X38 or 780i

[Darkorb]

looking to upgrade rig in my sig,

 

keeping the Mushkin 650watt, 8800GTS and my Case, Ultra Aluminus and the DVD drives

 

im gong to be getting the Thermalright Ultra-120, looked at the P5E but the heatsinks look so large and dont no if it will fit.

 

Q6600, its cheaper by $100 than the 9450, and G.Skill 2x2GB recomennded by Killagorilla

 

I want to semi future proof it

 

wanted a P35 board, but it doesnt support PCI-E 2.0, and i read that the new cards perform better on it

 

So looked at the X38 boards and the 780i

 

There all between $220 and $270

 

Looked at the Abit one which is the Cheapest X38, and the Evga 780i which is $250~

 

Ideas? COmments?

 

THanks!

[Guest r3d c0m3t]

Well, I can personally vouch for the stability and overall performance of the X38 chipset, but as you know the X38 does not support SLI. Although technically there is nothing to prevent one from installing two GeForce cards in any Intel-based (Crossfire-only chipset) except nVidia doesn't provide specific coding for the integers to operate amongst one another effectively..

 

...I digress.

 

Back on topic, although the 780i is indeed more stable and has the potential to give you more performance for your money, at the end of the day the X38 comes out on top due to better stability, higher overclocking potential, and to seal the deal even further (just my opinion, which is hat you want ) the Q6600 you're considering would net you better results using the X38.

 

The only way I'd say go with the 780i is if you want SLI, or if you're not planning to overclock like a madman on steroids, other than that, X38 all the way.

[Darkorb]

"780i is indeed more stable and has the potential to give you more performance for your money, at the end of the day the X38 comes out on top due to better stability"

 

kinda contradicted urself there on stability, so which is it?

 

Im planning on hitting 3.6ghz or so if my heatsink can handle it

 

Also, im hoping by upgrading im less bottlenecking my video card, but i dont no what i will do in the future, whether it be SLI or crossfire (although i dont think ill ever get 2 cards, but u never no)

[Guest r3d c0m3t]

"780i is indeed more stable and has the potential to give you more performance for your money, at the end of the day the X38 comes out on top due to better stability"

 

kinda contradicted urself there on stability, so which is it?

 

I can see why you would say that, and it's my fault because I forgot to mention the 680i which the 780i is more stable than, better performance, etc. In any case, if 3.6GHz is as far as you're looking to go, go with the X38, chances are you'll use little to no voltage increase to get there, as opposed to the 780i.

 

If you're not considering SLI in any future build down the road, than going with a single slot is even better, as you'll save an additional buck or several.

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

how much voltage increase would someone be looking at with the 780i?

[p0tter]

only reason to buy nvidia intel boards is to run sli, if you dont plan to run sli p35, etc are better clock for clock and more stable.

[Darkorb]

Yes, but i want PCI-E 2.0

 

And i dont no what ill be getting in the future.

 

Looks like NVIDIA chips are better then the AMD/ATI ones so its kinda pushing me towards the EVGA 780i board.

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

go for 790i i just read good things about it http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2276863,00.asp

[Darkorb]

2gb of DDr3 ram for $300 or so, dont want that

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

backwards compatibility ?

 

edit: didnt notice it was ddr3 only

[fastfish]

Thermalright ultra 120 will fit on P5E , Had one on mine.Then put my old wc setup on for the h*** of it! Love the P5E see sig.

[Darkorb]

Is the Maximus Formula worth the extra $20 over the P5E?