Gigabyte P35-DQ6 or eVGA 680i A1

[Capper]

Please keep threads on topic, and start a new thread for your memory questions......

To answer the question, it depends on whether you have the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Vista, or any other OS, as all 32 bit OSes have a 4GB memory addressing limit, which includes all components that need a memory address.....which means that a 32 bit OS with 4GB installed usually will only show between 2.7 and 3.5 GB of available memory....the rest is wasted. If you have a 64 bit OS, 4Gb or more of memory is better, as all the memory can be used.

[herr_kingkong]

soo your advice for am ( gamer+media ) 2gb or 4gb for vista 32 or 64

680i or p35 please help i will order it today

[simple_inhibition]

i say go with the evga 680i board. your cpu will max out on its speed before your motherboard will. if you were going with something like an E6550 or E6320 then i would say the P35 board

[Quakindude]

King_Kong, are you going to overclock?

If you are going to overclock, how involved are you going to be? Slightly, enthusiast level or insane?

Is Raid 0 the only type array you want to use?

Do you want SLI or not?

Do you want DDR3 compatibility?

I guess you need to start a new thread if you want to figure out how the OS and ram choices will affect this mobo purchasing decision.

[herr_kingkong]

1. Yes I want to OC my Q6600 to 3GHz

2. Raid 0, 2 x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB HDD

3. No, I don't want DDR3 compatibility

4. No SLI

I want stable mobo

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by Capper

The P35 is not a single GPU chipset, it officially supports ATI's Crossfire technology.

I thought it was like the P965. Some special board manufacturers made P35 and P965 boards that have two 8x PCI-E x16 lanes, but Intel designed it to have one 16x. Or am I way off mark?

[Capper]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

I thought it was like the P965. Some special board manufacturers made P35 and P965 boards that have two 8x PCI-E x16 lanes, but Intel designed it to have one 16x. Or am I way off mark?

Its a strange situation, Crossfire is supported.....but....

The #1 PCI-E x16 slot works at full speed, while the second full size slot works at x4, with 6 more PCI-E lanes supported by the SB chipset, four of which support a second graphics card in the second full size slot.

[Quakindude]

I'd go for the 680i then. For the budding enthusiast, the 680i's BIOS will be easier to navigate and overclock than Intels IMHO. The ability to unlink the ram and not have to ponder over dividers and such will make your overclocking experience go that much easier. The 680i and the P35 are so close in performance numbers, from what I've read about them, that it's an easy recommendation for me.

Not only that, but Nvidia has published an overclocking guide for the 680i. Can't get much easier than that.

[Computer-Ed]

Since you chose no SLI I would personally get the Intel based board. While Intel baords may not always be the fastest or the most feature rich they have had the single best track record of driver support of ANY motherboard chip set. Intel based stuff just plain works.

As for the OS, if ALL your hardware has proper 64 bit driver support go ahead and go 64 bit and be ready for software finally making the move. If you can afford 4 Gig go with it, but 64 bit Vista will still run okay on 2 Gig and you can upgrade later and not need to reinstall the OS to support the full RAM.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

Since you chose no SLI I would personally get the Intel based board. While Intel baords may not always be the fastest or the most feature rich they have had the single best track record of driver support of ANY motherboard chip set. Intel based stuff just plain works.

As for the OS, if ALL your hardware has proper 64 bit driver support go ahead and go 64 bit and be ready for software finally making the move. If you can afford 4 Gig go with it, but 64 bit Vista will still run okay on 2 Gig and you can upgrade later and not need to reinstall the OS to support the full RAM.

Yes but as mentioned he plans to overclock, and the 680i is way more OC friendly then the Intel chipset. While Intel Boards are stable, they just are too restrictive for enthusiast.

Something else to note about 64bit Vista, not only is driver support and issue, but software is an issue as well. Many 32 bit programs won't run on 64 bit windows. You have to obtain the 64bit version if one is available, which could cost you even more money.