P35 or 680i

[Chuck]

Hi,

I am trying to spec out a new box and was wondering if anyone could answer a few questions on the pro's and cons of P35 vs 680i. My understanding is that the P35 is stable but has less features, and the 680i is obviously SLI ready, but is less stable.

I've wittled down my choices to:

Asus P5N32-E SLI
Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4

Feature set wise the only reason for going to the 680i would be for the SLI option. Is it worth it? Originally I was going to go for a 8800 GTX, but given the recent release of the 8800 GT I thought having 2x 8800 GT in SLI would be a better investment.

Initially I was keen to go for the Asus board, but it seems to have had very luke-warm reviews.

So basically I guess my question is, are the 680i boards really that unstable? And is SLI worth it?

 

[jmmtn4aj]

What resolutions are intending to do? Because the 8800GT will play all the currents at high settings, but not Crysis at high very well at any resolution up to 1600x1200. 2 8800GTs will give you the same result. Personally I'd get a single 8800GT, then sell that and get the next mid-high end GPU when it comes out, or when I really want to play a certain new game properly.

I'd go with a single card / P35.

 

[thejez]

I've found SLI to really be worth it. In theory it sounds like an interesting idea but i've never found the price to performance increase to be worth it. plus NVidia has been having some struggles getting SLI to work all that well with the current drivers...

seems like way too much $$ and trouble for not much return... im sure ppl disagree with me.

 

[Chuck]

Well my screen will have a native resolution of 1920 x 1200. I currently don't play games at that resolution though.

Noise is also a concern, so have been trying to figure out how noisey two of them will be. Guess its not worth the hassle.

 

[Sheninat0r]

The P35 chipset is better overall. Also, many 680i owners are having problems with their chipsets and crashes, failed POSTs, etc., so unless you are absolutely set on going SLi, the P35 is the way to go.

 

[PCTC2]

for pure overclocking the P35 kills the 680i.

For RAM overclocking and options of RAM overclocking (unlocked DRAM ratios) the 680i is king.

For Quads, new Penryns, etc, the eVGA 680i-A1 Rev only needs a BIOS flash. Same for Asus and probably Gigabyte (the DQ6 is in Qualification testing for 45nm processors).

SLI is not really worth it, especially in Vista, with buggy drivers that don't properly support 8-series SLI and there is also a lack of SLI profiles for games. I have SLI and it was a great deal for me, but that's only because I owned a 7950GT for a while and a second at the point of upgrade was only $150 for a 180% performance boost in XP32.

If you're willing to pay for a Gigabyte 680i-DQ6, just buy an X38 board. 680i price, P35 performance, with more features such as dual PCIe 2.0 16x slots for your 8800GT (first card to support 2.0). No SLI (hacked SLI only. Not a smart idea) but the difference in performance between the 8800GT and the 8800GTX is not really worth the price premium of the GTX IMO.

 

[Blazer7]

X38 mobos are gonna be replaced by X48 mobos in the coming months. Gigabyte's GA-N680SLI-DQ6 has reached it's EOL. eVGA's A1 is reported to have some problems too but eVGA at least has a very good reputation for their support. ASUS 680 based boards are looking good but I don't know if it makes sense to go for a 680 board, especially since the new 780 boards are expected to be released before the end of the year. The 8800GTs are also reported to have problems with many cards DOA. There are also reports for SLI problems. I believe that the smart thing to do right now is wait at least until Xmas. Hopefully things will become much clearer by then.

 

[Chuck]

Hmm Interesting. What does X48 bring to the table? DDR3 RAM seems a little too pricey for me

 

[Denithor]

Anyone else wonder why Intel is still making Crossfire chipsets instead switching to support for SLI? Makes no sense to me at all.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: Chuck
Hmm Interesting. What does X48 bring to the table? DDR3 RAM seems a little too pricey for me

There are very few differences between the x38 & x48 chipsets. The later brings support for DDR3-1600 and 1600 FSB but there are also gonna be some DDR2 boards like the upcoming Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6. The x48 should be quite more expensive than its predecessor, or so I?ve heard. Some issues the x38 had with pcie x4 & x8 I/O cards should also become a thing of the past along with some other bugs. Both x38 & x48 will use the same southbridge chip (ICH9R).

Originally posted by: Denithor
Anyone else wonder why Intel is still making Crossfire chipsets instead switching to support for SLI? Makes no sense to me at all.

Intel?s Skulltrail will support SLI and even Quad-SLI. These mobos will feature dual cpu sockets and dual nVidia MCPs with the later being used strictly for SLI. With this move Intel will be offering solutions for both SLI and Crossfire.

 

[thejez]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Anyone else wonder why Intel is still making Crossfire chipsets instead switching to support for SLI? Makes no sense to me at all.

because NVidia is protecting its market share by not sharing SLI... which would be OK if they didnt make an intel chipset that didnt blow.

In skulltrail intel has to actually buy NVidia ICs to get SLI support.... because NVidia still refuses to open it up... fags.