nForce 780i or X38?

[Bidybag]

I want to get a new motherboard and a new intel processor but i dont know which motherboard i should get. I know that nForce 7 is coming out this month and the x38 is allready out. I will be using DDR2 ram and i allready have a graphics card. I am not bothered about the new 3 way SLI on the nforce7 because i will only be using one graphics card.

I just want the best motherboard out of these for gaming.

 

[nzxtlexa]

I would go with the 780i mainly because I prefer the nVidia chipsets. X38 is also a good board though. Are you planning on using nvidia or ati graphics?

You can ignore the 3 way sli stuff. I don't know why they are advertising so strongly about it when even the 680i was capable of 3 way sli. The first 3 way sli alienwares used the 680i.

If I was you I would decide by thinking about the graphics card I'm using. If you are planning on using ATI graphics then go for X38 but for nVidia graphics I would go with the 780i. Another reason for looking at it like this is that if you ever to decide to buy a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire then you are safe and you won't have any problems.

 

[jeremyrailton]

why either if you're only using one card and DDR2? are you planning to get a second card in the future or always sticking with one? if you're only going to have one card and DDR2, get a P35 and spend the extra money elsewhere

 

[chunkymonster]

After reading various reviews and between the two, I would get a mobo with the X38 chipset.

There are X38 mobos that take DDR2 like the aBit IX38 Quad GT, or the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6.

In my opinion, the best choice for a Skt775 mobo with an X38 chipset that takes DDR2 is the Asus P5E.

Either way, good luck!

 

[immagikman]

I would wait for the just announced 780a chipset...its better than the 780i.

You can read about it here

 

[hairycat101]

I would wait for the just announced 780a chipset...its better than the 780i.

You can read about it here

780a

not a as in apple but a as in AMD... Going to be a tough fit to get that 775 socket chip in there!

 

[Bidybag]

Does the nforce7 have any features the X38 does not have?

 

[nzxtlexa]

Yes it can take SLI

 

[immagikman]

Yep! Whate he said

 

[immagikman]

780a

not a as in apple but a as in AMD... Going to be a tough fit to get that 775 socket chip in there!

Naaa they have an intel based board lined up for it too.

 

[echofoxtrot]

and the x38 board takes crossfire (ati). I have always liked intel chipsets better as, for me, they have been more reliable/less buggy. Its all up to personal choice i say--they (780/x38) all have their ups and downs.

BTW, I own an asus maximus formula and that board overclocks like theres no tommorow.

 

[immagikman]

Ack!!! I may have been misinformed, Nvidia may be screwing the pooch here and not releasing the "Better" version of the 780 chipsets for Intel processors....well if I was a Fanboi I'd each sh*t and go with that, but perhaps I will have to make my next build an ATi video based product....What friggin morons....who is in charge of Nvidia's market strategy group? Geez just when I thought no one could screw up worse than AMD...Nvidia has to decide they want to be #1 in that arena as well

I will say that the 780i is a POS not worth anything to anyone but a complete slave Fanboi..... *sigh* another year of crap and it's just January.

 

[hairycat101]

Ack!!! I may have been misinformed, Nvidia may be screwing the pooch here and not releasing the "Better" version of the 780 chipsets for Intel processors....well if I was a Fanboi I'd each sh*t and go with that, but perhaps I will have to make my next build an ATi video based product....What friggin morons....who is in charge of Nvidia's market strategy group? Geez just when I thought no one could screw up worse than AMD...Nvidia has to decide they want to be #1 in that arena as well

I will say that the 780i is a POS not worth anything to anyone but a complete slave Fanboi..... *sigh* another year of crap and it's just January.

I fear you might be under the influence of hard drugs.

 

[bornking]

Intel and Nvidia will release what the market demands as long as it is within the scope of the companies abilities and makes them a profit and/or increases market share.

No need to eat sh*t or freak out immagikman...The new mobo's and 'better' chipsets will not make a huge difference anyway so why bother freaking out eh?

Mobo's have always been about the 'ability' to 'allow' awesome components to do their best with 'stability'. Without a kicka*s CPU and GPU your mobo will not make a heap of a difference other than features and stability.

Ciao and be happy!

 

[immagikman]

Ok let me put it more clearly. (Im substance free by the way)
Nvidia released the 780i chipset which is actually inferior to the x38/x48 chipsets. They had the chance to come out with a quality product and instead basically released a mediocre lack luster imitation of what Intel released (I really expected more from them). The 780a has the hallmarks of being as good as or superior to the x38/x48 sets...but now I find that Nvidia is not releasing the quality product in a platform that can be used with the leading CPU maker's product (like it or not, Intel is out in front of AMD by a good margin)

This to me CLEARLY indicates someone's head is up an orifice somewhere. You DO NOT exclude the dominant player from your quality product. Make no mistake 780i is a shadow of what it should have been and bears the hallmark of a rushed out the door product to the detriment of those who are left with limited options to use any of the SLi products.

I might be just a tad vexed with them as I have been waiting to sink a rather sizable summ of cash into a new system and was counting on Nvidia to give us (Intel CPU enthusiasts) a quality update over the aged 680i chipset... Bad move all the way round which does not serve them nor their potential customers well at all.

(Edit) I was going to put this very message in a polite email to Nvidia but I find that unless I just want to post to their forums there doesnt seem to be a decent direct way for a customer to make suggestions or comments on their website. Past experience tells me that actual marketing types who need to hear the public reaction generally don't spend time on forums.

 

[nzxtlexa]

Agreed ^^ Why can't we have any quality products???

 

[Onus]

No need to give birth to any cattle. The article says an Intel version will be released in the following quarter. I'm sure there is a good reason they were able to do an ATI version more quickly, but they did not leave out Intel.

 

[immagikman]

Still the halfhearted intel realease will just mean that people were given a lower quality product only to find out they had a sucky chipset that was replaced 6 months later with the set that should have been the lead product. When will company's learn that shipping crap for the sake fo being first to market is not the way to win customer loyalty.

Generating short term revenue at the expense of the trust of your customer base is not the way to go.

Need it be noted that I am a total Free Market Capitalist and do get irritated when companies make bone headed amateurish business descisions. One would expect better market savvy from such a prominent company.

 

[jeremyrailton]

going back to the point of the op's thread, my recommendation is buy a P35 if you're only using one GPU and DDR2. If, however, you plan on buying a second vid card or plan to move to DDR3, get the newer platforms.

 

[sailer]

Need it be noted that I am a total Free Market Capitalist and do get irritated when companies make bone headed amateurish business descisions. One would expect better market savvy from such a prominent company.

I think of myself as a free market capitalist as well, but I could care less if a company makes a bad decission. I simply buy a better product from a different company, or wait until a better product is made if that be the case. I figure that if a company makes a "bone headed amateurish business decission" and a poor quality product, then its their business, and if enough people don't buy it, but buy something from their competition, then they will learn their lesson. Either that, or their stock value will fall like AMD's.

 

[hairycat101]

Still the halfhearted intel realease will just mean that people were given a lower quality product only to find out they had a sucky chipset that was replaced 6 months later with the set that should have been the lead product. When will company's learn that shipping crap for the sake fo being first to market is not the way to win customer loyalty.

Generating short term revenue at the expense of the trust of your customer base is not the way to go.

Need it be noted that I am a total Free Market Capitalist and do get irritated when companies make bone headed amateurish business descisions. One would expect better market savvy from such a prominent company.

immagikman is clearly ticked off at NVIDIA for making the 780a superior (at least in his view). I would be willing to bet that there were some engineering reasons for this. There would not be any marketing reasons for this as most of the market (especially enthusiast market) is buying Intel chips. The on chip memory controller and the bandwidth that supplies probably has a lot to do with the differences. AMD and Intel use different technologies in their chips. The motherboard has to take into account these technologies.

edited to be more polite...

 

[sailer]

immagikman is clearly ticked off at NVIDIA for making the 780a superior (at least in his view). I would be willing to bet that there were some engineering reasons for this. There would not be any marketing reasons for this as most of the market (especially enthusiast market) is buying Intel chips.

I have a speculation about why the 780a might be better than the 780i. First, Nvidia has had a long association with AMD as the prime supplier of chipsets for AMD. This puts Nvidia into a unique position of probably understanding the AMD chips better than almost any other company. Of course, with AMD's aquisition of ATI, this relationship is strained, but its still there for the moment, along with a lot of licensing.

Second, Intel and Nvidia seem to be having problems. Nvidia refused to allow Intel to make its new boards as SLI compatible. I suppose Nvidia wanted to keep its SLI tech to itself, but it put Intel into a bad position, that of only being able to make motherboards with two graphics card capabilities that support its rivel, AMD/ATI. That must grate on Intel pretty bad. In response, Intel might be refusing to allow Nvidia to make the latest and greatest components for Intel's newest tech, so Nvidia's chipsets for Intel could be based on older tech and thus not be as good.

Again, in speculation only, I think Nvidia may be digging its own grave in regards to SLI. It is shutting itself off from Intel and eventually will find itslef shut out from AMD, as AMD's ATI division will develope new tech that Nvidia can't use. Its possible that Nvidia could find itself with no ability to produce new chipsets for either Intel or AMD, and the same for SLI. Then what? Nvidia reduced to making video cards only, thus loosing a large amount of its business? Again, this is only speculation and I could well be wrong.

 

[immagikman]

yeah, having an opinion makes me a junkie And being polite enough to have a discussion and answer the questions put to me makes me very unstable..... Id like to see your world some time...It must be a very interesting place.

 

[hairycat101]

Alright. That wasn't very nice of me to insult immagikman. I am sorry. I won't do that again. As for what Sailer said, Nvidia does have agreements with Intel to make chipsets that use Intel's tech. I think that any deficiencies in Nvidia's chipsets is due to deficiencies in Intels tech and Nvidia's lack of being able to optimise for it. Many people have complained that the 680i chipsets ran hot and had FSB limits that the comparable intel chipsets did not.

As for the other part with Nvidia digging their own SLI grave, I have to agree. They should have let Intel use SLI on thier chipsets. I would love to see a board that could use SLI or Crossfire. I probably would never buy two cards, but I would love to know that if I did, I wouldn't be limited to one company.

 

[immagikman]

And theres where I got irritated with Nvidia, been waiting almost a year to sink about 8k into a bleeding edge system and pretty much all I have been waiting for were the SSD's and the new Chipset....and now I have to wait a bit longer....I know patience is a virtue but I'm already 14 months into my wait.