Confused: 965P, 650i, 680i or P35 ?

[meatnub]

Hello all, new to the group...

I'm looking to build my first ever rig, and it will be a gaming rig
consisting of 8800 GTS 640k, 4 gigs of ram (vista 64bit), wd raptor
150.

I'm having a hard time deciding which mb to get.

I don't want to wait, nor will I be able to afford, the x38 when it
comes out later this year. Nor the quad penryn, nor the g90, nor ddr3
ram. That's like 2 grand right there. Maybe this time next year. Who
knows.

So it's going to be one of these: 965P, 650i, 658i or P35.

But which one?

I won't be running SLI nor will I be OC'ing.

If I get the P35 I'll get the Q6600. But people say the P35 is only
good with DDR3 ram, yet several P35 mb's only take DDR2.

People say the 965P is the one to get, but others say its dated and
only good for OC'ing.

Some say get the 680i but I thought that was the best one for SLI ?
Which I won't be doing.

So I'm at a serious xroads.

If I get the 965P then I'll get the E6600 and i *might* overclock it
to 3ghz.

If I get teh P35 then I'll either get the E6850 or Q6600.

HELP!!!!!! ;-) Thanks!

 

[Dean G.]

Hello all, new to the group...

I'm looking to build my first ever rig, and it will be a gaming rig
consisting of 8800 GTS 640k, 4 gigs of ram (vista 64bit), wd raptor
150.

This is a particularly bad choice for a first build. Vista 64 is
notably lacking in drivers. Indeed, even Vista 32 is a bit slow
getting up to speed in that department, but is seems it now has a
least a driver for the 8800GTS that works reasonably well, but
frequently slower that the same hardware running under Vista 32 with a
32 bit driver. The 32 bit drivers receive a lion's share of the
development, as they account for a lion's share of the users.

Second, as far as I know, there are no 64 bit builds of mass market
games. Sure, some may run under Vista 64, but there will be no
advantage to doing so, and there will possibly be a decrease in
performace, as the OS will run a bit slower while dealing with 64 bit
addresses and such that by definition require twice the memory that a
32 bit address does.

For gaming, there is simply put NO reason at the present to go 64 bit.
You will gain no advantage, but you will face several disadvantages,
with driver issues leading the way.

Dean G.

I'm having a hard time deciding which mb to get.

I don't want to wait, nor will I be able to afford, the x38 when it
comes out later this year. Nor the quad penryn, nor the g90, nor ddr3
ram. That's like 2 grand right there. Maybe this time next year. Who
knows.

So it's going to be one of these: 965P, 650i, 658i or P35.

But which one?

I won't be running SLI nor will I be OC'ing.

If this is the case, then it doesn't really matter. Look at the
features you will use, and then compare. As you noted, some of the
boards are better at overclocking, but it doesn't matter if you don't
overclock. Look for the manufacurer that has the best support for
Vista 64 if you are determined to go that route. Some manufacturers
are far better than others in terms of driver support.

Short summary : the brand may be more important than the chipset.

Dean G.

 

[don't look]

There's no reason you can't use an SLI board like the 680i.They are just
fine with one video card.
64 bit OS is a big mistake.It's not necessary and it's not mature enough for
gaming.