X48 or P45 for S775 mobo?

[Devrij]

Got some vouchers to spend so looking at shifting my rubbish board.
I'm torn between getting an Asus P5Q Deluxe (an awesome board I hear), or a P5E3 Pro to get the x16 x16 xfire (where the P5Q only supports x8 xfire). I really want a board that can get up to 500fsb to overclock my E8400, but want to leave my xfire options open if I should ever go that way. Between those boards, which would you go for? Is the P5e3 a good enough overclocker or would I be happiest with the P5Q? Thanks for your answers and hope you had a good xmas!

 

[gurusan]

The performance hit from the x8 lanes isn't that bad at all, and the P5Q series is a massively better overclocker than the P5E3. I have had both.

Also if you ever upgrade to a 45nm quad, the x38/X48 chipset is not ideal for clocking those.

 

[pastymuncher]

P45 may be only 8x when running a pair of cards but it's pci-e 2.0 which is the same as 16x pci-e 1.1. Go for a P45 board, especially if you ever think you will get a 45nm quad. As Gurusan says, X38/48 sucks when clocking them. Mine is seriously fsb limited with a quad yet easily got my E8500 to 4.5Ghz.

 

[Big.Wayne]

I really want a board that can get up to 500fsb to overclock my E8400, but want to leave my xfire options open if I should ever go that way

As the lads have said the ASUS P5Q series are great boards for overclocking 45mn processors, in particular the P5Q-E and the P5Q-Deluxe are both superb pieces of kit although clocking a dual core I could discern no difference between the 8-phase P5Q-E and the 16-phase P5Q-Deluxe . . .

For the individual who has the basics of overclocking a Intel® Core™2 Processor on the LGA775 platform and wants to reach for the 4GHz + CPU overclock along with a nice 500MHz FSB + then the two ASUS boards do seem to be quite a compelling purchase . . .

The only downside I would say is the price Intel are charging for their older technology, LGA775 although a sweet platform has been outmoded by newer innovations so I think it's on greed (or is that good business) that keeps the asking price relatively high!

Asus P5Q Deluxe

£117.99 inc - Retail Price 26th December 2009 - Hmmmm . . . . .

To that end my only bit of advice would be to seek out a used but great condition P45 motherboard from OcUK Members Market or auction. I have had a lot of good luck with buying used hardware and I'm sure you could snag yourself a bargain too . . . good luck!

 

[setter]

Asus p5q deluxe and your sorted, it may only have 2 x 8 pcie lanes (x16 single card), but it 'll clock any cpu better than a full blown x16 per pcie slot x48 board, particularly a 45nm quad, x48 offers x16 per pcie lane but cant clock quads for squat, the only option after that is an i7 setup which can offer crossfire or sli at x16.

 

[Devrij]

Alright thanks a lot guys, you've really helped make my mind up! Now I just gotta hope my cpu cooler fits!