Understanding chipsets and believing reviews...

[holcikam]

Hi folks. I come to you with two questions.

The first is the former part of the title. Where can I go to learn about chipsets and how they work and what makes a chipset good vs. bad, etc. Is is simply experience, or are there things to look for?

The second part is that I'm still tossing up the Asus P5N-E and I've heard good things about the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R. I've hard bad things from people about the P5N due to memory and bios issues(alot of them) and then wherever I look for info ont he Gigabyte board - as none of my friends actually own it - I see poor reviews on it.

So help me decide! I don't have any plan to SLI graphics cards, plan to use SATA HD, am not looking to get a sound card (well maybe if the OB ones really stink). Don't decide for me, but help me make an educated decision is what I'm really asking I guess.

As always, thanks!

[Jamie Nixx]

Get the Gigabyte mobo.

With the release of the X38 chipset the P35 board has gone down in price.

Google P35 Vs 680i or 650i and you should get a lot of info

[The Wise Monkey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipset

Suprisingly good information.

I have that Gigabyte board myself, and it is definitely a good board - future proof because it supports DDR3 RAM as well as DDR2, so you can upgrade if you want to. Also, it has a 1333MHz FSB which utilises the e6x50 range of processors to their best.

Its up to you really. If you want the best gaming performance, go for the 650i/680i. If you want more reliability and future proofing, go for the P35 chipset. :)

[holcikam]

cool thanks guys.

I guess I always thought there was alot more to chipsets. LI thought that certain parts work better together than others, and that people can mix them, but I guess not? From what I now understand, each board comes with a chipset from a certain manufacturer, and all the south board chips are from this manufacturer, be it nvidea, ATI, silicon, etc. , correct?

So it's not like the chipsets can be mixed at all. They are set, and just like an add on card, they are a bundle that comes with a board. But that this bundle, really helps define a boards capabilities.

Did I miss anything?

Yeah that gigabyte mobo is on sale for like 120 bucks at the microcenter by me, so I thought I'd find out about it. Thanks, as always!