790FX-, P38X, or wait for next nvidia chipset
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Well that mostly depends on if you want to Crossfire down the road or not. If you think you will add another 3870, or a 3850, or whatever other card ATI releases over the next year or two, then I would narrow your list down to either an X38 or 790FX. The reason for this is because SOME X38 (you have to look for this carefully!) have two PCIe slots running at full 16x electrical/speed, and all 790FX have two PCIe 16x running at full speed.
Then you need to choose between Intel and AMD processors at this point. Intel generally has the price/performance crown right now with their Q6600 that can OC to 3.0 ridiculously easily (literally just a fsb change in bios, no messing with voltages or anything). But if you want go to AMD, then you should consider the 5000+ Black Edition processor because it overclocks to 3.2Ghz pretty easily, costs only $130 (+ cost of a heatsink, doesn't come with one), and then just hold out for AMD's B3 Phenoms or whatever else they come out with in 2008.
If you know you don't want to Crossfire already, then I would just get a P35 board like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L because it's cheap ($100) and overclocks very well, and has all the basic features most ppl need. Plop a Q6600 in it and away you go.
I personally like how Crossfire is looking for the future, since you can Crossfire different ATI cards together and of course can add a 3rd or 4th card in like 2-3 years to give your system a kick in the ass when it starts to slow down with new games.
Then you need to choose between Intel and AMD processors at this point. Intel generally has the price/performance crown right now with their Q6600 that can OC to 3.0 ridiculously easily (literally just a fsb change in bios, no messing with voltages or anything). But if you want go to AMD, then you should consider the 5000+ Black Edition processor because it overclocks to 3.2Ghz pretty easily, costs only $130 (+ cost of a heatsink, doesn't come with one), and then just hold out for AMD's B3 Phenoms or whatever else they come out with in 2008.
If you know you don't want to Crossfire already, then I would just get a P35 board like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L because it's cheap ($100) and overclocks very well, and has all the basic features most ppl need. Plop a Q6600 in it and away you go.
I personally like how Crossfire is looking for the future, since you can Crossfire different ATI cards together and of course can add a 3rd or 4th card in like 2-3 years to give your system a kick in the ass when it starts to slow down with new games.
It's literally all on your choices as jevon said. But I'll try to enlighten you a bit further.
The p35 will follow the PCi-E 1.1 express interface. it is limited to the 2.5 Gbit/s transfer rate, meanwhile, x38, Amd's 790X/FX, and nvidia's 780I/A, all offer PCI-E 2.0 with the 5 Gbit/s transfer rate. No card can break the 2.5 Gbit/s transfer rate atm. So there is really no NEED for it. It's just a preparation procedure for when the limit is broken. We have no idea if Nvidia's new 9800 series, rumored for February, will break the barrier, some say no, some say maybe just barely. The choice lies in that factor. If you are gonna be using a current midrange like a 3870, or 8800 GT, no point in going PCI-E 2.0. X38 is indeed pricey, while the AMD/Nvidia solutions have expensive revisions and cheaper solutions as well under the PCI-E 2.0 interface.
Now, regarding the chipsets, AMD will be releasing a 780G/790G, which will be quite interesting. But this is farther down the road. What makes these solutions very nice is they plan to toggle between a integrated graphics solution, and a stand alone graphics card based on the computers current uses. Integrated on idle/desktop to save power, and video card for gaming and heavy tasks. What's really nice, is they plan to do this for the CrossfireX as well. There is still not much word about these platforms, but they will be a great saver on power, especially if you have 2-4 ATI cards for a crossfire/X solution. Now we just have to wait and see if AMD can execute this efficiently, they've done a great job on the new chipset and midrange graphics solution, but not so hot on the phenom.
Regarding nvidia, I won't lie, I dislike their chipset, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The thing that really sets me off from Nvidia, is this new chipset, isn't new. Their 750I/A is just a 650I/A chipset with PCI-E 2.0 support, it also runs dual cards in a 8x/8x setup. Their 780I/A is the same as the 680I/A, it just adds support for PCI-E 2.0, and a BR-04 bridge chip to allow tri-sli, running either dual at 16x/16x, or tri at 16x/8x/8x. All the issues that 680/650 had will still be there. For the amd based solution, their chipset isn't that bad, but there are quite a lot of people who stated negative remarks about the intel chipsets of 650i/680i.
P35, no need to explain, PCi-E 1.1...But are you really going to get a 9800 series? Which might not even break the barrier just yet.
Also, to note, at the end of 2008, Nehalem will be released with a brand new socket, any upgradability to new processors will go out the window when this happens. If you have a p35/x38/x48 board, penryn is the last upgrade. For AMD, we all know of the issues Barcelona has atm, when will it be solved? Who knows, even with a B3 stepping, they are having many issues with the SOI process and this native quad design on 65nm, the 2.6 phenom will be rated at 140 TDP...They are indeed hot chips in terms of power draw. The AMD platform in terms of chipset, and graphics cards, fit nicely into the market. But the Phenom is lacking, we also don't know how well these new AMD chipset boards will overclock, if we pop in a Athlon x2, will hit the cpu's limit before we hit the boards, so we'll have to wait and see how Phenom will mature with newer steppings.
Hopefully that helps a bit, choice is yours on which route you want to take.
What should you do? If you go intel, nab a p35, use your 3870, and just wait it out for nehalem to buy a new board and a nehalem quad. You can nab a Gigabyte P35-DS3R if you want raid for around 130 or so, or a Asus p5k for the same price. Or nab a Gigabyte p35-DS3l if you don't want raid for around 95. Or, you can nab a x38 or nvidia chipset for PCI-E 2.0, this would only be a concern if the 9800 series from nvidia breaks the PCI-E 1.1 barrier, if they don't it's really not needed, as nehalem will outdate the board before a card can even be released to break the barrier.
For AMD, there is no reason not to get a new chipset from them, it's damn nice. But, if you want to, wait for the 780G/790G (no idea on release dates, few rumors floating around for sometime 1h 2008). Then you can get some extra power saving features that will help.....But no one knows the exact dates.
The choice is yours, hopefully I've been of some help.
The p35 will follow the PCi-E 1.1 express interface. it is limited to the 2.5 Gbit/s transfer rate, meanwhile, x38, Amd's 790X/FX, and nvidia's 780I/A, all offer PCI-E 2.0 with the 5 Gbit/s transfer rate. No card can break the 2.5 Gbit/s transfer rate atm. So there is really no NEED for it. It's just a preparation procedure for when the limit is broken. We have no idea if Nvidia's new 9800 series, rumored for February, will break the barrier, some say no, some say maybe just barely. The choice lies in that factor. If you are gonna be using a current midrange like a 3870, or 8800 GT, no point in going PCI-E 2.0. X38 is indeed pricey, while the AMD/Nvidia solutions have expensive revisions and cheaper solutions as well under the PCI-E 2.0 interface.
Now, regarding the chipsets, AMD will be releasing a 780G/790G, which will be quite interesting. But this is farther down the road. What makes these solutions very nice is they plan to toggle between a integrated graphics solution, and a stand alone graphics card based on the computers current uses. Integrated on idle/desktop to save power, and video card for gaming and heavy tasks. What's really nice, is they plan to do this for the CrossfireX as well. There is still not much word about these platforms, but they will be a great saver on power, especially if you have 2-4 ATI cards for a crossfire/X solution. Now we just have to wait and see if AMD can execute this efficiently, they've done a great job on the new chipset and midrange graphics solution, but not so hot on the phenom.
Regarding nvidia, I won't lie, I dislike their chipset, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The thing that really sets me off from Nvidia, is this new chipset, isn't new. Their 750I/A is just a 650I/A chipset with PCI-E 2.0 support, it also runs dual cards in a 8x/8x setup. Their 780I/A is the same as the 680I/A, it just adds support for PCI-E 2.0, and a BR-04 bridge chip to allow tri-sli, running either dual at 16x/16x, or tri at 16x/8x/8x. All the issues that 680/650 had will still be there. For the amd based solution, their chipset isn't that bad, but there are quite a lot of people who stated negative remarks about the intel chipsets of 650i/680i.
P35, no need to explain, PCi-E 1.1...But are you really going to get a 9800 series? Which might not even break the barrier just yet.
Also, to note, at the end of 2008, Nehalem will be released with a brand new socket, any upgradability to new processors will go out the window when this happens. If you have a p35/x38/x48 board, penryn is the last upgrade. For AMD, we all know of the issues Barcelona has atm, when will it be solved? Who knows, even with a B3 stepping, they are having many issues with the SOI process and this native quad design on 65nm, the 2.6 phenom will be rated at 140 TDP...They are indeed hot chips in terms of power draw. The AMD platform in terms of chipset, and graphics cards, fit nicely into the market. But the Phenom is lacking, we also don't know how well these new AMD chipset boards will overclock, if we pop in a Athlon x2, will hit the cpu's limit before we hit the boards, so we'll have to wait and see how Phenom will mature with newer steppings.
Hopefully that helps a bit, choice is yours on which route you want to take.
What should you do? If you go intel, nab a p35, use your 3870, and just wait it out for nehalem to buy a new board and a nehalem quad. You can nab a Gigabyte P35-DS3R if you want raid for around 130 or so, or a Asus p5k for the same price. Or nab a Gigabyte p35-DS3l if you don't want raid for around 95. Or, you can nab a x38 or nvidia chipset for PCI-E 2.0, this would only be a concern if the 9800 series from nvidia breaks the PCI-E 1.1 barrier, if they don't it's really not needed, as nehalem will outdate the board before a card can even be released to break the barrier.
For AMD, there is no reason not to get a new chipset from them, it's damn nice. But, if you want to, wait for the 780G/790G (no idea on release dates, few rumors floating around for sometime 1h 2008). Then you can get some extra power saving features that will help.....But no one knows the exact dates.
The choice is yours, hopefully I've been of some help.
aevm
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- May 18, 2007
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This 790FX motherboard looks fantastic IMO, with support for 4 video cards and 16 GB of RAM. It just doesn't get any better than that when it comes to future-proofing. Also, I am unhappy about nVidia's video drivers right now. I got more blue screens in the last 3 months than in the previous 7 years - all about nv4_disp.dll.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128070
The problem with this motherboard is that you need an AMD CPU for it. They're not as fast as a Q6600, and don't overclock so well. But, TBH, my Q6600 has never been used more than 80%, and it's not even overclocked. I could have had a Phenom 9500 there without making any difference.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128070
The problem with this motherboard is that you need an AMD CPU for it. They're not as fast as a Q6600, and don't overclock so well. But, TBH, my Q6600 has never been used more than 80%, and it's not even overclocked. I could have had a Phenom 9500 there without making any difference.
Well Aevm the blue screens aren't really Nvidia's fault alone. You probably have a driver conflict or some defective hardware that is causing it. Could me many things, Sharing of IRQ with a PCI-E card your using, or just a driver conflict.
The new amd board is good, but if you're not using a 2-4 video card solution, that motherboard is simply ridiculous for the price. Chances are he'll only be using one card. So that's overkill, a 790X or 770 would suit him better if he decided to go AMD. But personally, I wouldn't go Barcelona, period, atm at least. Too many issues, and a q6600 suits my needs much more. But I'm waiting for the 2.66 quad yorkfield ^_^.
The new amd board is good, but if you're not using a 2-4 video card solution, that motherboard is simply ridiculous for the price. Chances are he'll only be using one card. So that's overkill, a 790X or 770 would suit him better if he decided to go AMD. But personally, I wouldn't go Barcelona, period, atm at least. Too many issues, and a q6600 suits my needs much more. But I'm waiting for the 2.66 quad yorkfield ^_^.
aevm
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- May 18, 2007
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True. On the other hand, I hear CrossfireX is supposed to work even with different cards. As in, two dual-slot cards and two single-slot cards. Maybe with all these die-shrinks going on, the OP could get cards #3 and #4 in 2009, something single slot and still faster than HD 3870.
Of course, this is all insane, having 4 video cards.
What kind of CPU would I need to keep up with that???
Of course, this is all insane, having 4 video cards.
What kind of CPU would I need to keep up with that???
chookman
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- Mar 23, 2007
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I tell you what the drivers are going to have to improve about 1000% on what they are now to be able to scale for 3 or 4 GPU;s, and to do it between 3 or 4 different models of cards in all games... the ATI drivers are going to take up 1gb of hard drive space.
- Sep 7, 2007
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hmm, i am choosing between AMD 780 : 3870 (atm) = dual slot x 16 pci e 2.0, since the 790 fx only channel 32 (16 x2 or 8 x4), does 3870 can be crossfired with 3870 X2?
or 38x + dual core + 3870, and yes you can reduce the image quality in ATT for better fps.
btw does 38x support 16 x 2 pci-e?
thanks for the help guys
or 38x + dual core + 3870, and yes you can reduce the image quality in ATT for better fps.
btw does 38x support 16 x 2 pci-e?
thanks for the help guys
You can crossfire on both x38 and a amd chipset. AMD isn't as greedy as Nvidia, they will allow you to crossfire on the intel chipsets. X38 does have dual 16x pci-e lanes while both slots are filled, p35 has it as well, but if they are both filled it will run in 16x/4x or 8x/8x. So x38 can run crossfire to it's full potential......Which ever platform you go, AMD or intel p35/x38...You can crossfire..Just make sure the board you pick up has dual 16x pci-e lanes.
So don't let the processor be a problem, if you go x38, you can crossfire to full potential, if you go with a new amd socket, you can crossfire to full potential. Personally, I would rather get a intel chipset. Considering how easy it is to overclock a q6600 to 3 ghz without even a voltage change....you get way more for your money.
So don't let the processor be a problem, if you go x38, you can crossfire to full potential, if you go with a new amd socket, you can crossfire to full potential. Personally, I would rather get a intel chipset. Considering how easy it is to overclock a q6600 to 3 ghz without even a voltage change....you get way more for your money.
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