New Motherboard, P35 or 650i? Also need info on Abit IP-35

[Bobendren]

Hi all,

I need to put together a new PC as my old motherboard blew up.

I've drawn up a list of motherboards (feel free to suggest others):


650i SLI Chipset
----------------------------
Asus P5N-E SLI Nvidia 650i
MSI P6N SLI Nvidia P650i Platinum


P35 Chipset
---------------------------
Gigabyte GA-P35-S3
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Abit IP35-E
Abit IP35
Abit IP35-Pro (a bit pricey)


1) Can I use the lower slot on these SLI boards? Will the gfx card run at 16x?
Reason being I want to get a passive zalman or thermalright heatsink for the gfx card which will work best if positioned above the card. I think the heatsink might interfere with motherboard components if the gfx card is installed in the top slot.

2) How much hotter does the P35 run than the 650?
Google returned a figure of 14,5W for the P35, but I can't find anything on the 650. From forums i've read it would seem it runs pretty hot - at least hotter than the P35.

3) Are there any limiting factors to these boards...like small vcore/vdimm range etc?

4) Which boards have decent fan control and/or are compatible with speedfan? The Abit's seem to be the best in this regard, but only the "Pro" version features the uGuru chip. Does the IP35 (non-pro) work with speedfan? Does it have any bios fan control at all?

[laguz1]

Hi all,
1) Can I use the lower slot on these SLI boards? Will the gfx card run at 16x?

well, on the gigabyte DS3R, IP35-E, and IP35, you only have one x16 slot...

on the ip35 pro, you run a second x16, but you won't be getting true x16 bandwidth..i think its only x4 for that board

for the n650 chipset, the asus p5n-e can run sli x16, but at x8 each (you use that card to switch)

2) How much hotter does the P35 run than the 650?
Google returned a figure of 14,5W for the P35, but I can't find anything on the 650. From forums i've read it would seem it runs pretty hot - at least hotter than the P35.

Yeah, the N650 runs hotter than a P35. P35 stock NB cooling is good if you don't oc a lot, and it depends on the board...The IP35/pro version has great NB cooling, and the DS3R is good enough if you don't do huge oc's.

I would get the DS3R - gigabyte makes solid mobos, all solid caps, low voltage mofsets, and its blue!

The IP35 and -E versions have a double boot that adds likes 14 sec to your startup, and the IP35 pro is pricey and useless if you don't need the extra features like CMOS display, external reset, second x16, and e-Sata's...

basically people get p35's since they oc' great, run cool, and have support for ddr3

[Bobendren]

Hi all,
1) Can I use the lower slot on these SLI boards? Will the gfx card run at 16x?

well, on the gigabyte DS3R, IP35-E, and IP35, you only have one x16 slot...

on the ip35 pro, you run a second x16, but you won't be getting true x16 bandwidth..i think its only x4 for that board

for the n650 chipset, the asus p5n-e can run sli x16, but at x8 each (you use that card to switch)

Sorry I should have been clearer. The P35 boards don't support SLI so I was referring to just the 650i boards when I said SLI. Also I have no intention of ever running two graphics cards. So to rephrase...

Does the lower slot on the 650 SLI boards support 16x with one graphics card installed in that slot? Also I've read there are "optimizations" for the upper slot...what ever that means.

Yeah, on the P35 boards the lower PCI-E slot runs at 4x. I wonder how much of a difference that actually makes though?

The IP35 and -E versions have a double boot that adds likes 14 sec to your startup

mmm...i did read about that at some point. Haven't they sorted that out yet? That kind of thing would drive me up the wall.

[laguz1]

I think all N650 boards can only do x8 SLI...since that was the major diff between 680i and 650i boards

but i would stick to a P35 board if you are building a pc now

well i know for SLI x8 was only slightly lower than x16 performance - little enough to be of major concern... but honestly, i'm not sure how the x4 works...i think it goes x16 + x4?

[sunefred]

4) Which boards have decent fan control and/or are compatible with speedfan? The Abit's seem to be the best in this regard, but only the "Pro" version features the uGuru chip. Does the IP35 (non-pro) work with speedfan? Does it have any bios fan control at all?

I can answer atleast part of this. All the listed Abit boards have the FanEQ regardless of uGuru or not. With it you can manually set temperatures and corresponding voltages. The ip35-e and ip35 only controls two fans however, while th ip35 pro supports six. The gigabyte boars have no manual control as far as I remember. I suggest you take a look at the downloadable manuals from abit and gigabyte homepage.

[Bobendren]

4) Which boards have decent fan control and/or are compatible with speedfan? The Abit's seem to be the best in this regard, but only the "Pro" version features the uGuru chip. Does the IP35 (non-pro) work with speedfan? Does it have any bios fan control at all?

I can answer atleast part of this. All the listed Abit boards have the FanEQ regardless of uGuru or not. With it you can manually set temperatures and corresponding voltages. The ip35-e and ip35 only controls two fans however, while th ip35 pro supports six. The gigabyte boars have no
manual control as far as I remember. I suggest you take a look at the downloadable manuals from abit and gigabyte homepage.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

I think I only need two controllable fan headers anyway, one for the cpu fan and one for the system fan. I just need to make sure the gfx card works with ATITool's fan control.

I got this from Abit's IP35/IP35-E manual:

CPU FanEQ Control

When set to [Enabled], these items control the CPU fan speed by the following setting combinations.

- CPU FAN Type

This item selects your CPU fan type.

[4 Pin]: Leave this item at its default [4 Pin] setting for connecting a 4-pin cooling fan to the “CPUFAN1â€