Netizen1's (re)Birthed Rig

[Arcmanov]

OK, check this direct comparison of the two.
The FIRST thing I noticed with the Pro is the semi-bad placement of SATA ports.  If you have to fiddle around with two
4870 beasties in Crossfire, you may encounter quite a bit of issues with the SATA ports being where they are.

Technically, it should perform the same as the P5Q-E, but what I meant by 'proper' is the actual layout of the boards themselves.
I just don't like how the Pro is laid out.  Also, look at the MOS-FET cooling around the CPU socket.  Better heatsinks
on the E all around.  If you look closely, you may find some other little issues with the Pro as well.

[Spazosaurus]

All P45 boards will give you 8x bandwidth in crossfire mode.

Aside from questionable ergonomics, performance wise, i'm 99.99% sure that they perform within 0.5% of each other.

The board I just swap out had some very cheap looking heatsinks on the nb and sb and it didnt hurt performance none, neither was it an 8 phase design with an army of capacitors around the cpu socket. Yes the 'E' is better, but only by "ah umph"

[Redfish]

Netizen why not just get a X2 card instead of going through all that trouble of trying to go crossfire? I aint fussin up to put no two cards in a system when I can find one(doesn't have to be a 500us card mind you) that does quite well.

If I am not mistaken prices have gone down on nvidia's X2 cards due to the midrange battle between them and ATI.

Just a suggestion

[phoenix31tt]

yes very good suggestion by redfish

and correct @ capt...

most of these p45 boards performing well... however cooling on ur chipset/mosfets etc is much needed if you gonna be running high fsb's

the advice i give to people... is get whatever p45 board u can afford... shoping for mobo's is very easy these days...

[Netizen1]

Actually looking at a MSI board that isn't Crossfire...

MSI P7N SLI Platinum

Same price as the Asus P5Q PRO

Thanks to Arcman, for putting up with all my questions on msn the other night.

[Arcmanov]

Actually looking at a MSI board that isn't Crossfire...

MSI P7N SLI Platinum

Same price as the Asus P5Q PRO

Thanks to Arcman, for putting up with all my questions on msn the other night.

Not a problem.  Always glad to help.

[phoenix31tt]

ummm... i would go with the p45 chipset over the 750i

[Kraeoss]

yea.... P45 kinda better than nvidia chipsets

[Arcmanov]

That may not exactly be true, but trust me, he does not require a Crossfire board, as he does not like ATI
cards, and may want to run SLI cheaply in the future.  Hence my recommendation.

kthnxbai.

[phoenix31tt]

yea but... have u used any nvidia based board upwards of a 650i?

trust me on this one... go with the intel chipset

[Netizen1]

yea but... have u used any nvidia based board upwards of a 650i?

trust me on this one... go with the intel chipset

what's so wrong with the nvidia chipsets?

[phoenix31tt]

what's so wrong with the nvidia chipsets?

you will begin noticing alot of issues with them and they include:
random blue screens (vista or xp)
usb ports not functioning
nic nots working and somethings flooding the network with bad packets etc

and thats just off the top of my head...

[Netizen1]

so phoenix, you'd go for the single PCI-e P5Q (plain) over the triple PCI-e P7N SLI Platinum?

[phoenix31tt]

but the p5q-e and the p7n Platinum is the same price...

i would go for the p5q-e (which i have neway)

[Spazosaurus]

Maybe he wants to run SLI. If not, then let him get an nvidia board, its his dough.

[phoenix31tt]

Maybe he wants to run SLI. If not, then let him get an nvidia board, its his dough.

i would say ok if he wants sli... but hi listed the p5q as an option (1 pci-e slot)... which says to me... dual card solutions not necessary for him

[Arcmanov]

The man has made up his mind, and it's his money.  He made a choice based on the available options,
and more importantly, his preference. The P7N is quite capable.  I have seen/read nothing to indicate otherwise.

I too, prefer the Asus P5Q-E, but he indicated his preference for a Nvidia chipset.

Netizen1, if you're in any doubt, read some reviews.

[MessiaaH]

Ok, i think its time i jump in here.
When ppl telin alyuh what's best, alyuh want to play alyuh won man, and gone buy mess.

Phoenix, Isme2003, and myself, dont have d top 3 scores on gatt by guess.

Now to address the nvidia chipset issue. I have personal long term expereince with both ATI and Nvidia.
Im not a fanboy, and i have no loyalties, whatever is d best most stable solution i go with that.
Ive been through ATI 9700 PRO, to Nvidia 7800GT, to 8800GTX SLI, now 4870X2.

Now, whatever u do, STAY AWAY from the 650i chipset and up. THEY ARE FAULTY.
When i bought my 680i board, it worked fine., Beutifully, 3way sli, couldnt go wrong, one of d the best boards i ever bought. In so much i upgraded ot the 780i. but the chipset has longterm Flaws.

All of these i have exepreinced, on 3 680i board, in 3 different machiens, with 3 different configures.
And i also experience similar problems on my 780i board, also my friend with a 650i board has issues.

Random Bluescereen of death.
USB Ports malfunctioning, in some cases sending bad voltage to external devices damagin them.
NIC Problems, (My 780i board took 0.0.0.0 as the defaault gateway from my dhcp one day :s)
More NIC Problems (680i board on a totaly different network, crashed the whole network, becuase the nic was flodding bad packets, and crahsed the switch.

Problems with BIOS (sometimes this chipset will change the settings in your bios cause it feels to do so. and you wont realise unless you go in and check)
Problem with bios - where it refuses to take settings it should, like proper memory timings etc.
Problem with SLI! - ive tested over 30 Nvidia drivers, and the only driver i coudl get to r un my 8800GTX SLI stable, wihtout crashin all d bleddy time, is the 169.28 driver. The 8800GT sli and up have better support, but still be warned.

Now if all those negatives are not enough to convince u to stay away from nvidia i dont know what is.
Arcman said he read nothing indicatin this chipset has a proble. Guess what, You all just READ SOMETHING.

This is my personal experinces, with multiple board on multiple configures, and reserach has shown, others have expereinced same problems, and currently hate nvidia for it. even some professional reviewers who have moved from the 780i to the maximus formula ii can atess to this.

P45 chipset is the best ddr2 chipset right now, and the asus line of boards are great.
My easy Overclcokg to 3.6GHz with just 1.4volts on the vcore, shoudl attest to this.
On the 780i board it took 1.55 Volts just to reach 3.5GHz.

So bottom line. Do not buy a nvidia based board right now. Wait for them to fix d shit dey do.
there are cheap 9800GX2s if you want a nvidia gpu, but dont go with a nviida board.

[Netizen1]

Okay, so bottom line, the nVidia chipsets are to be avoided.

Intel P45 ftw

But I don't really like ATI GPU's, single or in Crossfire

Therefore, should I just go back to the original consideration, a P5Q (plain as in non-Crossfire)

[phoenix31tt]

But I don't really like ATI GPU's, single or in Crossfire

Therefore, should I just go back to the original consideration, a P5Q (plain as in non-Crossfire)

i'm quite allright with that... u can get a gtx260 or something for a reasonable price..

and as i said before... dont look @ the board as crossfire/non-crossfire... its the chipset that really determines that... so in either case u are goin with a "crossfire" supported board (i.e. intel p45)...

if u can afford it i would recommend the p5q-e or pro etc... you will get higher quality components and cooling with those boards, thus ensuring a long life of the product, nevermind that it says "crossfire", the board only becomes crossfire if u put 2 ATI gcards in it and connect them...

all that said... i honesly dont see any problem with a plain p5q (just make sure it has all the available slots u would require etc)