# XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI ATX  or GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR?



## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

in your opinon wich board would be a better choice for me,I would presume the xfx board but maybe there is something that Iam not seeing, as Iam not to familiar with this newer stuff, and its hard to teach an old dog new tricks  lol Dragon


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## sneekypeet (Dec 19, 2009)

if SLI is not a must on the list of things to do, I say go for the P45. If overclocking doesnt matter to your plans either, than just buy what looks good


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

no sli is not a factor, but o/cing is my main reason for upgradeing my current acer crapola board, thanx for your answer  Dragon


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## sneekypeet (Dec 19, 2009)

From what I have heard the 790's may have a FSB hole. The P45 should be a better clocker.
Wait around for some other input, but I think that's the way it went


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## method526 (Dec 19, 2009)

i say:
p45 for overclocking
790i if you want to crunch/fold/etc.


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## Broom2455 (Dec 19, 2009)

*790 boards*

I have an ASUS Striker II Extreme 790i board, I haven't discovered an FSB hole yet. 
Q9550 E0 @ 3.6 running on air. 
Going for higher o/c soon


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## sneekypeet (Dec 19, 2009)

Broom2455 said:


> I have an ASUS Striker II Extreme 790i board, I haven't discovered an FSB hole yet.
> Q9550 E0 @ 3.6 running on air.
> Going for higher o/c soon



Sorry should have been more specific to the EVGA and XFX versions. Then again I may just be confused.


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

great info guys!  Dragon


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## Asylum (Dec 19, 2009)

If your just overclocking and your not planning on doing any SLI.
The GIGABYTE P45 board is the way to go.
I have owned both and the P45 was a better clocker.


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

Asylum said:


> If your just overclocking and your not planning on doing any SLI.
> The GIGABYTE P45 board is the way to go.
> I have owned both and the P45 was a better clocker.



great to hear, will get new board right after xmas, found a new place/website that is in canada and the prices are great as well,thats were I will be getting my new board from, the xfx board looks super hot,but everything is leaning towards the gig p45 board for my uses anyways  Dragon


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## DaedalusHelios (Dec 19, 2009)

Yeah a gigabyte P45 will out OC any Nvidia chipset unless the 790i has extreme cooling because the 790i generates a ton of heat. Some P45's reach the coveted 500+ FSB when OC'ing(that means 2,000FSB when looking at board specs).

Fitseries has had tons of them back in the day.


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## Broom2455 (Dec 19, 2009)

Sitting here with 3.6 o/c NB 57 degrees, Southbridge 46 degrees in my nice new HAF 922


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## DaedalusHelios (Dec 19, 2009)

Broom2455 said:


> Sitting here with 3.6 o/c NB 57 degrees, Southbridge 46 degrees in my nice new HAF 922



What are the temps when you take it to 500 FSB?(you will need extra volts on any board)

I was just wondering if you can even get there without extreme cooling. My 780i's(I have had 8 of them) would all stop at 1450FSB with 80C+ Northbridge temps. The 750i's(I have had 3) would get to the same FSB with less volts but still get really hot 70C+.

Those temps are under Prime95. You should run Prime or similar test to know if it is really stable and check the temps. Under load is the important temp measurement IMO.


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

geez cant wait till I get my new board I know for sure that I will be asking alot of questions regarding o/cing with it! Iam going to try and set it up first without reformatting the harddrive! Iam hopeing that with abit of luck it may boot up.I know this isnt the best way to set up a new m/b, but I will give it a try anyways  Dragon


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## LittleLizard (Dec 19, 2009)

If u go with the 790i, you MUST reformat but if you went with the p45, if they have same nic controller and audio codec, then it may work without refformat


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 19, 2009)

LittleLizard said:


> If u go with the 790i, you MUST reformat but if you went with the p45, if they have same nic controller and audio codec, then it may work without refformat



very interesting! thats good as iam going to go with the p45 for sure now  thanx Dragon


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## aCid888* (Dec 19, 2009)

DaedalusHelios said:


> What are the temps when you take it to 500 FSB?(you will need extra volts on any board)
> 
> I was just wondering if you can even get there without extreme cooling. My 780i's(I have had 8 of them) would all stop at 1450FSB with 80C+ Northbridge temps. The 750i's(I have had 3) would get to the same FSB with less volts but still get really hot 70C+.
> 
> Those temps are under Prime95. You should run Prime or similar test to know if it is really stable and check the temps. Under load is the important temp measurement IMO.



My temps with the P5Q Pro are about 38 - 40'C (passive) on the NB @ 500fsb and I think (if I remember right) the NB voltage was at 1.34v due to me having 4GB of RAM. 

As always, your mileage may vary and no doubt will due to the average user having less airflow in their case. Now I also use a 40mm fan to cool the NB for even better temps.


*Edit:* I would also go with a P45 chipset over the nVidia alternative; if I wanted to run SLi I would either go X58 or run the hacked SLi drivers.


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## DirectorC (Dec 20, 2009)

Gigabyte boards rock and the P45 chipset is amazing.  I can't say I've had the same experience with nVidia based boards.


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## DTV DRAGON (Dec 20, 2009)

nice info everyone! like I said this is all fairly new to me comming from my old p4 3.0 478 setup I had that baby o/cd pretty high as well, but found it was time to retire, so i started out with a acer m5800 and did a bunch of changes to it already but cant go no further until i get the new p45 board, Iam itchin for it now, I might need to order it in before xmas yet!! cause I want to start o/cing this new q9650 i bought  Dragon


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