965 or 975X for E6600?

[imipenem]

I'm planning on upgrading from my current P4 3.0 Northwood, 875P system to an E6600 C2D based system. But I can't decide on a motherboard. I really like the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - BUT I want to make sure I'm not overlooking a better 975X board.

Which chipset should I use - 965 or 975X?? I do not plan on overclocking.

 

[n7]

You don't plan on OCing?

Then just get a cheapo Intel mobo.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: n7
You don't plan on OCing?

Then just get a cheapo Intel mobo.

Agreed

 

[imipenem]

Ok, but which chipset?

 

[n7]

If you aren't OCing or running Crossfire, i don't think it's gonna matter too much.

965 will be what you'll find, since 975 is far more expensive.

 

[Airflo]

Originally posted by: n7
If you aren't OCing or running Crossfire, i don't think it's gonna matter too much.

965 will be what you'll find, since 975 is far more expensive.

Yup, any cheap Intel 965 motherboard will do!

 

[DrMrLordX]

975x will yield slightly better performance at the same clock speed. That being said, 975x boards are stupid expensive so I don't know that I'd recommend it unless you've got money to burn.

 

[Vette73]

If not overclocking then save even more and get the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

If you want a 965 then look at the S3 gigabyte. Not as cheap as the VIA conroe boards but still not to bad and is what I am running.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
975x will yield slightly better performance at the same clock speed. That being said, 975x boards are stupid expensive so I don't know that I'd recommend it unless you've got money to burn.

I'm curious, where is that info at? I saw AT's mobo benchies and there is no such pattern

 

[Polish3d]

bump

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Frackal

I'm curious, where is that info at? I saw AT's mobo benchies and there is no such pattern

I can't find the post on Anandtech due to the gimped search feature, but there was a post on here with links to articles showing 2 mb L2 Conroe vs 4 mb L2 Conroe on both the 965 and 975 at the same clock speeds.

On the 965 platform, the 2 mb L2 Conroe did better. On the 975 platform, the 4 mb L2 Conroe did better.

I wish I had that bookmarked 'cuz I can not find the thread for the life of me.

 

[lopri]

There have been quite a few comments regarding (overclocking)performance of P965 vs P975. I am suspecting that P965 chipset has a looser timing than 975X, and even higher FSB straps in some cases (where some people have a FSB black hole between 330~400, etc. It's easy to guess that the clock generator resets itself at 400FSB). Overtime, I'd expect the P965 will excel eventually. It'll take some time, however. People on P965 are surely amazed at the high FSB and therefore high CPU frequency, but folks @XS are tweaking memory (as they have done on NF4) on 975X. P965 is still not as mature as 975X. (which is very natural considering how young it is)

 

[lopri]

The reason why 2MB chips were doing well on P965, if I remember correctly (source: Gary), because mobo makers focused on them (2MB chips) earlier due to availability forecast. Having low-multies, those 2MB chips can surely benefit from high FSB, which P965 is capable of thanks to the smaller manufacturing process. Although being a control-freak, I don't see myself getting a P965 yet. I've been following the DS3's BIOS updates even though I don't have one yet, but I still think their memory configuration is very limited, if not downright disappointing.

 

[PTDent42]

So if I wanted an E6400 or 6600, and DON'T plan on overclocking, I'm considering cheaper Intel 965 motherboard, and PC5400 RAM.
Question - down the road, if I simply want to swap to faster chip, will the bus speed or memory speed prevent me? Should I go with better Mboard and memory now for greater future proofing, or does the fact I won't overclock make it pointless??

Thanks!

 

[LittleNemoNES]

no OC? Intel 975x bad axe+x6800+value ram

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX

Originally posted by: Frackal

I'm curious, where is that info at? I saw AT's mobo benchies and there is no such pattern

I can't find the post on Anandtech due to the gimped search feature, but there was a post on here with links to articles showing 2 mb L2 Conroe vs 4 mb L2 Conroe on both the 965 and 975 at the same clock speeds.

On the 965 platform, the 2 mb L2 Conroe did better. On the 975 platform, the 4 mb L2 Conroe did better.

I wish I had that bookmarked 'cuz I can not find the thread for the life of me.

Are you talking about overclocking or actual performance? You're saying a 2mb chip did better at the same clock vs. the 4mb chip?

 

[Polish3d]

bump for an answer

 

[KDKPSJ]

If you don't OC, you might also want to consider 945P mobos, like one from Gigabyte. (GA-945P-S3 something like that)

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Frackal
bump for an answer

There is no conclusive answer.

I think that you'll see varying results with different CPU/mobo combinations, which is why initially we had better results from 975 + Conroes, & then we had 965 + Conroes with better results.

Go to XS & read thru the threads on the 975 vs. 965 performance if you're really interested, but seriously, i don't really feel there's much difference overall.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Frackal

Are you talking about overclocking or actual performance? You're saying a 2mb chip did better at the same clock vs. the 4mb chip?

I think the 2mb chip gained an uncanny amount of ground on the 4mb chip, don't remember if the 2mb chip actually won out on the 965 board (believe it was a DS3) or not. This was without any real overclocking, both chips were set to the same clock speed and FSB speed if I recall correctly.