Need Help Choosing New Mobo

[orbster556]

I have been using AMD and Nvidia for the past four or five years, but I have now decided to bear the unbearable--it took me a while to admit to shambolic state of the House of AMD--and put together an Intel machine. Having looked at a couple past pages on the forum and reading other sites and forums, I think I've narrowed down my choices to either DFI or Abit. While I am will not be striving for extreme oc's, I would most likely dabble in some low-end oc'ing.

I am partial to DFI because I've done a couple of builds using their boards before and they've all been rock solid. While it would seem Abit has rid themselves of quality issues, I am still somewhat nervous about purchasing one of their boards. From my limited research, it seems that there are contradictory opinions on the performance of X38 vis-a-vis X35. While I will only be using DDR2, I had been tentatively planning on getting a X38 and having the option of purchasing a 45nm processor had some future date. Thus, will Wolfdale procs function with DDR2 memory on an X38 board?

While I realize that its not that far away, I don't think I'm going to wait for the release of Wolfdale, unless I will notice a significant improvement over Conroe procs. I would imagine that the small fab would help increase oc abilities, but as I doubt I will push the celiign even on current procs I don't know how much of a benefit this will be in my situation.

My questions are:
1) Generally speaking, should I favor DFI or Abit, or does it not really matter, in that they are both are solid?
2) Given that I will be employing DDR2, should I use X35 or X38?
3) If I go X38 will newer processors be able to function on the board w/ DDR2 memory?
4) Will the performance increase of 45nm be to a large enough degree that I ought to wait for their release?

I would greatly appreciate answers to any or all of my questions. I apologize if any the questions are reduntant or simple. Despite having completed four builds, I always get very nervous, perhaps even paranoid, before purchasing all the components. I think the fact that I'm switching over to Intel has only exacerbated my anxiousness.

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[imported_Scoop]

My impression is that DFI is a very solid board, though can't remember the last time I read any article about a DFI board. Compared to Abit, I'd say they are somewhat expensive. Abit makes solid stable boards as well, they've just had some BIOS trouble but nothing you couldn't live with.

If you are using DDR2, the chipset doesn't really make a difference. What makes a difference is that you make sure the board you choose uses DDR2 memory and not DDR3. Or, there's also boards which support both DDR2 and DDR3 in different slots.

We can't really say about the performance of upcoming CPUs just yet can we. I'm sure they will perform somewhat better though. But in my mind the X38 chipset boards are a bit too expensive compared to the performance gains, unless reviews prove otherwise with Penryn. So I'd (I will) buy a P35 board with an old 65nm CPU but if you have extra cash dropping from trees then do as you like.

 

[nubian1]

X38 based boards make sense if you with to go the Crossfire route as each PciE slot is a full 16x as well as some minor tweaks to the chipset. You do understand that by going to a board with an Intel chipset that Nvidia SLI will NOT be an option as Nvidia does not support SLI on non-Nvidia chipset based boards.

While X38 based boards are somewhat more expensive than P35 based units I would still consider one & take a look at other makes as well as your DFI & Abit choices mentioned above. MSI, Gigabyte & Asus all have very good products available and this will give you some flexibility pricewise as for example, the DFI products always seem to cost a premium price.

For example my system includes an Asus P5E which is a very good X38 based board and I know of a few others worth mentioning that won't break the bank.

 

[ScrewFace]

The best X38-based mobo is the Asus Maximus Formula bar none!

 

[Denithor]

Take a look at the abit IP35 Pro, it also has 2 x16 PCI-E slots for Crossfire as well as full feature set (firewire, raid, great onboard audio, heatpipe cooling, etc). Available for about $150 (after $30MIR) and will support the 45nm Penryn chips without a problem (may have to flash BIOS depending on which version your board ships with).

Regarding Penryn, the new dual cores will run cooler (due to smaller 45nm manufacture), have better overclocking potential (several people at xtremesystems.org have already pushed past 4.5GHz on air cooling), and have 6MB cache (50% more than current Conroe chips, makes some difference in video encoding and games). These chips are probably worth the wait, see this thread for probable pricing and details. e8200 or e8400 look like a great value if that pricing is valid.

 

[orbster556]

The board you mentioned was actually the Abit board I was considering so it's reassuring that it received a vote of confidence. I'd still rather not purchase DDR3 so It would seem that X38 would offer any considerable advantage.

I appreciate the input and advice and, if I might, have just one more question, viz. will I be able to use DDR2 with a Penyrn or are they DDR3 exclusive?

Thanks again

 

[imported_Husky55]

Originally posted by: orbster556
The board you mentioned was actually the Abit board I was considering so it's reassuring that it received a vote of confidence. I'd still rather not purchase DDR3 so It would seem that X38 would offer any considerable advantage.

I appreciate the input and advice and, if I might, have just one more question, viz. will I be able to use DDR2 with a Penyrn or are they DDR3 exclusive?

Thanks again

You can use DDR2 with Yorkfield.

 

[Toolius]

hey guys.. anyidea when nvidia plans to release its new chipset with DDR 3 support ?
i wanna upgrade to the new intel exteme 45nm processors but i want SLI and DDR 3 too.
X38 forces me into crossfire and that i dont want. Im building a pure gamming rig in january and was auctually hoping to get the new G92 replacement for the 8800GTX ultra.
any idea as to when the new cards and new motherboards with DDR 3 support will arrive from Nvidia ? am willing to wait till febuary end MAX!!
thanx a lot everyone.