X58 VS X48 VS X38 in gaming performance..?

C

CaptainSoble

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
282
What's the real deal here? I've been hearing that as far as gaming performance goes, the
X58 doesn't really have any advantages over the older X48/X38 motherboards. I'm thinking this might be true. Is it worth upgrading to the X58 as far as gaming performance goes?
 
The motherboards itself doesn't really have much to do with gaming performance, it's the overall quality, BIOS choices, overclocking etc.. that makes the difference between motherboards.

And of course the chipset got some differences, like different southbridges, different RAID / SATA controller, different handling of PCI-Express speeds, like X48 and X58 got more 16x PCI-Express2.0 slots than P35 and P45 and things like that.

The difference in gaming performance are often linked with your graphic and CPU solution and not the motherboards itself. The advantage of X58 over the other chipsets is the fact that it supports both Crossfire and SLi, X48 and P45 only supports Crossfire.
 
Well I only use the pc for games and video stuff, but mainly for games. Guess I'll just skip upgrading to the x58 for now. Going to get rid of the Q6600 for an E8500 though. Maybe the x68 will be worth the jump as far as gaming goes.
 
? Thought RamGuy made the point already..... Personally I wwouldn't careless about the chipset having an impact on gaming. Its the CPU and GPU you should be focusing on. Chipset can assist in OCing, but it doesn't play a role in gaming.
 
Well you can't really compare the 3 because the X48 and X38 use Core 2 processors and the X58 as a chipset doesn't do very much compared to the other two (The memory controller is on the CPU now) and uses Core i7 CPUs.
 
You can compare...just have a benchmark with a x48 with a Q6600 at 3.6ghz + a 4870x2 vs.
an X58 with a Core i7 at 3.6ghz...and a 4870x2...and see which set up has higher fps in games.
 
CaptainSoble said:
You can compare...just have a benchmark with a x48 with a Q6600 at 3.6ghz + a 4870x2 vs.
an X58 with a Core i7 at 3.6ghz...and a 4870x2...and see which set up has higher fps in games.
Click to expand...

Still a poor comparison. A Core i7 CPU is clock for clock faster than current C2D CPUs. So a Core i7 at 3.6Ghz will outperform at Q6600 at 3.6Ghz. So the results will be skewed in favor of the X58 chipset due to the faster CPU.

And RamGuy is right: the motherboard chipset is not that major of a factor in gaming performance. It's the other features that RamGuy mentioned that matters.
 
CaptainSoble said:
You can compare...just have a benchmark with a x48 with a Q6600 at 3.6ghz + a 4870x2 vs.
an X58 with a Core i7 at 3.6ghz...and a 4870x2...and see which set up has higher fps in games.
Click to expand...


Those benches are not based on chipset - its like comparing apples to bananas. You can't compare 2 different technology like that based on clockspeed. Its as if I'm comparing a 3Ghz P4 vs a 3Ghz C2D.
At the same time, I do doubt the i7 will have more fps.. Test benchmark shows that a C2D beats i7 in fps.
 
CaptainSoble said:
You can compare...just have a benchmark with a x48 with a Q6600 at 3.6ghz + a 4870x2 vs.
an X58 with a Core i7 at 3.6ghz...and a 4870x2...and see which set up has higher fps in games.
Click to expand...
While the many posts seem to disagree with you that it's two entirely different architectures, what they fail to recognize is you're asking about the GAMING performance. We all know that the Core i7's gaming isn't the end all be all. So what you're asking is what I'm trying to see. The GAMING PERFORMANCE!!! So far I'm not finding any comparisons of what you're seeking too. I don't care about the difference architecture's. I want to see their GAMING results.
 
The thing is, you're likely to be GPU limited on the Core i7 in games. To not be gpu limited, and see what the Core i7 can really do, you need a multi-gpu setup. Check out this guru3d review.

With Tri-SLI, the Core i7 CREAMS the C2Q and C2D also with Tri-SLI. So if you want the best performance, you could go Core i7 and SLI/CF or go single GPU now and buy another single GPU when faster GPUs are released, which should also be faster on Core i7. I got a Core i7 and gtx 260 SLI, and setup was painless and issue free, and the speed is great, so I highly recommend it.
 
devil22's got it. SLI/xfire - i7 shines over the core2. No sli and on a budget - core2 is fine.
 
I hear ya that the Core i7 jams in multi-GPU's, but so far we don't really have a good review of a Core i7 vs X48 with a 4870X2 card. The Guru3D's comparison is faulty as they are comparing a 3.2GHz Corei7 Extreme to a 3.0GHz e8400. It's one thing to compare a Core 2 Duo Quad 3.2GHz, but not a e8400. Once we get a comparable (clock 4 clock) Core 2 Duo (Quad) on an X48, then it'll be what the OP and I are seeking...
 
Many good comments but there are other things to consider. I just switched to an I7 with 280 SLI. I wanted to game in 25x16 on a 30" LCD so I had little choice. Screen resolution has to be taken into account too, not to mention what type of games you play and how much eye candy you want. Just my 2 cents.
 
3DChipset said:
I hear ya that the Core i7 jams in multi-GPU's, but so far we don't really have a good review of a Core i7 vs X48 with a 4870X2 card. The Guru3D's comparison is faulty as they are comparing a 3.2GHz Corei7 Extreme to a 3.0GHz e8400. It's one thing to compare a Core 2 Duo Quad 3.2GHz, but not a e8400. Once we get a comparable (clock 4 clock) Core 2 Duo (Quad) on an X48, then it'll be what the OP and I are seeking...
Click to expand...

Yah, I'm surprised review sites haven't picked up on this. Be nice to know if spending
an additional $1000 on an x58 vs. x48 rig is even worth it. I'm guessing that gaming
performance on a x48 vs. x58 is the same, which is what people have been reporting.
 
DWade said:
Yah, I'm surprised review sites haven't picked up on this. Be nice to know if spending
an additional $1000 on an x58 vs. x48 rig is even worth it. I'm guessing that gaming
performance on a x48 vs. x58 is the same, which is what people have been reporting.
Click to expand...
SingleGPU or not to powerfull multiGPU setups, yes no big difference.
Powerfull multiGPU setups as GTX280 SLI or perhaps even GTX260 SLI then yes you will see a difference just as guru 3d showed as they did test a QX9770 vs i7 in their tests.
No need to have 4870X2 to be able to do this test and get a accurat result.
 
DWade said:
Yah, I'm surprised review sites haven't picked up on this. Be nice to know if spending
an additional $1000 on an x58 vs. x48 rig is even worth it. I'm guessing that gaming
performance on a x48 vs. x58 is the same, which is what people have been reporting.
Click to expand...

The cost of the key components that change between a x48 and x58 build is closer to $200, at least it was for me, and that was a few weeks ago ? Unless of course you talk about the Extreme processors, then it's closer to $100 or will cost more for x48 if you use the 9770. To each their own.

As mentioned in the reply above, the Guru 3d article used the 9770 as well, and it didn't close the gap much between C2D and the i7. Depends on which resolution you run ?
 
devil22 said:
The thing is, you're likely to be GPU limited on the Core i7 in games. To not be gpu limited, and see what the Core i7 can really do, you need a multi-gpu setup. Check out this guru3d review.

With Tri-SLI, the Core i7 CREAMS the C2Q and C2D also with Tri-SLI. So if you want the best performance, you could go Core i7 and SLI/CF or go single GPU now and buy another single GPU when faster GPUs are released, which should also be faster on Core i7. I got a Core i7 and gtx 260 SLI, and setup was painless and issue free, and the speed is great, so I highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

Looks like once you get into the 2500x res range, the i7 doesn't matter so much anymore on a bunch of the benchmarks. btw, guru 3d has the WORST benchmark graphs ever.. very annoying.


edit:

I missed some of the other pages. Must say wow if you playing at 1080P or less. the i7 with multi gpu just kills.
 
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