650i Ultra -vs- P965

[Yellowhello]

How do the nVidia nForce 650i Ultra chipset and the Intel P965 compare when it comes to overclocking and chipset features? Just wondering out of curiousity. What would be your pick of the two?

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

How do the nVidia nForce 650i Ultra chipset and the Intel P965 compare when it comes to overclocking and chipset features? Just wondering out of curiousity. What would be your pick of the two?

Both are capable chipsets, and you can find both winners and duds in each. Are there any particular motherboard models you're considering? Is SLI (nVidia) or Crossfire (ATI) a consideration? How about 1333fsb support (Penryn)?

[Dr. V]

how about vs 680i?

whats so special about this 650 chipset...?

[Yellowhello]

Well, the 650i Ultra doesn't support SLI, but 1333FSB is important. As for specific motherboards, I'm just looking at the chipset itself, not individual motherboards. I've heard that the 650i Ultra (the Ultra part of it is important) is a fairly good overclocker (almost as good as the 680i chipsets), and I've also heard the P965 is a good overclocker, so if I got a E4300 paired with either chipset, which would overclock higher?

[Capper]

Actually, there are 650i SLI motherboards, we have two we are working on right now (ASUS and ECS).

I'll say that I'll always recommend INTEL chipsets over any other....mainly for stability, features, and support. The P965 chipset is possibly the best around.

Unless you absolutely have to have SLI, skip the NVIDIA motherboards.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

As for specific motherboards, I'm just looking at the chipset itself, not individual motherboards[...]so if I got a E4300 paired with either chipset, which would overclock higher?

Again, it really depends on the specific motherboard being considered - there's a lot more to it than just 'chipset'. You can find both great and sub-par overclockers on either one, depending on the BIOS options, capacitors, etc.

[Dr. V]

for example, the P5B Deluxe with the 965 chipset is just amazing, and im sooo glad i just went for it when i built this system.

im most likely gonna wait for either the 1333FSB CPUs and grab a 680i for it, or just wait for the NEXT chipset, but i really wanna grab one from nVidia to see and compare...

i LOVE the fact that you can unlink the ram/cpu for OCing, and thats what i really wanna look at more than anything.

[gvblake22]

The Intel Next-Gen chipsets ("BearLake") should be out in a bit (probably around when Penryn becomes available). I hate to suggest playing the waiting game, but if you want real 1333MHz FSB support, then BearLake would be what you want to wait for. But if I had to choose now, I would probably choose the P965...

[Capper]

Many P965, 680i, and 650i motherboards support the 1333FSB....no reason to really wait.

I'm much more enthusiastic about INTEL chipsets than NVIDIA chipsets......and playing the waiting game is a never ending process, you wait for one component, and then you need to upgrade something else to take full advantage of it.

As it is, the Core 2 Duo processors are an outstanding choice, INTEL's chipsets are feature rich and incredibly stable, and DDR2 memory has pretty much reached its pinnacle. I'd either upgrade now, or hold off on everything until Q4 of this year.

[Dr. V]

yea i'd say at least Q4.

when Penryn and BearLake start coming out, they'll be supporting DDR3 no doubt. along with these, DX10 will become mainstream slowly.

my next upgrade target is february '08. why? xmas money, bday money, and all the good stuff is coming out!

hell, if its good enough, ill crab an AMD quad core chip:P