P35 & X38 mobo's

[Ripper-X-]

Whats the main diffrence between the P35 & the X38 mobos, i read somewhere that on the X38 mobos both pci-e slots are 16x but on th P35 one is 16x & one is 4x, & that for crossfire both at 16x is needed , is this correct?
If this is correct then what is the point in having crossfire on a P35 mobo, is there any benifit at all?
And why dont the X38 mobo's support both ddr2 & ddr3 like the P35 mobo's ?

 

[Cob]

Crossfire will happily run on a x16 & x4 P35 board.

 

[jak731]

both the p35 and x38 can run CF, the difference is the p35 suffers a performance drop, this depends on what you are crossfiring though. the more powerful the graphics card, the higher the performance drop compared to x38.

 

[Ripper-X-]

Hi yeah i know it will run, but does the second slot being 4x mean a lot of performance is lost over the X38 board?
My prediciment is this, i want a mobo that will be as future proof as i can make it, so a mobo with support for 45nm cpu, both ddr2 & ddr3 ram & Crossfire would be great.
I need a card that is good for HD media so the 3870xt is a better card than the 8800gt, but a bit slower so i thought in crossfire i could buy another card in a few weeks/months.
the P35 boards support 45nm & also ddr3 for later when i want to upgrade so sounds good, but on the minus side its only 16x on one pci-e slot.
The X38 boards have both pci-e slots at 16x, support 45nm cpu, but not ddr3 as well, which board would u go for, the more board with ddr3 support or the board with 2 x 16x pci-e ?
I hope this all makes sense as i been drinking a bottle of wine tonight lol

 

[Cob]

There'll never be any need for DDR3 on either P35 or X38.

 

[Ripper-X-]

why do you say that ? if thats true then are you saying the X38 board is the better option ?

 

[jak731]

firstly compare DDR2 and DDR3 prices
secondly find a CPU that will overclock to speeds that will make the best DDR2 RAM be a restriction to the clock speed

 

[Cob]

why do you say that ? if thats true then are you saying the X38 board is the better option ?

PC8500 will more than cope with the fastest CPU that either of those chipsets will ever see.

Now I'm not saying that DDR3 will be no use on either chipset, but it will never be needed.

 

[Ripper-X-]

Ok now we'r getting somewhere, so if i were to go for the Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 mobo would that be a good choice ? (considering im on a budget)

 

[Cob]

I would give it a go, tho there's very little information about that board.

 

[MumboJumbo]

if your playing HD conntent you could do it on a 2600xt if your not gaming.

Why would you need crossfire for it?

 

[Ripper-X-]

My main aim is to have a pc for playing hd content, mainly .mkv files, but i also do play games so i also want it to be the best it can be for gaming after my movies. Thanks guys you have helped me to decide.......