P35 or X38?

[Matt]

From previous posts, I'm aware both of these chipsets support 1333MHz
FSB's and 45nm CPU's, two key bits of future-proofing.

So what features does the X38 chipset have over the P35?

So far I've got the following:

- Both PCI-Express slots on the X38 are 16x, whereas the second one on
the P35 is at 4x.
- The X38 supports PCI-Express 2.0 (but most GPU's today don't even
reach 1.0's bandwidth limit).
- The X38 "might" support 1600FSB CPU's in the future.
- The P35 has been around longer, so those boards will have a more
revised BIOS.

Have I missed anything?

Finally, having chosen a chipset, which manufacturer should I go for? :

- ASUS
- Gigabyte
- MSI

Kind Regards,

Matt

 

[John Weiss]

So far I've got the following:

- Both PCI-Express slots on the X38 are 16x, whereas the second one on the P35
is at 4x.
- The X38 supports PCI-Express 2.0 (but most GPU's today don't even reach
1.0's bandwidth limit).
- The X38 "might" support 1600FSB CPU's in the future.
- The P35 has been around longer, so those boards will have a more revised
BIOS.

.. . .

Finally, having chosen a chipset, which manufacturer should I go for? :

- ASUS
- Gigabyte
- MSI

Maybe it would be better to
Make a list of MUST HAVE features.
Make a list of "nice to have" features.
Search and find MoBos from all 3 mfgrs that meet those criteria.
Screen for price.
Come back here with a "short list."

 

[ElJerid]

. . .


Maybe it would be better to
Make a list of MUST HAVE features.
Make a list of "nice to have" features.
Search and find MoBos from all 3 mfgrs that meet those criteria.
Screen for price.
Come back here with a "short list."

And coming back with "must haves" and even "nice to haves", the choice will
be the P35, and the best P35 motherboard today is the Gigabyte P35-DQ6, with
the Asus P5K Deluxe (DDR2) or P5K3 Deluxe (DDR3) in second place, due to
higher power needs and higher temps.

 

[John Weiss]

And coming back with "must haves" and even "nice to haves", the choice will be
the P35, and the best P35 motherboard today is the Gigabyte P35-DQ6, with the
Asus P5K Deluxe (DDR2) or P5K3 Deluxe (DDR3) in second place, due to higher
power needs and higher temps.

What does the DQ6 have over the DS4?

 

[Andrew Smallshaw]

And coming back with "must haves" and even "nice to haves", the choice will
be the P35, and the best P35 motherboard today is the Gigabyte P35-DQ6, with
the Asus P5K Deluxe (DDR2) or P5K3 Deluxe (DDR3) in second place, due to
higher power needs and higher temps.

Are you honestly saying that your preferred board is the best option
in all circumstances regardless of the needs of the user, budgets
or any other factors? Indeed any advice such as this that is
simultaneously both overly general and overly prescriptive is
generally worth very little. This is without considering that that
board has disappeared from sale in mysterious circumstances,
prompting rumours of reliability concerns.

IMHO comparing the P35 and X38 is comparing apples and oranges
since they are effectively pitched at different markets. The P35
is effectively for economy boards at around £60 here in the UK
while the equivalent X38 board is around £100 more expensive. So
the first thing to consider is the nature of the system - is it a
budget workhorse machine or a high performance money-no-object
gaming system? Once that is decided the decision pretty much
follows from that.

For my money, I see no real reason to spend the money on X38. P35
may not be leading edge but it certainly isn't that far behind.
I wouldn't be tempted by the greater upgrade potential of X38 unless
you are sure that you will use it and know exactly when that will
be. If you leave it a couple of years before a processor upgrade,
you'll probably be able to replace a P35 board with another budget
board again around the £60 mark. That would likely be a board more
capable than an X38 and you've saved yourself £40 even though you've
had two boards instead of one.

As for specific recommendations, well I 've only seen a few boards
personally. Two that stick out are MSI's P35 Neo Combo boards and
Asus's P5E X38 boards. The MSI has support for both DDR2 & 3 which
is something of a mixed blessing in that it restricts the number
of DIMMS you can use but it does mean you have a good chance of
re-using memory from an existing computer while having the opportunity
to swap over to DDR3 at a later date (which is probably what your
next mobo after it will use). The Asus is a high end unit where
that kind of consideration doesn't enter into the equation to the
same extent.

 

[John Weiss]

IMHO comparing the P35 and X38 is comparing apples and oranges
since they are effectively pitched at different markets. The P35
is effectively for economy boards at around £60 here in the UK
while the equivalent X38 board is around £100 more expensive.

Why the price difference? Is it because the X38 is newer than the P35, or
because there is a real performance difference?

Looking at newegg.com, there is a $30 difference between the X38 and P35 MoBos
in Gigabyte's high-end series:

X38-DQ6 $290
P35-DQ6 $260
X38-DS4 $210
P35-DS4 $180

What are the market differences you perceive? Again, is it simply the "new
adopters," or is there a a real capability difference? To me, there are few
differences in those 2 pairs; the biggest ones are 2 real 16x PCIe slots and
future 1600 MHz FSB capability in the X38. A gamer contemplating SLI/Crossfire
may use the former, and an early adopter not on a budget may use the latter.

For my money, I see no real reason to spend the money on X38. P35
may not be leading edge but it certainly isn't that far behind.

Depends on the price difference in the comparative MoBos under consideration.
$30 may be reasonable, while £100 may not be...

 

[ElJerid]

What does the DQ6 have over the DS4?

You're right. I didn't look at the DS4 which has all of the features of the
DQ6, except 3: "only" 8-phase power design instead of 12-phase, "only" dual
bios support instead of 4, and no crazy cool back heatsink.
But the DS4 has one excellent feature: a much lower price.
As the additional DQ6 features are not really significant for a majority of
users, the DS4 will probably be a better buy.

 

[ElJerid]

Are you honestly saying that your preferred board is the best option
in all circumstances regardless of the needs of the user, budgets
or any other factors? Indeed any advice such as this that is
simultaneously both overly general and overly prescriptive is
generally worth very little. This is without considering that that
board has disappeared from sale in mysterious circumstances,
prompting rumours of reliability concerns.

You can easily make some deductions about target pricing and performance
from the proposed hardware in the original post. If the Gigabyte DQ6 becomes
difficult to find, it' s probably because a refocusing of Gigabyte
marketing, where the DS4 offers a better value (see other post).

IMHO comparing the P35 and X38 is comparing apples and oranges
since they are effectively pitched at different markets. The P35
is effectively for economy boards at around £60 here in the UK
while the equivalent X38 board is around £100 more expensive. So
the first thing to consider is the nature of the system - is it a
budget workhorse machine or a high performance money-no-object
gaming system? Once that is decided the decision pretty much
follows from that.

For my money, I see no real reason to spend the money on X38. P35
may not be leading edge but it certainly isn't that far behind.
I wouldn't be tempted by the greater upgrade potential of X38 unless
you are sure that you will use it and know exactly when that will
be. If you leave it a couple of years before a processor upgrade,
you'll probably be able to replace a P35 board with another budget
board again around the £60 mark. That would likely be a board more
capable than an X38 and you've saved yourself £40 even though you've
had two boards instead of one.

So, you agree with my conclusion?

As for specific recommendations, well I 've only seen a few boards
personally. Two that stick out are MSI's P35 Neo Combo boards and
Asus's P5E X38 boards. The MSI has support for both DDR2 & 3 which
is something of a mixed blessing in that it restricts the number
of DIMMS you can use but it does mean you have a good chance of
re-using memory from an existing computer while having the opportunity
to swap over to DDR3 at a later date (which is probably what your
next mobo after it will use). The Asus is a high end unit where
that kind of consideration doesn't enter into the equation to the
same extent.

The MSI is indeed an excellent all-purpose board, but is missing advanced
cooling (and oc possibilities, if interested). But I've doubts that one day,
a user will upgrade from DD2 to DDR3, keeping the same motherboard, as the
performance benefit will probably only be visible in benchmarks!
The Asus has been my preferred board up to now, but for the P35 chipset, it'
s outperformed by the Gigabytes (less power requirements, higher oc'
ability).

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Matt" typed:

From previous posts, I'm aware both of these chipsets support 1333MHz
FSB's and 45nm CPU's, two key bits of future-proofing.

So what features does the X38 chipset have over the P35?

So far I've got the following:

- Both PCI-Express slots on the X38 are 16x, whereas the second one on
the P35 is at 4x.
- The X38 supports PCI-Express 2.0 (but most GPU's today don't even
reach 1.0's bandwidth limit).
- The X38 "might" support 1600FSB CPU's in the future.
- The P35 has been around longer, so those boards will have a more
revised BIOS.

Have I missed anything?

Finally, having chosen a chipset, which manufacturer should I go for?
:
- ASUS
- Gigabyte
- MSI

Kind Regards,

Matt

ASUS P35. The P5K range from the P5K-E and above are excellent. (Don't get
the vanilla P5K, it doesn't have the 8-phase VRM of the more expensive
boards, hence is less stable when pushed.)

 

[Andrew Smallshaw]

Why the price difference? Is it because the X38 is newer than the P35, or
because there is a real performance difference?

As anything in computing, it is a mixture of technical costs (ie
the cost of production) and of what the market will bear. I suspect
principally the latter. Sure, X38 is newer and slightly more
capable but I would guess that it is a common case of the early
adopters being bled dry in their relentless pursuit of the latest,
fastest and greatest and to hell with the cost... there isn't
really that much to choose between them from a technical standpoint
after all, and probably even less in pactice to most users.

Looking at newegg.com, there is a $30 difference between the X38 and P35 MoBos
in Gigabyte's high-end series:

X38-DQ6 $290
P35-DQ6 $260
X38-DS4 $210
P35-DS4 $180

Very good point, and the price differnce on those boards is about
the same here. I based my statement on Asus boards from my usual
supplier, didn't look much further than that. Asus don't seem to
be doing low end X38 boards at the moment, at least not from them.

 

[Andrew Smallshaw]

You can easily make some deductions about target pricing and performance
from the proposed hardware in the original post. If the Gigabyte DQ6 becomes
difficult to find, it' s probably because a refocusing of Gigabyte
marketing, where the DS4 offers a better value (see other post).

Of course, products go off the market all the time. However, this
one has caused a few raised eyebrows, not least because it was
still a best seller and not exactly at the bottom end of the market.
There's nothing concrete I've heard but I've heard several commentators
mumbling about it and the reasons for it.

So, you agree with my conclusion?

IMHO you didn't make a conclusion. I pointed out what I would buy
but I don't consider myself a high performance chap. I tend to
prefer value and (most importantly) reliability over sheer performance.
This is why I don't overclock. If you want the highest perfomance
possible then the equation is obviously different. Me, I'm happy
to let someone suffer the teething troubles that arise with the
latest technologies. In the end it depends upon the task in hand
and so generalised recommendations are pretty much pointless.

The MSI is indeed an excellent all-purpose board, but is missing advanced
cooling (and oc possibilities, if interested). But I've doubts that one day,
a user will upgrade from DD2 to DDR3, keeping the same motherboard, as the
performance benefit will probably only be visible in benchmarks!
The Asus has been my preferred board up to now, but for the P35 chipset, it'
s outperformed by the Gigabytes (less power requirements, higher oc'
ability).

The MSI certainly isn't high end. That's the whole point. I have
a range of known, trusted components that span the price/perfomance
range and can recommend a particular board for the task in hand.
Pretty much any machine nowadays has all the performance needed
for the average business user: it is the entertainment and gaming
sector that drives the market. When was the last time you saw a
business system with 5.1 audio for instance? If all a machine is
going to do all day is run Microsoft Office and some vertical market
app than any money spent over the minimum consistent with the
required quality and reliability is money wasted.

I actually do consider the dual memory standard support useful,
particularly for upgrades (it's slightly but not entirely different
for new systems). It allows the existing memory to be reused.
When the time comes to upgrade that memory in favour of higher
capacity (not simply swapping technology) the switch can be made
then so that the memory can be used in the next system.

 

[johns]

I recently built 7 of the X-38s. Holy freaking CAT !!!

johns