X38 vs P35

L

lucky7

New Member
Im going to be getting one of the new 45nm processors and i was wondering if it would hurt my computer to get the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L. If it will slow my computer down i was looking to get the GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 but thats $107 more so i want to know if it will really make a difference.
 
There is no difference in performance between the two chipsets. The only real and significant advantage the X38 has is the additional PCIe slot. If you do not plan on having two GPUs, go P35.
 
Theres really no difference, the x38 i would say is more "future proof" and supports crossfire. But if you dont need that, then the P35 is fine. Im not sure if it will support the 45nm without a bios update or not. The MSI Neo2-FR is suppose to support it, and should post with any bios. Thus you can flash it to the latest. I'm probably going to get that MSI board..
 
So if I ever want to upgrade to Intel later on, and I'm not dual GPU'ing then I can get the P35? or even the P31?? (To use with 45nm cpus)
 
P35, most are. BUT some board manufactures might require a bios update in order to even post. (ie: you would have to use a supported chip to flash bios)
 
but the X38 also has higher fsb speeds (among other differences)...however I'm not sure if that really would even matter. (just pointing it out)
 
vonfeldt7 said:
but the X38 also has higher fsb speeds (among other differences)...however I'm not sure if that really would even matter. (just pointing it out)
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If you are looking at X38s with FSB speeds of 1333Mhz, well there are P35s with the same Speed. If you are speaking of X38s with more speed than this, then it really will not be utilized, most good CPUs are 1333Hhz.
 
JLV2k5 said:
There is no difference in performance between the two chipsets. The only real and significant advantage the X38 has is the additional PCIe slot. If you do not plan on having two GPUs, go P35.
Click to expand...

P35 - PCI-E x16, needs CMOS flash for 45nm, thus a bit less stable, and some (DS3L) do not support DDR3

X38 - PCI-E 2.0, native support for 45nm, thus a bit more stable, DDR3
 
oscaryu1 said:
P35 - PCI-E x16, needs CMOS flash for 45nm, thus a bit less stable, and some (DS3L) do not support DDR3

X38 - PCI-E 2.0, native support for 45nm, thus a bit more stable, DDR3
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nailed it on the head, if you are going budget p35 will do you good if you have an older intel to do the bios flash, if you dont the x38 is the way to go. If you could wait the x48 is supposed to be nice plus when it comes out it might drop the x38 price a bit to make it slightly more budget friendly
 
oscaryu1 said:
P35 - PCI-E x16, needs CMOS flash for 45nm, thus a bit less stable, and some (DS3L) do not support DDR3

X38 - PCI-E 2.0, native support for 45nm, thus a bit more stable, DDR3
Click to expand...
Just because the P35 may need a BIOS flash doesn't make it any less stable with 45nm processors. Also, not all X38's use DDR3, some use DDR2.

You forgot to mention a few things, such as the X38 supports full PCI-E 2.0 x16 speeds on both slots, vs the P35 which has one slot running at x16 and the other ones at 4x. Also, the X38's support 1600MHz/1333MHz bus speeds.
 
lucky7 said:
How do i do a bios flash and cmos update?
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I am not saying this to be mean or a dick. But if you do not know how to flash a bio's, then you would be better off with the x38. Flashing a bios can be the most dangerous thing you can do to a computer. It's not a hard thing to do (its very easy actually) but if you mess it up, then your motherboard is dead.

Most newer motherboards come with utility's to flash a bios, directly from Windows, so that you do not have to use DOS to do it. They will even down load the file you need. But you have to be very careful that it is the correct file before flashing. Also you need to make sure you back up the old Bios just encase the new one fails to work, you can flash with the old one.
 
Hmm that does sound pretty tough to do but if i dont flash the bios wat will happen? Will there be any negative results for my computer?
 
If the p35 needs to have the bios flashed to run the newer 45nm chips, then you would need to flash it to run the new cpu's.
 
paratwa said:
If the p35 needs to have the bios flashed to run the newer 45nm chips, then you would need to flash it to run the new cpu's.
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Not necessarily, many of the newer P35 motherboards already are shipped with a newer BIOS revision. Flashing the BIOS is very easy to do, with the P35 all you need to do is save the new BIOS file onto a flash drive or other media, go into the BIOS and enter the flash utility, and then upgrade. However if something happens such as you restart the computer during the process, it could brick the motherboard. However a few motherboards have dual-BIOS's, so that wouldn't be a problem there.
 
[-0MEGA-];883189 said:
Not necessarily, many of the newer P35 motherboards already are shipped with a newer BIOS revision. Flashing the BIOS is very easy to do, with the P35 all you need to do is save the new BIOS file onto a flash drive or other media, go into the BIOS and enter the flash utility, and then upgrade. However if something happens such as you restart the computer during the process, it could brick the motherboard. However a few motherboards have dual-BIOS's, so that wouldn't be a problem there.
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I did say IF it needs to be flashed. I realize some come capable of running 45nm chips from the factory. And yes I know it's easy to flash the bios. But things do happen.

And Gigabyte boards are the most abundant when it comes to dual bio's.
 
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