Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > G31 vs. P45

G31 vs. P45

Forum Motherboards & Memory : General Motherboard - G31 vs. P45

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BruceOTB   09-04-2009 at 12:27:50 PM

Hi, im using an E5300 with 2x2gb ddr2 800, and a GTS 250 512mb. my motherboard right now is a GA-G31M-ES2C.

im planning to upgrade my proc to a q9550, i know that my board and q9550 are compatible but im also thinking of upgrading it to a p45 so as to avoid "bottleneck".. should i or should i not upgrade the mobo? OR, another option is to upgrade to a nforce 750i. what you think? price is about the same.

will the gain in upgrading the mobo be worth another $80?

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4745454b   09-04-2009 at 01:45:02 PM

The biggest benefit will be the (probable) ability to overclock farther. G31 boards aren't known for their ability to OC well, while the P35/45 boards are. If you just want to run stock, your better off just staying with your G31 board.

The only other thing those boards have over your G31 is more "stuff". More sata ports, USB ports, NICs, etc. I don't know what your needs are, so I don't know if you should "upgrade" or not.

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outlw6669   09-04-2009 at 02:00:16 PM

Unless you are planing on overclocking or running two ATI GPU's in CrossFire, stick with what you have.
At stock/slightly overclocked speeds and with a single GPU you will have the exact same performance between a G31 and P45 motherboard.

Avoid nVidia based motherboards regardless.
They have to many issues and are generally weak overclockers (especially with quad core CPU's).

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BruceOTB   09-04-2009 at 02:58:47 PM

hmm, i plan to oc it (the q9550) to around 3.5ghz. possible with my current g31 board?

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outlw6669   09-04-2009 at 03:28:52 PM

It is hard to say for sure if your board can handle that overclock with a quad core CPU.

Gigabyte does rate it to run at a 400Mhz FSB which would give you a 3.4Ghz overclock.
Weither or not the 3 stage VRM is able to supply enough power to keep the CPU stable is another matter.

The best recommendation I have is to try overclocking on your current board before upgrading.
If you are unhappy with the performance after the overclock, look into a ASUS or Gigabyte P45 motherboard to replace it.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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