Soldato
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While the P35 chipset provides 16 PCI-E lanes for the primary graphics card slot, and only four lanes for the secondary graphics slot, the X38 chipset, like Nvidia’s nForce 680i, provides 16 PCI-E lanes for both graphics card slots, plus a third PCI-E slot with eight lanes. In real terms, this means that X38 motherboards should perform better, overclock further and run CrossFire faster than P35 motherboards.
Like the P35, the X38 chipset is paired with either the ICH9 or ICH9R Southbridge. The X38 Northbridge supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory (but not at the same time, of course). And as a new Intel chipset, there’s support for a 333MHz FSB (1,333MHz, effective) and 45nm CPUs such as the forthcoming Penryn-based chips.
X38 doesn’t support two graphics cards in SLI either, ATi CrossFire support is present, as on the P35
The P35 chip will support 45nm with a Bios update
Unless you want to run crossfire and over clock or consider DDR3 memory then the X38 motherboard may suit your needs over the P35
Like the P35, the X38 chipset is paired with either the ICH9 or ICH9R Southbridge. The X38 Northbridge supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory (but not at the same time, of course). And as a new Intel chipset, there’s support for a 333MHz FSB (1,333MHz, effective) and 45nm CPUs such as the forthcoming Penryn-based chips.
X38 doesn’t support two graphics cards in SLI either, ATi CrossFire support is present, as on the P35
The P35 chip will support 45nm with a Bios update
Unless you want to run crossfire and over clock or consider DDR3 memory then the X38 motherboard may suit your needs over the P35
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