Nvidia or Intel mobo?

Retsam

Retsam

2[H]4U
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Sep 2, 2005
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Im having issues on deciding which mobo to get. First I was gonna go with the Gigabyte DS3, but ive somewhat ruled that out from all the problems ive been reading.


Anyways, Im considering one of these two. The Asus P5N-E SLI or P5B-E. One is nvidia and other is intel based. Does anyone have any info on which is "better?" Is either more stable or overclock easier than the other. Which is more popular? Thanks.
 
Rule of thumb has always been that intel has been the most stable with intel chipsets..nvidia has worked well with amd but if your unsure and want a sure fire solution then go with the intel chipset. The 965 has been a great chipset with the c2d cpu's..The 650i looks to be a winner to but I think id go with the 965 intel chipset..It runs cooler and o/clocks well...
 
My vote is to stick with an Intel chipset unless you really see SLI in your future. The DS3 is as good as any other board out there. I had a revision 1 board and it ran without any problems for me for the few months I ran it (and still runs fine in my brother's computer).

The P5B-E is the board I'd get out of those two choices though.
 
Alright thanks. Thats sorta what I was thinking. Its hard to decide heh.

What makes it harder is, the nvidia chipset board has some more features than the intel based. It is also $20 cheaper.


In terms of the DS3. That is actually the board I wanted to get initially, but I keep reading people having problems. Also seems as the newer rev 3.3 of it doesnt overclock that well as the older reversions.
 
Retsam said:
Alright thanks. Thats sorta what I was thinking. Its hard to decide heh.

What makes it harder is, the nvidia chipset board has some more features than the intel based. It is also $20 cheaper.


In terms of the DS3. That is actually the board I wanted to get initially, but I keep reading people having problems. Also seems as the newer rev 3.3 of it doesnt overclock that well as the older reversions.
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The P5B-E is also a good board. I haven't paid much attention to the rev. 3.3 OCing debate. I guess if the $20 is a big deal, I'd go with the P5N-E SLI, but all things being equal, I'd get the Intel chipset board first.
 
It all depends on what you intend to do so the decision is yours to make.... stabi;ity wise, both chipset are stable in general, even the DS3, you hear alot of people having problems with them because its a popular board alot more people use it...... This is what I know so I hope it helps....

P965..... can achieve higher fsb but limited in terms of ram overclocking... if youre going to overclock an E6300, this is your chipset....

680i.... great for overclocking your rams because you can run it unlinked but max fsb is lower than P965 in general.... Pretty much a must if your thinking of SLI....

In terms of what is easier to overclock, the P965 is probably easier.... I think not one chipset can give you a higher clock then the other...... so like I said, it depends on your needs......
 
Hmm.. I'm interested in this information as well. I'm stuck between the:

MSI 975X Platinum Rev 2.1 (Intel 975X Chipset)

or...

MSI P6N SLI Platinum (Nvidia 650i Chipset)

I can't figure out which board to go with, since both are priced the same (newegg brought the price back up :(, otherwise it'd be an easy choice with the P6N).
 
StealthyFish said:
Hmm.. I'm interested in this information as well. I'm stuck between the:

MSI 975X Platinum Rev 2.1 (Intel 975X Chipset)

or...

MSI P6N SLI Platinum (Nvidia 650i Chipset)

I can't figure out which board to go with, since both are priced the same (newegg brought the price back up :(, otherwise it'd be an easy choice with the P6N).
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd go with the 975X board, but that's just because of a preference for Intel chipsets. I'd imagine that either one is good, the Nvidia might even OC a little further.
 
luihed said:
In terms of what is easier to overclock, the P965 is probably easier.... I think not one chipset can give you a higher clock then the other...... so like I said, it depends on your needs......
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I disagree. The 965 chipset has been demonstrated to hit over 500mhz+ in the right boards. You'll never get a 975X up that high (well, I shouldn't say "never," but very, very infrequently). The 650i seems to average out around 450mhz or so. Assuming you have a very good CPU with a lower multiplier, you're going to get a better overclock out of a 965 board. The higher the multiplier you get, the less the FSB is a factor. I would say with a E6400/E4300 or higher multiplier a 650i or 975X can be used, but if I wanted to max out an E6300, I'd definitely get a 965.
 
I wasnt aware that the 650i can only go that far.... in that case yes you are right.... I should have included the 6400 with the E6300 that needs a 965 chipset..... I know the 975 cant go that high but when I said the above statement I was only refering to 965/650 as the 975 wasnt mentioned in the OP question.......

Why the hell do people buy 650i then? People that can SLI can afford 680i wouldnt you think?
 
I have the ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus It's been good so far. It's a 650i, althought I haven't tried to take the fsb beyond 400. Actually it's a a hybrid chipset- nforce 650l SLI Northbridge and a nforce 570 SLI.

I went with it because the 650i seemed alittle more stable than the 680i at the time, and with the hybrid chipset it has Dual pci-e X16 SLI and one 8x pcie so I can go sli doen the road.


A few friends have 965 intel chipset boards I know they can overclock the hell out of them
 
I was lookin at that commando as well. Doesnt seem all that much different from the P5B-E
 
kirbyrj said:
Personally, I'd go with the 975X board, but that's just because of a preference for Intel chipsets. I'd imagine that either one is good, the Nvidia might even OC a little further.
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That's what I'm thinking too. But it's just that the chance that Nvidia chipset board will overclock better just has me perplexed and confused as to which motherboard I should go buy. =s. The price being the same doesn't help at all either. =( I'd also kind of be a guinea pig for the 650i, atleast among my friends. My friend's got an MSI 975X board (in fact, he's on this forum as Cupholder2.0 and he seems to have gotten better clocks than a lot of people out there on that MSI 975, around 474FSB w/ an E6400).

kirbyrj said:
I disagree. The 965 chipset has been demonstrated to hit over 500mhz+ in the right boards. You'll never get a 975X up that high (well, I shouldn't say "never," but very, very infrequently). The 650i seems to average out around 450mhz or so. Assuming you have a very good CPU with a lower multiplier, you're going to get a better overclock out of a 965 board. The higher the multiplier you get, the less the FSB is a factor. I would say with a E6400/E4300 or higher multiplier a 650i or 975X can be used, but if I wanted to max out an E6300, I'd definitely get a 965.
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Actually, Cooleraler got the 650i to 515mhz as well. 965 still has higher clocks FSBs, but that's where you start having to really be good at overclocking and have a feel for your board. Plus, once you get into those ranges of FSBs, your worst part will hold you back. If your RAM won't go far, it's pointless to have a board that will hit those FSBs.
 
It seems the right motherboard is the one that you dont have lol...... I have a commando and Im not that happy with it and want a Striker...... My commando has no working 4:5 divider so im stuck at 1:1, .... it takes a crapload of work to run 500fsb at 1066 strap, I had my nb to 1.95v to get it stable.... Im still having problems with my crucial not booting at 1.8v.... Grass is always greener on the other side ...... and dammit, I need that 10x multi lol.....
 
luihed said:
It seems the right motherboard is the one that you dont have lol...... I have a commando and Im not that happy with it and want a Striker...... My commando has no working 4:5 divider so im stuck at 1:1, .... it takes a crapload of work to run 500fsb at 1066 strap, I had my nb to 1.95v to get it stable.... Im still having problems with my crucial not booting at 1.8v.... Grass is always greener on the other side ...... and dammit, I need that 10x multi lol.....
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Hmm... why would you want to boot your ram at 1.8V? I don't run anything below 2.0V, lol. I learned from my Asus P5LD2 to never ever ever buy another Asus board again. The quality is just shit. i can't stand this motherboard. I'm hoping this next board will keep me satisified for a long time, lol.
 
Some peeps have issues with boards booting into wrong voltages. Like starting up at 1.8volts before you can get into bios. If the mem cant do 1.8volts, you cant boot up. :p
 
Retsam said:
Some peeps have issues with boards booting into wrong voltages. Like starting up at 1.8volts before you can get into bios. If the mem cant do 1.8volts, you cant boot up. :p
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Ah. Most boards underclock the sticks when you boot, but you never know. lol.
 
StealthyFish said:
Ah. Most boards underclock the sticks when you boot, but you never know. lol.
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I've found that most memory comes with very loose By SPD timings. If you want them to run at the proper 4-4-4 or whatever, you have to up the voltage in bios and set them manually. 1.8V is the JEDEC standard. Technically, if the board/RAM causes a no boot situation, it's because the memory is out of spec.
 
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