Hi, I am a first-time builder and just wanted to know how the Asus P5Q compares to the P5N. Are they more or less the same boards, its just that one supports ATI Crossfire and the other supports Nvidia SLI? I am planning on installing a single geforce 9800GTX+ OC card on the mobo. Would the card work in the P5Q or do i have to go for an nvidia chipset? Are nvidia chipsets really that bad compared to intel chipsets? What are the improved technology changes between the 650i,680i and 750i? Thanks, much appreciated
Definitely get the Intel board. It's not that nvidia chipset is bad, it's just that Intel chipset are very refined. No known issues, very stable, overclockable, fast. I'm using P35 chipset based motherboard, it is very stable. If you are not planning to run mutil card, any Intel board will do.
If you only intend to use a single graphics card, the choice is obvious - Intel chipset FTW! As hard as NVIDIA is trying, Intel's chipset development team has decades of experience and this experience shows in the quality of their chipset and drivers. Incidentally, Intel has chosen to support ATI CrossFire so all Intel 4-Series motherboard will support ATI CrossFire. Even the future X58 chipset will support ATI CrossFire.
yes, intel chipsets ftw the card you getting will work on all the mobo (no matter Intel or Nvidia chipset) as long you're running it in single card. for dual setup, 1 must either get an Intel chipset (ATI[Crossfire/Xfire]) or nvidia chipset (nvidia[SLI])
man u have no idea how appreciative i am. without this place i would be lost XD. And ye due to all the feedback i have been receiving lately on the forums and speaking with techie friends I think i'll be getting the 4850 instead of the 9800 gtx+. the benchmarks on tomshardware kind of sealed it for me. The thing is ill be running a 24' samsung display and apparently the 4850 runs best on the 1900x1200 resolution. Also whats this thing I keep hearing about anti-aliasing (AA)? Also is there such thing as an overclocked version of the 4850HD equivalent to the 9800GTX+ oc? Thanks again
HD4850 at 1900x1200? from my experience - you might regret it, depending on what games you play and how demanding are you on graphic settings. For 1900x1200, perhaps you should consider the HD4870 instead. Or maybe the GTX260. Of if you're not picky on graphic details, then yeah go ahead with HD4850. AA = Anti-Aliasing. It smooths the edges of the graphics you see on your screen.
Ye I'm not too picky on details, I would definitely like to try AA tho, that would be a first for me. =)
I highly recommend that you stick to a smaller screen. You will regret unless you get a faster card like what goldfries said.
well, stick to smaller screen (22 XD) ..you're running a 4850 :3 Btw if you wanna go for a oc version of the 4850, i think i'll recommand the Gainward 4850GS model, which is currently the fastest(4850)? i think so..correct me if i'm wrong..
hmm this OC version seems promising..but still u guys recommend a 22' even if I were to get the OC version? do the core speeds mean the difference between gettin a 22 or 24' or is it simply the architecture of the 4850 versus that of the 4870?
4870 has significantly more memory bandwidth using GDDR5, so it has a significant advantage, not even OC version will be close. Infact OC version is negligible, you can overclock on your own if you want.
fastest, yes ......but by how much? if you noticed, i stopped graphic card overclocking in my reviews. i find the gains are insignificant in general, and compare that to the amount of reboot / crashes - pfffft. it's wasting time. actually even for 22", the HD4870 would be better. FYI I tried GTX280 on my 20" with Crysis on VERY HIGH settings (DX10) and 4x AA - it crawls! it's barely playable. BARELY. but then that's just that lousy game, all else are more than playable.
