chip set confusion

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:44 pm

hi all. getting confused with all the different chipsets for m/b's. gonna build myself a new system over next few months. wanna make it as future proof as poss. it'll have intel proc, hopefully 6750 1333mhz bus, and want it to be sli so can add another card at a later date. my problem is there are several diff chipsets, some provide full sli support some only 8x 8x. i know the 680i offers full support and 650i only 8x support, but what about 590i,570i and the intel chip sets etc. i'm reading up as much as i can, but any advice appreciated. cheers

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:26 pm

Here's a link for the .pdf of the nForce series comparsions:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_35384.html

As you can tell by the charts: nForce 590 SLI will do the trick for what you're wanting BUT thats only if your running on an ageing Intel Core 2 CPU.

You've got an Intel E6750 which is part of the newer 'Core 2 Duo' CPU family so gettting an nForce 590 IS NOT what your after!

Either the 'nForce 680i LT SLI' or the 'nForce 680i SLI' is really what your looking to get chief (the spec sheet can give a rough idea the little difference between the two chipsets)

Hope that helps bud Wink

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:58 pm

thanks mate. your right, need the 680 for the 1333 mhz bus speed + support for 800 mhz ram and full sli. damn!!! they're also the dearest boards at over £120, am trying to keep costs down. i think i will leave buying the m/b and graphics card till last in about nov/dec so hopefully prices will have come down a bit. cheers.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:15 pm

ah, problem there with the winter buying chuck-
Prices ussually rise a bit in the darker months- seeing as folk are inside more rather outside during the winter, seller's/manufacters ussually push the price up a little to capitalize on this.

Best time to buy is in the Summer.
Then again, i could be wrong- but thats how ive known things to be Confused

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:46 pm

thats fu*%ed it!!! was hoping the longer i wait the price would come down. damn.

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 417 Location: KERB CRAWLING

Hi mate,

imitation is right the prices do normally go up in the winter months! All I can do is recommend the 680sli board which is what I've got and it rocks now they've released the updated bios, You can get the same board as me for £150 from the link below.

http://www.pricegrabber.co.uk/search_getprod.php/masterid=29637598/skd=1/search=nforce%20680i%20sli

However I would suggest waiting a couple more months for the DDR3 boards to come down in price and are updated a bit more as they'll still have plenty of bugs at the min !!
and also the new nvidia 8900 cards will be out by then and Ive read they are going to be amazing which I 100% will be upgrading to! This way mate if you do hang on you will be able to get some more money saved up and wont be buying already outdated hardware !!

I hope this has helped you a bit because when I first started upgrading I was constantly asking LT and Mrix for advise cos I didn't have a clue ! Oh I forgot I still haven't got a clue lol
Confused

Geordie

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:23 am

cheers mate. i think those new cards will be out of my price range though. gotta try and keep it below 600 quid. thinking 6750 proc £110, case and psu £60, 2 gig ram £80, hard drive £50, monitor £165,dvdrw £10-15,8800 gts £170 ish + whatever i can get m/b for. which'll add up to around £780, which is outa my range. need to make a few cuts somewhere. hopefully that
new card coming out will lower the price of the other cards,and the ddr3 boards will lower the price of the 680i boards i want.can maybe make a few savings by buying from computer fairs as they tend to be cheap. and maybe e-bay,bit nervous about buying pc parts from e-bay though incase they break down a week after buying.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:30 am

ps. having to build complete system as the lads having this one as an x-mas present. what graphics card you got at the moment geordie?

Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 232

Hate to disagree with you guys but the 680 boards are being replaced now with the P35 boards and the very soon to be released X38 chipset boards. Depends if you need SLI - I am assuming you do so if you have enough cash (the new boards will probably come in at £150) then wait for X38 - it has the new PCI-E version 2

Personally I would buy one of the P35 boards (the gigabyte P35 or Abit IP-35 Pro) but im not too fussed about SLI

Regards

Hefty

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 417 Location: KERB CRAWLING

Hi Rogue,

Ive currently got 2 Evga 8800 gtx ac2 oc cards which are awesome ! However you might think why do I wanna change them but this might sound a little bit stupid but ever since I upgraded to vista my PC has run a lot slower whilst gaming so I'm just gonna build a complete new system and run it with 8 gig of ram Very Happy

As far as those new boards go hefty, although I must admit they do look very good I will never use them cos I need Sli to run my system to its optimum performance and I think a lot of ppl will think the same ! !

Geordie

Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 232

For people who want SLI I would say wait 1 month until the X38 boards appear.....they will also have support for the new intel chips due out next year i think./

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:28 pm

2 OVERCLOCKED 8800GTX's and you think its running SLOW!!!! Shocked

. lol, you wanna try having a go on my current system (3000+amd,agp 8x X1650 pro,gigabyte m/b,1 gig ddr ram and a ide hard drive), averages 12 fps in bf2!!!!! the idea of me getting a sli board is so i can put 1 8800gts 320mb in now and another later on when i can afford it. that way it'll keep up with new games and not cost me too much,as in 6 months that card'll probably only cost about 100 quid. cost is my biggest obstacle.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:38 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320147599781&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011
this asus board sold on ebay. good price. what you all think about buying stuff like this off ebay?

Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 417 Location: KERB CRAWLING

Hi mate,

Well you really do need to sort that pc out as i dont know how you can play with it lol !
As for buying stuff off ebay, well ive bought a few items and had my mixed thoughts on some of the items but also at the same time ive had some great bargains ! if you stick to sellers with massive feedback or shops you should be okay but just make sure you pay via pay pal.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:22 pm

Best thing to do if your looking to build a new and faster system is to have an idea of what your budget is and what it is you want.

Here's a suggestion of what you might be looking to buy:
01 - CPU (AMD/Intel) ; OEM is cheaper than Retail
02 - Motherboard/chipset (AMD/Intel)
(Opitional) New CPU fan/heatsink* (AM2/775)
03 - RAM modules (DDR2 Dual Channel)
04 - Operating System (XP SP2/Vista Home Premium)
05 - Graphics Cards (ATI.Crossfire/NVIDIA.SLI)
06 - Hard Drive (SATA II) - RAID?
07 - Optical Drives (IDE)
08 - Case (Midi Tower or Tower)
09 - Cooling (Liquid or Fan)
10 - (Opitional) PCI/PCI-E cards i.e - Creative X-Fi or Ageia PhysX

* - Retail Processors come with a 'Stock' Fan and Heatsink, buying an OEM Processor means you'll need to buy a seperate Heatsink and Fan. Buying a non-Stock/newer Heatsink and Fan will give you better performance and heat dissipation.

Again what you'll buy can be determind by what your after, the budget you've choosen and physical elements of the hardware i.e. - motherboard; socket type, chipset, spare PCI/PCI-E slots after installing single/dual graphics cards.

Hope that helps Smile