X48 boards ?

[race301]

What is the difference between these boards? Better than P45?


GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X48

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 LGA 775 Intel X48

[Lsdmeasap]

Well they are older than P45, and use ICH9R not ICH10R like the P45's do. And of course the X48 chipset vs P45

The DQ6 has a quad BIOS while the DS5 only has Dual, the DQ6 also has an additional "Crazy Cool" heat plate on the back while some DS5's do not.

The DQ6 also comes with an additional eSATA Bracket

They are the same price ($189) at Newegg tonight, but the DS5 offers free shipping. If you are in the US that is.

Newegg's comparision
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

As for better than P45, maybe in some instances but It would depend on the P45 being compared. If it were me and I was choosing between the two I would get either P45-DS4P or P45-UD3R or UD3P. Or actually just wait and get a P55 if you have the $$, otherwise I do believe the right P45 would be better if you are sticking to 775

[race301]

P45-DS4P or P45-UD3R or UD3P ?
I found a P45-DS4P? How does this copare to the UD models?

[Lsdmeasap]

I have that board myself and like it very much. It offers a few more voltage options (Extra SB, MCH, and CPU Ref) in the BIOS than the UD3 models and finer increment adjustments as well.

Keep in mind P45 is tricky to overclock compared to X38/X48 or P35, so if you are coming from one of those you will have alot to learn. Just keeping you informed in case you have never looked at the P45 postings here to see the BIOS options. You can click the link in my signature for BIOS Templates and see the P45 BIOS settings available, only about 75% of what is in the MIT is listed.

Some would say the UD3 is better at overclocks but I tend to think not, just more users adopted those boards because they were released shortly after the normal P45 versions and at a much cheaper price

If you are a gamer though and plan to crossfire, you may want to look at X48 more. Sorry I forgot to mention the X48's 2 PCIE slots run at x16/x16 while the EP45-DS4P 2 PCIE Slots run at x16/x8 but they are 2.0 which X48 is not.

Much to consider, I know, sorry to add more to your plate :)

P55 will be released early Sept as well if you maybe what to consider that

[race301]

Do you ever find that the Crazy Cool heat plate gets in the way of the cpu bolt on fan plate? He wants to crossfire, so may go with the X48. Also a E8500 or a Q9550 ? with 64b W7 RTM

[Psycho101]

If crossfiring two single GPU cards (4850, 4870, 4890 etc) then a P45 will be fine. Thee is still bandwidth to spare at 8x/8x with ingle GPU cards currently and for some time to come. If your friend is planning on crossfiring two multi GPU cards (4850 X2, 4870 X2 etc) then an X48 is the only way to go, because although a multi GPU card won't use all 16 lanes, it'll certainly use more than 8 lanes (12-13 lanes worth of bandwidth maybe? Just an educated guess).

Lsd prefers the DS4, and it's a valid point. I have seen some trouble with users trying to overclock that board and others with the same or similar BIOS stucture (2 CPU refs, voltage increases shown as "+0.1" rather than absolutes etc. that could be an unfair representation of those boards or it could be that most here are more used to helping with UD3/UD4/UD5 setups and have better knowledge on how to get them stable.

Definitely consider the DS4, but also give some consideration to the UD3P. Any more than 8x/8x for two single GPU's means you're paying for something you don't need. If getting a dual core then the Ds4 I would consider equal to the UD3. If you want a Q9550, then I'd definitely go with the UD3P. After NimrodAUS's experience with a supposedly high end X48 board and being stuck at 3,6GHz, I have a feeling a UD3P will do a much better job on the quad. My board has gotten my Q8200 (tiny 7x multi) up to 3.4GHz which is no mean feat. Kick has his at 3.5GHz with reasonable voltages and I believe someone with the low power version Q8200 got even higher. With a E0 Q9550 I'd say 4GHz was a realistic aim with moderate tweaking, and 4.2GHz-4.3GHz with some more in depth fiddling around.

The only game I've seen to really make good use of a Quad core CPU is Grand Theft Auto IV. In virtually any other situation, results will be equal as long as you can clock both to the same speed. If you think you can get a higher clock with a dual core, then likely it will be better for gaming. With crossfire especially, you need a lot of CPU speed, rather than cores to allow the GPU's to stretch their legs.

[race301]

Thanks Psycho going for the UD3P for the Q9550, also this ram a good choice?

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664AA80A - Desktop Memory

[Psycho101]

I would go with a DDR-1066 kit rather than a DDR-800 one. The reason beng that to get 4GHz with the CPu on the max 8.5 multi you'll need a 470 FSB. This will only be achievable if your RAM can do at least DDR-940.

A solid DDR-1066 kit from Crucial, Patriot, Mushkin, G.Skill, Geil or Corsair would be ideal, as most DDR-800 kits aren't guaranteed to be able to overclock well. Ones rated for DDR-800 at 4-4-4-12 may be able to do DDR-100/DDR-1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings though, but for the difference in price it's better to go with RAM rated at 1066 guaranteed.

One particular kit that a few guys on this forum have used with success, including the last person I recommended them to is this G.Skill kit with the aqua blue/green heat-spreaders: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Desktop Memory grishkafool has had no problem using 8GB of this RAM (4x2GB) at near full speed with a ~500 FSB and decent overclock (4GHz+). If I was buying again, I'd choose this RAM over my current Corsair XMS2. Saying that, My XMS2 (DDR-1066 @ 5-5-5-15, 2.1V) has worked flawless at a slight overclock of DDR-1093.

[race301]

That looks good, I also have read this is good stuff, and can go to 2.1v with it?

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBTD - Desktop Memory

[Psycho101]

I've no personal experience with that RAM, but I bet it would be as good as the other G.Skill.

It's up to you on what you choose though. The cheaper G.Skill is also rated at 2.0-2.1V. No real benefit of getting stuff rated for higher voltage. There's not much realworld performance to be had from overclocking RAM, no where near as much as when overclocking a CPU. Anything over DDR-800 in all but the most RAM intensive apps (virtually nothing) won't yield any more performance. the only real reason I recommend a 1066 kit over 800 is that the DDR-800 will likely limit your over clock.

There's only a few dollars between them, so it's up to you. FOr me, every penny counts so I'd go with the 4GBPK personally. If you can shave a few more dollars off by getting a good del on a pair of HD 4890's then you may be able to spend the difference on either a better CPU cooler, a slightly more luxurious case or an extra peripheral such as a TV tuner, or a quality gaming mouse like the Logitech G9 (awesome mouse, £40, so around $60-$80 maybe).

Which ever 1066 kit you choose out of those two, I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting 3.8GHz-4GHz. Your mate will no doubt be very pleased with a system like that. In the scheme of things, if going crossfire it should keep him gaming at virtually max detail for the next two years, unless anything really dramatic happens. DirectX will bring improvements for DirectX 10/DirectX 10.1 cards too I believe due to multi threaded optimizations etc. As it starts to slow down, an overclock of the GPU's to ~1GHz core, 4400MHZ RAM and pushing the CPU to 4.2GHz if possible will buy him a few more months before that simultaneously dreaded and joyous upgrade time.