Asus P5K or P5Q ?

[Talal Itani]

Hello,

I am putting together a new PC. I had decided on an Asus P5K motherboard,
with the Intel 35 chipset. A group member told me to wait for the Asus P5Q,
based on the Intel 45 chipset. My question: What do I gain from a 45
chipset? My new PC will have a 3.0 GHz CPU with DDR2 800 or 1066 memory.
Thanks.

T.I.

 

[elitvak]

Hello,

I am putting together a new PC.  I had decided on an Asus P5K motherboard,
with the Intel 35 chipset.  A group member told me to wait for the Asus P5Q,
based on the Intel 45 chipset.  My question: What do I gain from a 45
chipset?  My new PC will have a 3.0 GHz CPU with DDR2 800 or 1066 memory..
Thanks.

T.I.

Not much. The P45 has inherently lower power consumption than the P35,
and the Asus P5Q boards have additional features over the P5K to
reduce power usage. Depending on which model of P5Q board you get,
you'll also get a better audio codec (especially for P5Q-E and up).
Support for PCI Express 2.0 and the Asus Express Gate feature are two
other features specific to P45 and the P5Q, respectively.

IMHO the sweet spots in the Asus lineups are the P5K-E and P5Q-E
models; since the latter is about $20-30 more, it is up to you decide
if the extra features are worth it.

 

[meatnub]

Not much. The P45 has inherently lower power consumption than the P35,
and the Asus P5Q boards have additional features over the P5K to
reduce power usage. Depending on which model of P5Q board you get,
you'll also get a better audio codec (especially for P5Q-E and up).
Support for PCI Express 2.0 and the Asus Express Gate feature are two
other features specific to P45 and the P5Q, respectively.

IMHO the sweet spots in the Asus lineups are the P5K-E and P5Q-E
models; since the latter is about $20-30 more, it is up to you decide
if the extra features are worth it.

IMHO, since there is never a good time to build a computer (there will
always be a better system 6 months from now) I recommend buying last
year's stuff.

Last year I built 2 systems around the Gigabyte P35-DS3R. Both system
had the Intel E6420 installed. One system was overclocked to 3.2ghz
and had Windows Vista 64-bit and 4gb's ram. The other system, which I
still have (sold the aforementioned) has the E6420 (not currently
overclocked), Vista 32-bit, 2gb's RAM and a 7600GT. I can play WoW,
LOTRO (ultra high settings) on my 1440x900 (sure it's not a killer
res.)

If you have the money and want the power, ok, fine. But if you want to
spend your money wisely and have plenty of power, no need for the
"latest and greatest".

Not trying to preach, just offering some advice in case you didn't
know.