Upgrading from P35 to X38/X48

R

rahavsmt

Gawd
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Jul 16, 2004
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I have got an offer from my friend to buy my motherboard at a good price and I would like to know if there is any benefit upgrading to X38/X48?

I have not yet look at any specific board if it makes any difference.
 
The only thing the x38 has over the p35 if I recall is PCI express 2.0 & 2 x16 lanes. Even though the 8800gt uses PCIe 2.0, I don't believe it makes a huge difference at this point, not until higher end graphics cards come along. Also heard that the p35's are better overclockers, yet the x38's work better with ddr3.

So it's a bit of a toss-up.
 
X38 also reads CPU temps properly.
The minimum ram multiplier on a X38 is x2 so bear that in mind if overclocking.
With an E8400, to hit 4GHz, you will need Ram that will run as DDR-2 900 minimum.
X48 isnt here yet.
 
If you're happy with your current mobo and aren't going to be running Crossfire, it's not worth it. For me, I saw a night and day difference with Crossfire in some apps vs. my P965 board, but I would really rather have not made the switch otherwise.

If it ain't broke, why fix it? X38 is really an incremental improvement in terms of features over the P35 in most respects. X48 is delayed.
 
If you really want to upgrade again before Nehalem, wait a few months for P45 with ICH10 with integrated 10Gbps ethernet and 802.11n.
 
NO, don't bother.

P35 is all you need until the next big "TICK" change. (Nehalem)
 
OK thanks for the swift reply. Looks like I won't be upgrading the motherboard and I'll put the money in the 9800GX2 fund. :D
 
Zinn said:
If you're happy with your current mobo and aren't going to be running Crossfire, it's not worth it. For me, I saw a night and day difference with Crossfire in some apps vs. my P965 board, but I would really rather have not made the switch otherwise.

If it ain't broke, why fix it? X38 is really an incremental improvement in terms of features over the P35 in most respects. X48 is delayed.
Click to expand...

I believe the X48 as well as the 790i is coming out this month?
 
X48 is scheduled for mid-march and the 790i SLI is scheduled for late march AFAIK. But as for the 790i, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing gets delayed. First 780i boards haven't been available until late january in germany - although they were advertized back in december.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade..... not worth it.
 
X48 is barely anything over the X38; it supports 1600Mhz FSB but motherboard manufactuers don't seem to have been shy about advertising 1600Mhz FSB support on X38 motherboards.

And the minimum DDR RAM multiplier is indeed x2 (if we're including the RAM's own doubling; it would be 1:1 FSB:DRAM) on X38, but isn't that also true on P35?
 
My X38 DS4 goes to around 2100MHz FSB (quad pumped 525MHz) so that bits certainly true.

I seem to remember on my last P35 build that there were ram settings below 2x (1x DDR).
pls correct me if wrong.
 
Nenu said:
X38 also reads CPU temps properly.
The minimum ram multiplier on a X38 is x2 so bear that in mind if overclocking.
With an E8400, to hit 4GHz, you will need Ram that will run as DDR-2 900 minimum.
X48 isnt here yet.
Click to expand...

I can't see how can that affect the OC
DDR2@900 means 450Mhz FSB
450 X 9 (the E8400multi) = 4050Mhz
which is how this is calculated regardless the RAM multiplier as far as I know
 
firas said:
I can't see how can that affect the OC
DDR2@900 means 450Mhz FSB
450 X 9 (the E8400multi) = 4050Mhz
which is how this is calculated regardless the RAM multiplier as far as I know
Click to expand...

I dont understand what you mean.
If your ram cant reach 900MHz, you wont get to a 4GHz overclock with an E8400 on an X38 mobo.
ie if your ram maxes at 850MHz, you can only reach 9x425 = 3.825GHz.
So if you want to reach 4GHz or higher, your ram must be able to at least do DDR-2 900 speeds.
 
Nenu said:
I dont understand what you mean.
If your ram cant reach 900MHz, you wont get to a 4GHz overclock with an E8400 on an X38 mobo.
ie if your ram maxes at 850MHz, you can only reach 9x425 = 3.825GHz.
So if you want to reach 4GHz or higher, your ram must be able to at least do DDR-2 900 speeds.
Click to expand...

I think he was confused by your ram divider comment tucked in the middle there - you're right in pointing out that the lowest multiplier is 1:1, so you can't underclock the RAM bus speed to get a higher CPU FSB speed as you used to be able to.
 
Yeah, the x2 setting in the BIOS refers to running DDR so is equivalent to 1:1 ram to FSB clock.
 
X38 can also do peer-to-peer writes, which the P35 is incapable of. It means that should you want to do bridgeless Crossfire (for whatever reason), P35 won't handle it.
 
Valnar said:
Huh? Where did you get that info? This might sway me towards an X38 over the P35.

Robert
Click to expand...
I dreaded saying that as shortly after I found that the cause of wrong temps wasnt down to the motherboard.
The first few reports I read of X38 and E8400 chips seemed to all report temps in the correct range, mine included.

Since then I have learnt that the "reported" temps and TjMax temp are actually 10C lower and the temps on the E8x00 chips are only guaranteed at TjMax.
ie you know when the chip is going to start throttling from heat (@ 95C) but dont really know the actual temp unless at TjMax.
Realtemp is the closest thing to correct but Coretemp is fine as long as you consider the above.
 
KenF said:
If you really want to upgrade again before Nehalem, wait a few months for P45 with ICH10 with integrated 10Gbps ethernet and 802.11n.
Click to expand...

Don't tease me like that. :(
 
Nenu said:
I dont understand what you mean.
If your ram cant reach 900MHz, you wont get to a 4GHz overclock with an E8400 on an X38 mobo.
ie if your ram maxes at 850MHz, you can only reach 9x425 = 3.825GHz.
So if you want to reach 4GHz or higher, your ram must be able to at least do DDR-2 900 speeds.
Click to expand...

unless, of course, you have a mainboard that supports ram speeds lower than fsb speeds, like a 790i. or for ddr2, 680i, 750i, 780i, etc.

and to the guy re p45 boards. we were told to expect ich10 on x38/48 also.

realtemp gives correct core temps.
 
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