Which ABIT board? [Archive]

Salahuddin

12-06-07, 09:30 PM

I recently had the 2nd PCIe slot on my ABIT AN8 32X board fail recently. I applied for an RMA to ABIT, but they didn't have any AN8 32X boards in stock, so now after two months of waiting (and having bought another board), ABIT has agreed to trade up my board to one they have in stock.

I am thinking of getting an Intel socket 775 board, buying a new processor and RAM and setting up a new system (have an 8800GT ordered as well). Since I haven't really kept up with the latest chipsets, my question is, what ABIT board should I request?

I'd prefer a list of the top 3-5 boards to choose in case they don't have one in stock. I don't mind going AM2 as well if I can stick a phenom in there and get decent performance. Thanks.

BTW, I am not interested in going Crossfire or SLI anymore, so a single PCIe slot board is just as good for me. The only reason to choose dual slot is for a better chipset, future resale value or better cooling.

Qbical

12-06-07, 09:47 PM

choose something other then ABIT ;)

Salahuddin

12-06-07, 10:00 PM

choose something other then ABIT ;)

I think you failed to read my initial post properly, I am getting a FREE UPGRADE for my defective board FROM ABIT. So therefore, my selection only includes ABIT boards.

jdrom17

12-06-07, 10:19 PM

Any board based on the P35 chipset I guess if you go the Intel route.
IP35, IP35 PRO, IP35-E. The IP35V looks extremely cheap so I'd avoid it.

As for AM2, honestly, I don't see a point. Unless it's the new AMD 790FX chipset or whatever it's called. But still, the Q6600 beats the Phenom in most tasks.

JoshKorn12

12-06-07, 10:48 PM

I've had very good luck with my IX38 Quad-GT. The gripe I have is the fact that the temp readings are about 10 degrees too low.

Salahuddin

12-06-07, 10:57 PM

I was reading about an annoying double boot problem with the IP35 and IP35E, has this been fixed?

Also, I wanted RAID, so really the decision is between IP35 Pro and IP35... what are the differences between these boards aside from the number of GPU slots and cooling setup?

Ok, after a few hours of research, it looks like AM2, even the new AX78 board with the AMD 770 chipset, are all poor choices. So here is my list from order of best to worst:

1. IP35 PRO
2. IX38 QuadGT (looks like a better board than the IP35, but has got some poor reviews due to BIOS issues, not sure what you guys think)
3. IP35 (dual boot issue)
4. IN9 32X-MAX
5. AW9D-MAX
6. AW9D

Please let me know if you would suggest or change anything.

Oh and what would be the most cost effective CPU to pair up with this board? I was thinking the Core 2 Duo E6550 due to the 1333 FSB.

jdrom17

12-07-07, 04:36 PM

Salahuddin

12-07-07, 08:53 PM

The best CPU you can afford ;)

The E6550 has a pretty low multiplier though (7x), so you may want to keep that in mind if your overclocking, or buy faster RAM.

Has Abit given you a choice of what you can have for free? I have a feeling it's going to be one of the cheaper boards.

Well I was speaking to a manager and I asked him if I could select any board for a trade and he said yes, provided he can get one "in stock." Its going to be a refurbished board most likely, one that was RMAd and fixed. So, I guess we will see... I'm going to ask for the IP35 or IX38.

As for CPUs, I can afford any CPU, but I don't like wasting loads of cash on 2-5% extra performance. So really I want the most cost effective one. What do you think of the E3750?

jdrom17

12-07-07, 11:55 PM

Salahuddin

12-08-07, 12:54 AM

E6750 you mean? That has an 8x multiplier.

About a $20 difference from the 7x to 8x multi. You should be able to do roughly 3GHz on any Core 2 Duo though, it just takes a higher FSB to do it if the multi is low and thus your RAM will need to run faster too.

Yeah the E6750, don't know how the 3 got there lol. Ok I'll get that one then if I'm able to get one of those boards. I'm just going to buy some $30 OCZ DDR2 RAM when it goes on sale so it might not be very fast.

I see the Q6600 to be quite popular. Most benchies I've seen show that Core 2 Duo is as fast in games (unless you're getting a really expensive quad core)... Is it worth the $100 more to get the Q6600?

jdrom17

12-08-07, 02:20 AM

If you can afford a Q6600, by all means get it. Although new stuff is coming out Q1 2008 I believe, so you may want to hold off.

It's a tough time to buy...

Salahuddin

12-08-07, 01:47 PM

If you can afford a Q6600, by all means get it. Although new stuff is coming out Q1 2008 I believe, so you may want to hold off.

It's a tough time to buy...

Yeah, but its always a tough time to buy. I've developed this love/hate relationship with computers.

Most people seem to be recommending Q6600s over the Core 2 Duos, but current games seem to perform better on the latter, at least on the E6750. Plus it runs hotter and uses more energy... so unless you want a Q6600 for video encoding (which I don't do much of), I'm finding it hard to justify. If I can get an E6750 for under $200, I was just thinking of keeping that for 1-2 years and the upgrading if needed. I have a nice Thermalright SI-120 CPU HSF and I'm fairly confident I can get around 3.5GHZ on an E6750.

Zefram

12-10-07, 02:40 AM

Most people seem to be recommending Q6600s over the Core 2 Duos, but current games seem to perform better on the latter, at least on the E6750. Plus it runs hotter and uses more energy... so unless you want a Q6600 for video encoding (which I don't do much of), I'm finding it hard to justify.

The reason for choosing Q6600's is the fact that many, software & games would be designed with multi-core support in mind. Saying this, if you buy a Quad-Cores, you would notice performance increase as time passes by and developer rolls out more programs & games that would utilize all the cores.

a year from now, your E6750 would still perform the same, whereas programs and games might been optimized for quads and you might experience performance increase with the quads!

And............. most of the better cores are taken out from the bins and put into the quads. Most of the C2d are dud's, their overclock potential are lower than its predecessors.......... while the Core 2 Quads have phenomenal overclock results ;)

Salahuddin

12-11-07, 12:27 AM

The reason for choosing Q6600's is the fact that many, software & games would be designed with multi-core support in mind. Saying this, if you buy a Quad-Cores, you would notice performance increase as time passes by and developer rolls out more programs & games that would utilize all the cores.

a year from now, your E6750 would still perform the same, whereas programs and games might been optimized for quads and you might experience performance increase with the quads!

And............. most of the better cores are taken out from the bins and put into the quads. Most of the C2d are dud's, their overclock potential are lower than its predecessors.......... while the Core 2 Quads have phenomenal overclock results ;)

Really? Most people seem to have overclocked the E6750 very high, to about 3.6GHZ in most reviews. The Q6600 gets about 3.0GHZ in comparison.

Anyways, I couldn't help myself, I saw an E6750 for $179.99 and Corsair XMS2 DHX TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX 2GB for $39.99 so I ordered both. The best price I saw for the Q6600 was just under $270.

I know what you're saying is true, but most game now are hardly optimized for dual core. By the time games are optimized for dual core, let alone quad core, the Q6600 will probably be $20 bucks by then. I was looking at a site and it shows that the E6750 will cost you almost $70-80/year in energy costs to run. So I saved $100 now and by the time I REALLY need a quad core, it will at least be $180 or $260... which is probably enough to buy a new CPU.

But if you REALLY think I should change the order, I can get the Q6600 for $269.

Has Abit given you a choice of what you can have for free? I have a feeling it's going to be one of the cheaper boards.

Good news! I just called ABIT and I can get the IP35 for sure. They don't have stock on the IP35 Pro, but they expect it in January. They have no stock on the IX38 QuadGT yet, nor do they have an ETA, but they said if I want to wait for it, I can.

jdrom17

12-11-07, 05:56 PM

Nothing wrong with a dual-core. You can always get a Penryn (spelling?) in the New Year.

The IP35 looks decent, doesn't look ultra cheap. Don't know how well it reviews though.

Assimilator87

12-11-07, 06:34 PM

If you have a backup system to play on, then you should try to wait for the IX38. Since you're getting a free trade, you may as well get their best board.

Salahuddin

12-11-07, 09:47 PM

IP35 has only one review that I found:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/ip35_darkraider/

Seems as good as the IP35 Pro, just missing some features like onboard reset, power, diagnostic LED, external SATA, and only has 1 Gigabit and PCIe port. Plus the cooling on the IP35 Pro is a bit better.

Assimilator87, I can wait for the IX38, but most reviews show its not that great a board. It has poor performance on par with boards with the same chipset, and has some BIOS and heating issues. Perhaps these may get fixed with a BIOS update, but for now the IP35 Pro beats it out in almost all benchmarks. Still, the IX38 offers PCIe 2.0 and FSB 1600MHZ so I'm finding it a hard decision. I feel if I wait for the IX38 I'm waiting for a slower board... but if I get the IP35 I'm getting a less "futureproofed" board.

As well, the ABIT IP35 Pro has established itself as one of the best P35 chipset boards out there. The IX38 doesn't seem to be as good as X38 board compared to the competition.

omga14

12-12-07, 11:08 AM

i'm wondering when Avid is going to chime in here. He has the IX38 and seems to rather enjoy it. shoot him a pm or wait to see what he has to say based on personal real world play with the thing. good luck either way.

Salahuddin

12-12-07, 09:50 PM

Salahuddin

12-21-07, 06:21 PM

Avid's lack of response on this board is making me lean towards getting the IP35 Pro. I'm beginning to wonder if his IX38 stopped working ;) . Maybe it did have an overheating problem lol.