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Just joined tech report, this site is amazing. Seriously I cannot possibly express my appreciation to this site in words. The stuff I learned here so far is unbeatable. Site layout takes a little getting used too.

We may not have found the perfect P35 Express-based motherboard today, but in the IP35 Pro and GA-P35-DQ6, we have a couple of very good candidates. If this is how boards look just a month after the P35 chipset's release, its future is very bright indeed.

Well I just finished reading this extremely useful article comparing those mobos along with the Asus p5ks, and I notice its a bit old. Im building a new rig and I need a mobo, and based off this article, i really like the Abit IP35 PRO. But I was wondering if, since this was written, a better p35 mobo has come out?? SLI preferrably just to be futureproof.

Before this I was pretty sure I was going to go with a tigerdirect combo available atm: The nforce 680i LT SLI mobo + intel q6600 for $390. But the review from tech report of the LT discouraged me. I wasn't too fond of using fans instead of heatsinks anyways.

I do like the wifi in the p5k deluxe... im still unsure. Dont like spending the extra $$.

BY THE WAY when im looking at the past price drops for the q6600, they have like 4 month spans (between price drops) do you guys think the q6600 will be cheaper soon...???

IMPORTANT Im waiting to buy a geforce 8800 GT 512mb for $250 (standard 600 mhz core clock, nn overpriced superclocked stuff) from either zipzoomfly or amazon ($250 each) but they are OUT OF STOCK EVERYWHERE. Any idea when these beasts will come back in stock!!???!

What im planning on so far:
OCZ 2x 1024mb ddr2 800
intel q6600
geforce 8800 gt 512
rosewill 600W psu
320 gig 7200 rpm western digital.

merc stealth - unbelievable gaming keyboard w/ keypad. By far greater than the g15 imho. The g15 is way overated...
g5 mouse - waiting for a sale on either the g5 or the g5 - 7button mouse.
antec 900 - Greatest case ever
samsung dvd/cd burner

crud I think I put this in the wrong forum.

I'm pretty new around here too. Great place huh?

I have the IP35 Pro and like it very much. However I must admit that I have zero exposure to the Gigabyte or the Asus P35 boards. All 3 seem to be highly recommended.

Be sure to ask Flying Fox about the attributes of SLI.

i was about to get the asus p5k but the layout of sata ports is terrible.

dont buy asus if you have geforce8800 ultra and have a lot of hard drives. the gpu will cover half of ports.

gigabyte is much better choice in this case. just got mine delivered this morning and ill be putting the quad core rig together tonight

The Gigabyte DS3R is a P35 version of a board that was very well recieved on TR, and I have heard good things about the P35 version, I plan to use it in an upcoming build: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050">linkydoodle</a>

Thanks for input guys. I dont think im going to go with the P5k. The wifi, cool as it is, and the fancier heatsinks isn't worth the big jump in price. Im pretty sure im going with the Abit IP35 pro. The ds3r is still an option, but it doesnt offer SLI so im unsure.

Fine. I'll bite.

P35 != SLI. So you can forget about it unless you are buying a 680i board. If you don't have at least a 24" monitor I would advise against it.

Flying Fox wrote:

Fine. I'll bite.

P35 != SLI. So you can forget about it unless you are buying a 680i board. If you don't have at least a 24" monitor I would advise against it.

P35 is not equal to SLI? Your telling me that the only mobos worth using for sli are the 680i? And the 680i LT has bad reviews, so that leaves expensive mb's....

From what I know the IP35 does fine on SLI performance compared to other boards. Alot of people use p35's for SLI, I dunno why you are saying otherwise. Its massively cheaper than those high end boards though, imho it seems its the best deal there is.

ds3l doesn't offer raid, lots less usb's/sata and no sli and its $60 cheaper. I think the ip35 is a better deal....

P35 supports CrossFire, not SLI.

Kulith wrote:

Alot of people use p35's for SLI, I dunno why you are saying otherwise.

:roll: mkkay, Nvidia limits SLI to it's own SLI enabled chipsets.

ds3l doesn't offer raid, lots less usb's/sata and no sli and its $60 cheaper. I think the ip35 is a better deal....

I've got a DS3L. 12 usb ports/headers is plenty for me. I personally have no use for more than 4 SATA ports or RAID, and a second x16(x4 electrically)PCIe slot would be near useless to me. If you're really going to use > 4 SATA drives, RAID, or need an extra x4 PCIe expansion slot then go for a more expensive board, otherwise it's a great deal.

well that blows.

Think the 680i price will drop when the nForce 780i/790i comes out?

SLI is a poor upgrade path. It's only really suitable for people with 24"+ monitors. Otherwise it's more of a headache that it's worth. I'd worry about upgrading your 17" monitor before I even considered SLI as an option.

crazybus wrote:

SLI is a poor upgrade path. It's only really suitable for people with 24"+ monitors. Otherwise it's more of a headache that it's worth. I'd worry about upgrading your 17" monitor before I even considered SLI as an option.

man im PLANNING on it. I wanted to buy a futureproof mobo. Notice im buying 1x geforce 8800 gt. Im still waiting for a bargain deal for a 20" 1650x1050 widescreen or a bargain 24" 1080p monitor... seeing as I have one 17" at the moment im not in any particular hurry to waste money.

ANyways im probably going to go with the ds3l. Funny how 2 weeks ago this would have been my first choice, and since then ive probably gone through 8 mobos that I was certain I was going to buy, and now im back to where I started.

Anways I cant get a system up and running until the 8800 gt comes back in stock either. ffs.

Kulith wrote:

I wanted to buy a futureproof mobo.

Such a thing is platinum-plated unobtanium.

For me, the myriad of tweaking options available in the IP35 Pro BIOS sold me. I can control 6 fans hooked to the mobo; each fan has a choice of 3 different temp sensors as triggers and each fan can have its own temperature trigger profile. It'll even speed-control 3-pin fans hooked to the 4-pin CPU fan header. I haven't pushed an OC, but taking an E6600 to 3GHz took all of 20 seconds in the BIOS and away we went.

I may be pushing things, but I think that the IP35 Pro/E6x00 combo lives up to the standards set by the legendary BH6/300A pairing.

Captain Ned wrote:

Kulith wrote:

I wanted to buy a futureproof mobo.

Such a thing is platinum-plated unobtanium.

Especially with the new Intel rollout strategy, by this time next year Nehalem will be upon us (or close), which "consensus speculations" suggest at least a socket change, meaning a new motherboard.

Captain Ned wrote:

Kulith wrote:

I wanted to buy a futureproof mobo.

Such a thing is platinum-plated unobtanium.

For me, the myriad of tweaking options available in the IP35 Pro BIOS sold me. I can control 6 fans hooked to the mobo; each fan has a choice of 3 different temp sensors as triggers and each fan can have its own temperature trigger profile. It'll even speed-control 3-pin fans hooked to the 4-pin CPU fan header. I haven't pushed an OC, but taking an E6600 to 3GHz took all of 20 seconds in the BIOS and away we went.

I may be pushing things, but I think that the IP35 Pro/E6x00 combo lives up to the standards set by the legendary BH6/300A pairing.

lol your not helping much. I just decided not to get the ip35 pro and your making me reconsider again. What if I get the Abit ip35, what other features am I losing? Is the bios different? When comparing the ip35 and the ds3r whats the better deal.

What combo deal are you talking about? Or do you mean just pairing it up with a Ex00. I was going to go quad core.

What does 1 x PCI-E X16 , 1 x PCI-E X16 (x4 bandwidth) mean on it. 1 normal PCIE and I dunno what x4 bandwidth is refering to.

EDIT: dont like what im learning about the ip35, double boot issues and stuff. Its either the ds3r/ds3l or the ip35 pro. Definitely will not be doing xfire, but I still like the features of the ip35 pro.

get the dsr3. the ip35 pro is $60 more and certainly wont give you $60 more functionality or performance.
edit: $85, not $60 see below

Have you seen the TR System Guide? And what's the mobo for the Sweet Spot? That's right...the Abit IP35 Pro. There are pros and cons for every board, but overall, the IP35Pro is an outstanding choice.

I think SLI is on the same level as Ageia PhysX cards.

RickyTick wrote:

Have you seen the TR System Guide? And what's the mobo for the Sweet Spot? That's right...the Abit IP35 Pro. There are pros and cons for every board, but overall, the IP35Pro is an outstanding choice.

to answer his question:

Kulith wrote:

When comparing the ip35 and the ds3r whats the better deal.

the IP35 pro is an excellent board. the ds3r is also an excellent board and a helluva better deal than the IP35pro.
GA-P35-DS3R- $99.99
Abit IP35 Pro - $184.99
frankly the $85 could be spent on components that actually would make a difference, like another 2 gigs of ram.

Its actually $65 more after $20 mir on newegg.

I will make a decision soon. I still dont know whats the use of the second pcie slot on the ip35 pro??

Kulith wrote:

I will make a decision soon. I still dont know whats the use of the second pcie slot on the ip35 pro??

You can do x16/x4 CrossFire, or you can plug an x4 or x1 PCIe card in that slot.

Don't do SLI unless you want the BEST performance NOW. That's the real purpose of SLI.


For instance, I had an x1950Pro which I paid $150 for. Now I just upgraded to a 3850 which is faster than my x1950Pro would've been in CrossFire. I managed to sell the x1950Pro on Craigslist for $140 making the 3850 effectively only cost me about $50.

There's no X1950Pro, used or otherwise, that I can buy for $50.

The moral of the story is that crossfire and sli aren't really worth considering as an upgrade path =/