What Chipset?

J

Johnboat

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Oct 20, 2005
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I'm looking at getting a new motherboard. I've owned a Athlon 64 for the past few years so I'm out of the loop with Intel. I'm getting a Core 2 Duo, the question is, what is the better chipset, the Intel P35, or the Nvidia Nforce 650i? I'm not looking for high end stuff here, just looking for a nice upgrade.

Thx
 
p35 if you dont plan on dual cards, x38 if you plan on going crossfire. Nvidia chipsets are the suck.
 
Interesting. I have a Nforce for my current Athlon 64 and I love it. I'm only planning one card, 8800GT.
 
Johnboat said:
Interesting. I have a Nforce for my current Athlon 64 and I love it. I'm only planning one card, 8800GT.
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The nForce 4 was the ultimate chipset for the 939 platform, IMO it was the best chipset to date.

If you are just planning on getting the one card go with a P35 board.
 
Thanks, will do. How about mobo brands? I typically buy Asus, but in order to save money I'm willing to go with Gigabyte or Abit, any suggestions?
 
Abit, Gigabyte, foxconn Mars. I like my Abit IP35-Pro.... lots of control but can be a little buggy at times.
 
P35 and X38 are the most stable chipsets. X38 is only worth buying if you want Crossfire in full dual 16x config. P35 can do Crossfire in a 16x + 4x config, which limits performance. P35 and X38 boards OC the best. P35 runs much cooler than nForce600i series. There are numerous issues with the nForce boards, but most of them have been fixed already except for quadcore OC'ing.

What features do you need in a motherboard?

If you don't need Crossfire/SLI, stick with a P35 board. If you don't need anything fancy, the Abit IP35-E and Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (if you need legacy ports) are your good-but-cheap options (they can OC great w/ better chipset cooling). If you need RAID, the GA-P35-DS3R is good. If you need Firewire, the Asus P5K fits the bill. If you want/need both RAID and Firewire, check out the Abit IP35 non-pro, if you can find it in stock (typically $120 - $25MIR). The higher end boards are the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P, DS4, Asus P5K-E, and the crowd favorite, Abit IP35 Pro.
 
enginurd said:
P35 and X38 are the most stable chipsets. X38 is only worth buying if you want Crossfire in full dual 16x config. P35 can do Crossfire in a 16x + 4x config, which limits performance. P35 and X38 boards OC the best. P35 runs much cooler than nForce600i series. There are numerous issues with the nForce boards, but most of them have been fixed already except for quadcore OC'ing.

What features do you need in a motherboard?

If you don't need Crossfire/SLI, stick with a P35 board. If you don't need anything fancy, the Abit IP35-E and Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (if you need legacy ports) are your good-but-cheap options (they can OC great w/ better chipset cooling). If you need RAID, the GA-P35-DS3R is good. If you need Firewire, the Asus P5K fits the bill. If you want/need both RAID and Firewire, check out the Abit IP35 non-pro, if you can find it in stock (typically $120 - $25MIR). The higher end boards are the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P, DS4, Asus P5K-E, and the crowd favorite, Abit IP35 Pro.
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Pretty much summoned it up.
 
Johnboat said:
Hey Copyright, I was looking at the Abit IP35-E, You have the Pro and you say it's buggy? Why is that?
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I helped a friend setup a IP35 Pro, well the computer hung on something so he pulled the plug. The bios settings got messed up and I had to come over and clear the cmos. Also one of his printers causes it to boot slow but the printer is messed up so I don't know if its the printer or mobo.
 
If his printer is paralell then i doubt it is the printer.
 
ring.of.steel said:
If his printer is paralell then i doubt it is the printer.
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Usb, it really is a piece of crap printer, the power button doesn't turn it off, only on. Unplug the printer and the pc boots fine, plug it back in and it will hang on the post screen for 2 min then finally start to load vista.
 
Hmm, I just got a brand new printer. I'm sure it'll be fine. That Abit IP35-E, looks like a nice board, not many extras at all but I don't need the extras.
 
munkle said:
Usb, it really is a piece of crap printer, the power button doesn't turn it off, only on. Unplug the printer and the pc boots fine, plug it back in and it will hang on the post screen for 2 min then finally start to load vista.
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It must be the printer then ;)
 
Ive spent some time in the abit forums so I know there are a few having this issue. The fans are controled by the uguru chip and sometimes they get hung wide open. Its not a huge deal and mine hasnt done it in a long time. I found if you turn the psu switch off for about 30 seconds then flip it back on it will be reset. I have seen this become more common when trying to run the fans super slow. This is only an issue with the IP35-PRO and not hte IP35 or IP35-E that dont have uguru. The IP35 and IP35-E have the dual boot issue but that has been fixed with a bios update. Dont be afraid to get any of these boards. I would look into the new Foxconn motherboards also as they are nothing like thier older cheaper boards.
 
munkle said:
Usb, it really is a piece of crap printer, the power button doesn't turn it off, only on. Unplug the printer and the pc boots fine, plug it back in and it will hang on the post screen for 2 min then finally start to load vista.
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I had a printer that would make about any system hang at the load screen in XP... very annoying!
 
Johnboat said:
Hmm, I just got a brand new printer. I'm sure it'll be fine. That Abit IP35-E, looks like a nice board, not many extras at all but I don't need the extras.
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The DS3L is a good alternative if you can't find the IP35-E in stock.
 
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