E8400 + What mobo?

[Squirrely]

I might finally switch to Intel, and get a E8400. It seems the Quads do not perform well against the E8400 (Well from Tom's charts, or I may be reading the results wrong, lol). If the Quad would be better, then may switch, but I am still leaning towards the C2D. I would rather stick to 45nm as well, to keep power consumption down. (And keep the power consumption in a comfortable range with my PSU, which a Quad may be too much for it )

So, what would a good mobo be for a E8400? I would like to stick to DDR2 ram, for I can use the RAM I have currently. But, I am not sure what type mobo to get. Should I get a 650i/750i, or a P35/P45 chipset based mobo? Are there a noticeable performance difference between the two (or 4) chipsets? I will probably never be using SLI, so support for that is not too needed.

Which type mobo's (and chipsets) have good overclocking potential? I love to tinker, so a board with good OC'ing potential would be great.

I would personally like to stick to Asus, as I have always liked their mobo's and have had no problems. But, if another company makes a better/cheaper mobo, would be glad to buy that one if it is the best deal.

Also, would my Zalman 9500 be able to cool it well, or should I get another cooler, such as a Xigmatex Rifle 92mm or 120mm?

Thanks.

 

[CDdude55]

Well the difference between the chipest its the the 650i and 750i are nvidia chipsets. The others you mentioned are ATi chipsets. So the P35 and P45 supprort crossfire and all nvidia chipsets only support SLi.

I would recommend a Asus P5Q Pro(P45). Has two slots for Crossfire. And support for E8400.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299

I have been told it has good OCing features and is very easy to OC in BIOS.

Your old cooler should be fine and i dont think there is a need to get a new one. But if you feel like you really need to then go ahead and get it. But i saw a review stating that it kept his QX6700 very cool.

 

[3xploit]

if you don't need sli, don't get an sli mobo. I'd go with any p45 because they overclock very well.

 

[Squirrely]

Ah ok, thanks.

But is there a large performance/ocing gap between the Intel and Nvidia Chipsets?

 

[Fitseries3]

asus P5Q dlx. p45 FTW!

 

[Squirrely]

Hmm, would a p35 be very similar in performance? Or should I just bite the bullet and pay extra for the p45?

 

[Fitseries3]

P45 is better by far.

 

[Squirrely]

What would be a good mobo? Here is a comparison of 4:

MSI vs Asus Mobo's (Newegg)

Not sure, as they seem fairly similar, except one is made my MSI and the other by ASUS (except the 2 PCI-Express slots on the two higher priced boards)

 

[Fitseries3]

asus for sure. any one of the ones you chose.

 

[Squirrely]

Still torn between the Asus and MSI. I have had one MSI board in the past and have had no problems as well (well except the NB fan going out, but just replaced that no problem)

The MSI is cheaper which is nice, but I just like Asus more.

 

[CDdude55]

I would say go Asus. MSI is a good company tho. But asus is normally reliable and highend.

 

[B1gg3stN00b]

I'd look for an MSI or Gigabyte, I've had my fair share of trouble with my last couple of ASUS boards.

Also, my brother has an awesome EVGA board, check them out.

 

[CDdude55]

I'd look for an MSI or Gigabyte, I've had my fair share of trouble with my last couple of ASUS boards.

Also, my brother has an awesome EVGA board, check them out.

Ya, i have a Evga 680i and it has been running well for a long time now.

 

[Darknova]

Don't go MSI. The boards themselves are good, but customer support is lousy. Their "Live Update" service has a high risk of bricking boards (it did with P35 boards, might have changed, but why take the chance?), and with each succesive BIOS update they get more stable, but lose quite a lot of OC headroom.

MSI are great for a board you want to run stock, but not for anything more.

 

[Squirrely]

I think I have decided to stick with an Asus.

I have two options, I can get the plain P5Q, or get the P5Q Pro.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299

I will not be using CF any time soon (or probably never), so no real need for that, as I do not game much. I am moving to an faster Intel setup, as my current 5000+ BE can not keep up with it decoding tv to watch, and do other things at the same time.

Would there be any major difference between the two (OC/performance wise)? I don't suspect so, as they are based off the same chips. But the weird thing is the VRM's (or is that what they are?) above the processor do not have heatsinks, so kinda concerned, as I will not be using a heatsink which blows down to push air across them (will be using a Zalman 9500)

Also not sure if its worth it, but if it is much (better be a lot for the extra cash) better, I may pick up a Q9300 instead of a E8400. Would it be worth it, or no? (Probably would have to get a better cooler as well, and could my PSU handle it well?)

Thanks again.

 

[SirKeldon]

Get the P5Q Deluxe if you can afford it ... less troubles when clocking due to more BIOS options and better cooling just for a few extra bucks ... but if you finally get the Pro, you won't regret neither. The only issue maybe it's the memory, i had 2x1GB XMS2-6400C4DHX (4-4-4-12 800Mhz 2.1V) and they were refusing to clock higher than 1000, i could bench with 1000 4-4-4-12 but wasn't booting at 1020 5-5-5-15 ... so i purchased some Dominator's (with Micron IC's).

My mosfet's are always cool, even when system is on load ... not needing the heatsink at all atm, put it JUST if you pair it with a back-plate, if not ... the pression won't be enough and the cooling won't be that effective, IMO.

Talking about the CPU, definitely not, don't get a Q9300 ... the E8400 good clocked will outperform the 9300, if you want to pick a quad, 9450 or higher and in that case, i'll even recommend you to pick E8500, specially now they sleashed the prices ... so get an E8500 if fits on your budget or an E8400 if not (specially Q807A and Q814A batches for E8*00, golden chips with high clocks/low voltage)

 

[Squirrely]

Get the P5Q Deluxe if you can afford it ... less troubles when clocking due to more BIOS options and better cooling just for a few extra bucks ... but if you finally get the Pro, you won't regret neither. The only issue maybe it's the memory, i had 2x1GB XMS2-6400C4DHX (4-4-4-12 800Mhz 2.1V) and they were refusing to clock higher than 1000, i could bench with 1000 4-4-4-12 but wasn't booting at 1020 5-5-5-15 ... so i purchased some Dominator's (with Micron IC's).

My mosfet's are always cool, even when system is on load ... not needing the heatsink at all atm, put it JUST if you pair it with a back-plate, if not ... the pression won't be enough and the cooling won't be that effective, IMO.

Talking about the CPU, definitely not, don't get a Q9300 ... the E8400 good clocked will outperform the 9300, if you want to pick a quad, 9450 or higher and in that case, i'll even recommend you to pick E8500, specially now they sleashed the prices ... so get an E8500 if fits on your budget or an E8400 if not (specially Q807A and Q814A batches for E8*00, golden chips with high clocks/low voltage)

Hmm, ok. But, is there a difference between 8 phase and 16 phase power? Is it just the quality of the electricity (ie very steady) or is something more complex? Don't really understand the difference between the two, as the extra $60 bucks just seems to be for that, and a bit better cooling (Well compared from the P5Q-E it just has an extra heatpipe and 16 phase cooling for $50 more, lol)! (And an extra PCI-E slot, but I will probably never use it, so its not too useful)

Thanks for clarifying, I was still leaning toward the E8400, but thanks for the clarification.

Also, how would I tell what batch they are from? As I asked Newegg about a certain harddrive batch (Trying to get the B3 one platter revision of my harddrive) and they said they could not tell me. But went for it and got it (and boy is it quiet!)

Thanks.

 

[Fitseries3]

get the best damn P45 you can get(asus p5q dlx or p5q3 dlx) and a e8500. you wont be dissappointed and you'll have one of the best setups for at least a month... until nehalem comes out.

 

[Squirrely]

But doesn't Nehalem mainstream chips come in Q2-Q3 2009? Are the high-end chips being planned to release in Q4 this year? (If so, probably too expensive for me)

 

[Fitseries3]

starting at $229 in September.

 

[Squirrely]

Ooh, where did you read this? (Or is it in the News forum and I didn't see it, lol)

 

[Fitseries3]

news on several sites. and im a licensed intel reseller.

 

[Squirrely]

Hmm, not sure to wait it out, or just buy it anyway.

If I wait, new stuff comes out all the time, so I'll be waiting forever.

 

[Squirrely]

Hmm..but the deciding factor for the P5Q Pro vs P5Q Deluxe is the 8 or 16 phase power. I was reading it doesn't matter much for Dual Cores, but may be helpful for more stability with Quads. Is this true?

 

[CDdude55]

news on several sites. and im a licensed intel reseller.

When do the Bloomfields come out and at what price?