Hey wait guys is it worth waiting for the x38 platform etc!?

Hendrix89

As some of you know I have been planning to upgrade my CPU (to Q6600), mobo (to Asus P5K - Dlx) and RAM (Crucial Ballistix 1066mhz). Just about what my budget allows If nothing stops me I will be ordering the CPU this Thursday when the G0's come in for a short period, and most likely the rest of the components the same time...

I keep hearing about the new 45nm chipsets and these new fancy upcoming x38 motherboards that support pci-e 2.0 and (only) DDR 3. Aparrently some support both ddr3 and 2...

Now I know the P35 motherboard I am planning to get does support 45nm technology so will accept Penryn and the like... but is this enough?? What about this pci2? What would I be missing out from??

Also I can imagine the new motherboards, seeing as they have ddr3, will be very expensive and will probably push over my budget anyway right? Right?

I don't mind if I have to eventually upgrade to x38 in say half a year but if things start taking advantage of ddr3 and pci2 very soon then I would certainly be blowing my top if I made this upgrade...

Enlighten please...

daveharnett

x38 mobos will start at €200-300 - so not worth it.
pci-e 2.0 will be useless for quite a while. Even the best graphics are using nowhere near the full bus speed of existing pci-e*16.
if you want to be able to use ddr3 when it becomes affordable, you might want to consider the gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R. won't overclock quite as much as the p5k, but pretty close, and a lot cheaper too.

awhir

daveharnett wrote:

x38 mobos will start at €200-300 - so not worth it.
pci-e 2.0 will be useless for quite a while. Even the best graphics are using nowhere near the full bus speed of existing pci-e*16.
if you want to be able to use ddr3 when it becomes affordable, you might want to consider the gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R. won't overclock quite as much as the p5k, but pretty close, and a lot cheaper too.

seconded go for what you got now

btw welcome to boards dave

daveharnett

awhir wrote:

btw welcome to boards dave

why, thank you!

Hendrix89

Yeah welcome dave. Thanks for the advice. 12 posts and you know your stuff. Look at me over 360 posts and i'm still a newb!! I need a kick in the arse!

And thanks awhir. Okay this is good for me actually cause I just wanna start messing with a new system now:D I have no desire for ddr3 cause it's just way to expensive anway.

I'll go for the upgrade then. Hoping to hit at least 3.4GHz on the Q6600 G0! From what I have read I believe I chose the perfect combinations of components for a high OC on this CPU. The P5K apparently suits Quads very well:)

christophicus

how did you make sure you got the G0 stepping?

Hendrix89

Well I emailed OcUK and they are getting the 95w(G0) versions in this Thursday so I am ready to pounce!

christophicus

O right I see, so all 95 watt versions are G0 steppings?

christophicus

O right I see, so all 95 watt versions are G0 steppings?

Hendrix89

Yeah.

Cassiel

was going to say you could save a few quid and get the ballistix 800mhz. It has SPD timings for 1066 according to CPU-Z and should overclock as much as the 1066 stuff - CustomPC test last month. In 6 months DDR3 will become mainstream but like DDR2 at the beginning, the performance advantage ins't be enough to make it a compelling reason to upgrade, at least not until the next gen Intel chips (after Penryn) or whatever AMD comes up with and then, either way, that means a complete upgrade mobo+cpu+mem.

uberpixie

Hendrix you do relise on your present rig, you will be able to play any game going on high detail @ 1280 x 1024?

Unless you are playing very high res on a 24" screen, leave the upgrade for another while.

My mate has a socket 939 X2 4200+, 2 gig of generic ram and a X1950XT and it will play bioshock demo smooth as silk @ 1280 x 1024 on high details.

His performance matches my Q6600, 4 gig of pc9200 ram and a 8800GTS 320mb, same details, same res......

(we didn't even bother to find out what frames we were getting, his rig was playing the demo as smooth as mine was)

Seriously, unless you game on a screen bigger than 19" or you do a lot of video encoding, you can easily stick to your present rig for the next year gaming on high detail!

Why so desperate to upgrade?

Hendrix89

uberpixie wrote:

Hendrix you do relise on your present rig, you will be able to play any game going on high detail @ 1280 x 1024?

Unless you are playing very high res on a 24" screen, leave the upgrade for another while.

My mate has a socket 939 X2 4200+, 2 gig of generic ram and a X1950XT and it will play bioshock demo smooth as silk @ 1280 x 1024 on high details.

His performance matches my Q6600, 4 gig of pc9200 ram and a 8800GTS 320mb, same details, same res......

(we didn't even bother to find out what frames we were getting, his rig was playing the demo as smooth as mine was)

Seriously, unless you game on a screen bigger than 19" or you do a lot of video encoding, you can easily stick to your present rig for the next year gaming on high detail!

Why so desperate to upgrade?

Why the urge to upgrade? Well I suppose I just want to fit in I guess...:o

Tbh I am just plain tired of my current system. I like the thrill of Overclocking something beyond what I have ever reached before with anything else. I also get a nice adrenalin rush when I have a new powerful system which I also like:D I have pushed my current system the furthest it can possibly go. It is still in mint working order though, but I just want to put it behind me and get with the times:)

Also about game performance. I know games will start utilising Quad cores in the very near future (eg. Crysis, Alan Wake) so I want to be sitting ready for them. I may also be selling off my current 19'' monitor (which is worth more than an average 19'') soon and going for a cheap 20/21'' so the new system would definately shine more then.

MOST OF ALL I JUST WANT TO START PLAYING AROUND WITH A NEW SYSTEM!

I have literaly just ordered the Q6600 G0 like a half hour ago actually so I won't be changing my mind now anyway:eek:

Thanks for the words of caution though.

nibble

Try and find the P5K Premium if you can, it's basically the fixed version of the Deluxe. Heat issues with the deluxe are sorted and there's some new power reg circuitry. It should be the same price but it's kind of hard to find at the moment:( .

Hendrix89

nibble wrote:

Try and find the P5K Premium if you can, it's basically the fixed version of the Deluxe. Heat issues with the deluxe are sorted and there's some new power reg circuitry. It should be the same price but it's kind of hard to find at the moment:( .

Oh well if it's and updated version of the deluxe then it sounds tasty. Would it overclock just as well as the dlx though? Thats very important.

daveharnett

I've heard of people having problems with the premium, particularly with vista. > http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=114926

nibble

Hendrix89 wrote:

Oh well if it's and updated version of the deluxe then it sounds tasty. Would it overclock just as well as the dlx though? Thats very important.

Well in theory a little better because of the improved power reg and lower heat.

daveharnett wrote:

I've heard of people having problems with the premium, particularly with vista. > http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=114926

Look and you will find problems with the Deluxe, vanilla and all the P5K's. Look and you will find problems with the Abit IP35's, the Gigabytes etc. Every board has its quirks. And I'm seeing people with vista 32 and 64 running fine on the board at XS and elsewhere. So user error, some bad combination of parts, or just individual faulty boards are probably to blame.

papu

the Abit IP35's

my ip35 has a double boot thingy were by it starts for a second and then restarts again ( new bios should fix it ) , the ip35 pro dosent have this problem though