just find regardless, however, I will likely upgrade from my current 8800GTS 640mb to one of the 9x series in the future which I've been reading may max out the throughput on PCIe1.0/1.1 and leave me a bit bottlenecked.

The GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 users the x38 chipset which supports PCIe2.0, but it's also about $110 more expensive. I also can't find terribly many reviews as to the quality of that board in particular.

Bottom line, should I spend the extra money and go for the 2.0 board, or am I worrying too much about this? Technically I could just swap out boards with a 2.0 board in the future when I decide to get a 9x, but I'm lazy and hate having to yank the main board out unless I'm doing a total overhaul.

 

[chookman]

I still dont think you will see much performance increase with PCI-e2.0 over 1.1 even with the new generation 9 series. Currently there isnt much difference running a card at 8x compared to 16x.

My thoughts, save your money take the P35

 

[aevm]

Agreed, save your money with P35.

If you do want PCI-E 2.0, at least get something that supports SLI, because you're buying nVidia cards. Asus P5N-D, for example. I'm not saying you should do SLI, but it's nice to have the option.

 

[mersonix]

I have a DS3l. Great Mobo, good overclocker. But, Only has 1 pci x 16 port. IF YOU PLAN ON CROSSFIREX OR SLI DO NOT BUY IT. Otherwise don't worry. My 3850 handles fine.

 

[kordesh]

Agreed, save your money with P35.

If you do want PCI-E 2.0, at least get something that supports SLI, because you're buying nVidia cards. Asus P5N-D, for example. I'm not saying you should do SLI, but it's nice to have the option.

In which case I'll probably go with the P35. My main concern was with the 9x series of cards but I guess it won't be a huge problem.

I really don't have any intention of going with SLI so thats not an issue. I was aware of the lack of SLI when I picked it out, but thanks for the heads up anyway.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[aevm]

All right. Before you buy the DS3L, check out the GA-EP35-DS3R too. $38 more (Newegg current prices) gets you 8 SATA ports instead of 4, more cables, eSATA, RAID. I have no idea if that's worth $38 to you, you decide. For me having only 4 SATA ports is a problem.