What chipset - changing it for PCI-E 2.0

[Oobie-]

Hey guys,
In this setup I did for a mate:



I realised that I needed to switch it to a mobo that has PCI-E 2.0 - but none of the p35 chipsets do it, so I wanted to know what chipset you would recommend?
Just going for best performance really - gaming and processing work (certain software)

Budget goes up to about £770

Also as a side Q: is it worth getting DDR3 modules yet?

(Any other changes you guys would suggest would be appreciated)

Thanks

[shaithis]

Either get an X38 or X48 chipset board now (£100-£150) or wait a bit and get a full X58 setup with Core i7 (will be pricey, expect that £770 to get completely eaten by CPU, motherboard and DDR3 RAM)

Switching to DDR3 will give very little benefit unless your into synthetic benchmarking.

[shomei]

I realised that I needed to switch it to a mobo that has PCI-E 2.0 - but none of the p35 chipsets do it, so I wanted to know what chipset you would recommend?
Just going for best performance really - gaming and processing work (certain software)

If you don't really care about crossfire you could always get a P45 motherboard which offers pcie 2.0 and has better price/performance ratio than the x38/x48 and consumes less power.
Some good motherboards would be:
Asus P5Q-E: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=818508
DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS Plus: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=884418
Gigabyte EP45-DS3http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=839037

If you do care about crossfire, then go for a X38/X48 motherboard.

As for the DDR3 modules, I think you shouldn't bother yet. Of course you gain some performance, but not enough for what you pay for.

[kalniel]

I realised that I needed to switch it to a mobo that has PCI-E 2.0

Why? PCI-E 2.0 is completely backwards compatible - both cards and slots.

[Oobie-]

Yes I realise this kalniel but - for the sake of not having something ramped down to PCI-E 1.0 just because I couldn't change the motherboard, doesn't seem that logical when you're buying a brand new setup and want it to last a while.

[Webby]

Well if I was you I would be looking at either the DFI DK P45 Plus or the DK x38 both about £105, if crossfire is ever going to be an option then go for the X38 otherwise the P45 is the newer chipset and has a newer Southbridge as well.

[kalniel]

Yes I realise this kalniel but - for the sake of not having something ramped down to PCI-E 1.0 just because I couldn't change the motherboard, doesn't seem that logical when you're buying a brand new setup and want it to last a while.

Fair enough, though I don't think anything will be ramped down in the lifetime of the motherboard. At the same price it's a no-brainer to go 2.0, just don't pay extra for it.

[Pob255]

AFAIK there still is no single gpu graphics card that is comming close to saturating a pci-e 1.0 bandwidth going to 2.0 because it's 2.0 is pointless atm.

I'd actually put forward the basic Asus P5Q
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=818511
Because it's cheaper at £86 not because it's pci-e 2.0

[Oobie-]

Fair enough, though I don't think anything will be ramped down in the lifetime of the motherboard. At the same price it's a no-brainer to go 2.0, just don't pay extra for it.

I get you.

Thanks for the replies guys. I might go with the ASUS p5Q which pob suggested or the gigabyte DS3