intel p35 or 680i, Hmmmm?

[Fibre Optix]

Okay I'm about to collect the parts for my new gaming rig.

I want to go Nvidia for graphics (8800 GTX). I do not plan to OC. Kind of afraid of that stuff.

Anyway. I've never had a problem with Asus Mobos so I want to go Asus. but there are only 3 Mobos on the asus site that use the Nvidia 680i chip set. (Striker, Striker Extreme and p5n32 E SLI)

The others I was considering uses the Intel P35 chipset and have Crossfire enhancement technology according to Asus Feature page. I know I could probably use the 8800 gtx in these boards.

In your opinion will it matter if I go with a certain chipset over another with the 8800 GTX? Will there be a real benefit?

[perkster]

p35 chipset is best as its the future supporting the latest processors.

the nvidia 8800 will be fine on the Asus p5k or any other p35 asus MB. the only thing you cannot do in it is SLI with two 8800's in it, as you can only do crossfire not SLI. but if you are doing the clever thing of having only one powerful card then it will be ideal.

no real benefit in terms of the performance of your graphics card, the p35 is newer and has better architecture but mainly effects the rpocessors and FSB

[Random]

Yeah, basically you couldn't run dual 8800's in SLI. nVidia doubles it's GPUs with SLI, while ATI doubles it's GPUs with the Crossfire setup - Crossfire isn't compatible with nVidia cards and vice versa. If you don't plan on doing the dual GPUs in the future, then either or is fine, but if you plan to upgrade for gaming purposes, dual GPUs will become a need later on, as graphics become more and more intense. In that case, going with a SLI-ready motherboard allows you that opportunity, but really it's only worth it for graphic-intensive applications, renders, and games. I personally would run dual 8800 GTX's, because I'm a heavy gamer and I work with 3d modeling programs like Rhino, Maya, Poser, 3ds max, and Swift quite a lot, so I've also got a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor. What works for me, may not work for everyone else.

[not important]

You can't go wrong with Intel chipsets.

[Fibre Optix]

Yeah, basically you couldn't run dual 8800's in SLI. nVidia doubles it's GPUs with SLI, while ATI doubles it's GPUs with the Crossfire setup - Crossfire isn't compatible with nVidia cards and vice versa. If you don't plan on doing the dual GPUs in the future, then either or is fine, but if you plan to upgrade for gaming purposes, dual GPUs will become a need later on, as graphics become more and more intense. In that case, going with a SLI-ready motherboard allows you that opportunity, but really it's only worth it for graphic-intensive applications, renders, and games. I personally would run dual 8800 GTX's, because I'm a heavy gamer and I work with 3d modeling programs like Rhino, Maya, Poser, 3ds max, and Swift quite a lot, so I've also got a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor. What works for me, may not work for everyone else.

I too work with Maya and LOVE to game. But does SLI or Crossfire really improve render times in something like Maya? Is'nt rendering a Processor function + Ram function?

Don't they have special video cards for that, like the ATI FireGL (can't remeber what they are called)?

In any case thanks for the info.

[perkster]

SLI isnt really worth it, best to save money for a new next gen card when one is released, one 8800GTX should do everything you need with 2gb ram and a quad core processor.

for intel processors best going for a intel chipset on the board, thats why the P5k by asus is recommended here so highly

[Random]

Render times are basically taken care of by the processor, that's why I have the quad core, but it doesn't hurt to have as much GPU power as possible to help out. I must admit, it's a bit overkill to have two 8800GTX's, but then, having two of them now at approx. $500 is easier for me than spending $1,000+ later on for a single card that outdoes the two of them together. I do agree, though, that for an Intel processor, it's better for the stability of the system to also have an Intel chipset, though I haven't had any problem with mine.

[kamikazi_tom]

Well I've got one vote for 680i chipset. I've used nothing but nVidia chipsets in all of my builds and they've never been a bother. Nvidia chipsets are great for overclockers, but for a non overclocker I guess I'd go with intel. The 680i supports Quad core and the like and just about everything else the intel chipset does. I personally have the eVGA 680i LT SLI and its a supurb motherboard. Temps are great (active cooling Tom likey =]).

Anywho, I've heard great thing about both, just figured I'd give nVidia a little bit or respect here =]

Tom! =]