Looking For Future-Set Mobo

[Fo1k-E]

'Ello all,

Well, a few months ago I built my first PC w/the help of this site, and I really owe you all thanks for such help on a wonderful journey and ... well, new addiction. =) I love PC building and upgrading where as before I dared not even take off the case.

So, here's my present. What would be a great future-set motherboard. I'm talking about can be upgradeable to most present processors, RAM, and GPUs. Something I will be able to keep upgrading for a few years.

Right now my PC specs are:

ASUS P5L-MX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131041)
SPARKLE ATX-450PN 450PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103024)
EVGA GeForce 7900GS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148230)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 Conroe 1.86GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115015)
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116056)
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068)
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145098)

Tyvm,
Robert

[glc]

Which exact P5B? It's still very current technology.

[Katreat]

I agree with glc, the P5B is pretty current technology. You have quite a few upgrades avaliable to you with that board. CPU, RAM, Vid Card, and if your need for speed is still not satisfied you can always OC the system.

Some of the newest boards on the market have added ddr3 support, but since ddr3 is very expensive and not all that much faster at this time it would be hard to recommend going that direction. When it grows up and becomes more common there will likely be better MB out their to support it. The newer P35 chipset offers a bit more support for the newest CPU with faster bus speeds but I doubt you would see much difference.

I would suggest you work with the upgrades currently availiable to that board and hold off on a new board until the next socket change. AMD has already annoncued AM3 is on the way and there has been talk at intel of a new socket next year (that may be more of a rumer). I expect when these new boards arrive that the bugs will be worked out of ddr3 also so it will be a good time to swap up. Right now your P5B is just not that old or out dated to justify a move upward (IMO).

Kat

[maxnik]

that's the board that he has, at least looking at his earlier posts. It's still not too bad. I would stick with it for couple of years. Just put faster CPUs and video cards.
ASUS P5L-MX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131041http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131041)

[glc]

That's a different story. The P5L-MX is a budget board based on the old 945 chipset. The current state of the art Asus motherboard for C2D with onboard video is the P5K-VM and P5K-V based on the G33 chipset. If you have a video card, then the rest of the P5K series based on the P35 chipset is what to look at. If you want to hold off a few months, the X38 chipset will be out in the mainstream market and debugged.

[Fo1k-E]

Sorry, guys, for the late response. What I have is a ASUS P5L-MX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131041). Would have found it and wrote it for the original post, but I was writing it right before the bus came, and well, had to be quick.

So, X38? Can you tell me more about it, or give me a link to more info? Would be awesome!

Tyvm,
Rob

[glc]

The X38 at the present time has no performance improvement whatsoever over the P35.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/26/intel_x38_chipset/

Bottom line - wait a while. If you need a board now, get a P35.

[Katreat]

Since you dont have a P5B as you originally posted you might see a bit of performance improvment with a P35 board. As glc noted, at this time the new X38 does not have a lot to offer over the P35.

I still say wait tell the next socket revision. Even the board you have now has quite a bit of expansion room with current technology. When a new socket arrives the writing is on the wall that your MBs life is nearing its end.

Kat

[Fo1k-E]

Ok. Thanks, guys! =) Very much! I think I will just wait for the X38 or socket revision.

[wildfire]

Isnt the intel x38 already out? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131218

[Fo1k-E]

Hm, no reviews. =/ Would like to see some reviews, haha. But also, from reading the info glc gave me, it's ... worrying.

But, does seem nice. 1600FSB, and quite a bit of expansion slots.

[maxnik]

Hm, no reviews. =/ Would like to see some reviews, haha. But also, from reading the info glc gave me, it's ... worrying.

But, does seem nice. 1600FSB, and quite a bit of expansion slots.

Newegg already offers 5 boards with X38, few people already bought them. anyway reading the article that glc linked from tom's hardware - it doesn't seem to be worth it yet.... those are supposed to be higher end boards that cost quite a bit $250-350 range... i think the biggest problem is that the rest of the technology is not there yet or very expensive...