p35, 680i, 780i, x38, and x48 differences

WhiteFireDragon said:
ok so from all this here is what i get from this discussion and please correct me if i'm wrong:

p31, p35, x38, x48 - intel
610i, 680i, 750i, 780i, 790i - nvidia

p31, p35 - single gfx
x38, x48 - xfire
610i, 680i, 750i, 780i, 790i - sli

1) all of them support ddr2 memory except 790i, which uses ddr3. is the 790i backwards compatible to use ddr2?

2) what is specific the differences in the 600i series and the 700i series other than release dates?

3) what is the specific differences in the x38 and x48 series? other than release dates?

4) most important question, which of these are generally better OCers?
Click to expand...

1) No, memory modules are not backwards compatible. Nor are they forward compatible =P If you get a board that uses DDR2, you will not be able to use DDR3 (and vice versa).

2) the 700 series all have 3x PCI-e, instead of 2x. So you can add up to 3 discrete video cards on a single board for SLIx3.

3) I don't know much about those chipsets. I assume it follows the same pattern as the 600 to 700 series nvidia chipsets.

4) I've always used nVidia for my chipsets. Does that mean their the best? I don't know. I've had good fortune with them is all I can really say.
 
Just curious, but what are capacitors? I'm actually trying to decide whether I want a mobo with a Nvidia chip 790i SLI I think is called, and a X38 or X46, forgot which. Also, what is crossfire? And if I were to get a mobo with the 790i chipset, will I have to use Windows Vista inorder to use that feature? (its a feature that allows you to use two graphics card of the same type to shorten graphic processing, right?)
 
Trio said:
Just curious, but what are capacitors? I'm actually trying to decide whether I want a mobo with a Nvidia chip 790i SLI I think is called, and a X38 or X46, forgot which. Also, what is crossfire? And if I were to get a mobo with the 790i chipset, will I have to use Windows Vista inorder to use that feature? (its a feature that allows you to use two graphics card of the same type to shorten graphic processing, right?)
Click to expand...
Crossfire is ATI's version of SLI, which uses multiple video cards together to improve performance. And no, you don't need Vista in order to use the SLI feature of the 790i.

This is a capacitor:

capacitor.jpg


They are used for holding energy. The term "solid capacitor" refers to higher quality capacitors in a nutshell.
 
[-0MEGA-];958533 said:
They are used for holding energy. The term "solid capacitor" refers to higher quality capacitors in a nutshell.
Click to expand...

Smoothening out Voltages is what they are used for mainly :) (but yea, that comes down to holding and releasing voltage really fast, to make a jagged voltage smooth)
 
[-0MEGA-];958533 said:
Crossfire is ATI's version of SLI, which uses multiple video cards together to improve performance. And no, you don't need Vista in order to use the SLI feature of the 790i.

This is a capacitor:

capacitor.jpg


They are used for holding energy. The term "solid capacitor" refers to higher quality capacitors in a nutshell.
Click to expand...
This website says I need to use Vista to use a three-way SLI...

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index.php?x=reviews&id=746&page=2

We see that the Striker II NSE has three PCI-E 2.0 slots. The 790i SLI chipset supports 3-way SLI. All cards have to be "identical", which means the same GPU, clockrate, and amount of memory. If using two cards for SLI, you use the two blue slots, use the white one only if a third card is being used. Keep in mind that if you are considering SLI it is of great importance that your power supply is powerful enough. Find SLI certified power supply ratings at nVidia's SLI technology pages.



Note that 3-way SLI is only available if Vista is your O/S.
Click to expand...

But a two-way SLI is available for any os?
 
yes, for three-way SLI, you do need Vista, but not for two-way. There may be some third party drivers to make triple-SLI work for XP, idk
 
Another question: SLI and Crossfire in a way is like OCing- to boost performance, correct? Is SLI and Crossfire really needed for games? I mean, there aren't any games out that *requires* two Graphic cards, right?
 
Trio said:
Another question: SLI and Crossfire in a way is like OCing- to boost performance, correct? Is SLI and Crossfire really needed for games? I mean, there aren't any games out that *requires* two Graphic cards, right?
Click to expand...

its not like OCing, its like adding more hardware to make the computer more powerful. There are no games that require SLI or Crossfire.
 
Nope, nothing requires it and it's not very cost efficient. It follows the law of diminishing marginal returns. The more you spend on a computer past a certain price, the less performance boost you gain.
 
oregon said:
Nope, nothing requires it and it's not very cost efficient. It follows the law of diminishing marginal returns. The more you spend on a computer past a certain price, the less performance boost you gain.
Click to expand...

And what price would that be? And could someone have two cheap graphics card working together and it'll be just as fast as an uber expensive one? Sorry for asking such newbie/stupid questions...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top