INTEL X38 CHIPSET VS INTEL P45 CHIPSET

[shash89]

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS BEST CHIPSET FOR MY Q9550 PROCESSOR AS WELL AS GAMING PERFORMANCE ?

 

[shash89]

THOSE TWO MOBOS ASUS P5E-WS & P5Q3 DEULUX

 

[apache_lives]

GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND

 

[jaguarskx]

AND DON'T USE ALL CAPS!!!!!

 

[jimmysmitty]

The P5E-WS has the X38 chipset so it will support 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 lanes while the P5Q3 only supports 2 PCIe 2.0 x8 lanes. So overall the P5E will be better in the end and should support the Q9550 with no problems.

Go for the P5E.

 

[Zenthar]

If both are priced equally, go for the X38, if not then keep reading. If you plan on using only a single video card, there will be NO difference between the two of them. If you decide to use 2 cards, there might be a 0-5% (possibly closer to 0% BTW) advantage toward the X38.

 

[jimmysmitty]

If both are priced equally, go for the X38, if not then keep reading. If you plan on using only a single video card, there will be NO difference between the two of them. If you decide to use 2 cards, there might be a 0-5% (possibly closer to 0% BTW) advantage toward the X38.

The biggest thing though is that it will show less aging on the GPU bus if he does SLI/CF since its two full PCIe 2.0 busses. Of course I think it will take the next gen of GPUs to even barley flood the PCIe 2.0 bus but you never know.

 

[Zenthar]

The biggest thing though is that it will show less aging on the GPU bus if he does SLI/CF since its two full PCIe 2.0 busses. Of course I think it will take the next gen of GPUs to even barley flood the PCIe 2.0 bus but you never know.

I've read benchmarks showing that up to 2560x1600, there is no performance difference between x8x8 and x16x16 for dual card, it stated showing a ~5% difference at 5760x1200 (three 1920x1200 side by side). This applies to SLI, not sure if it would be the same for XFire.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I've read benchmarks showing that up to 2560x1600, there is no performance difference between x8x8 and x16x16 for dual card, it stated showing a ~5% difference at 5760x1200 (three 1920x1200 side by side). This applies to SLI, not sure if it would be the same for XFire.

Currently you are correct. Hell the AGP 8x bus was not nearly saturated when the move to PCIe was happening. But if you throw a HD5870 on a AGP bus I am sure it will bottleneck it like crazy.

My only point is that the X38 chipset will allow for the system to live longer than the P45 will plus since it is a performance chipset will probably overclock better as well.

That or he should just go for the X48 chipset mobo.