LGA1156 or LGA1366?

[Lord Sindore]

now that the new core i5 has bin released, I find my self asking questions on which motherboard is the best x58 or p55?

I'm getting a core i7 chip and have an x58 mobo, but I could sell the x58 mobo if the p55 chip-set is the better out of the two, as from what I can tell the i7's will work in the p55 mobo, however I don't know if this is just in a limited fashion or not, can any one enlighten me?

 

[RJC]

The i7 which is the 920 > onwards will not work in the P55 motherboard but you need to look at the i7 8xx range. (Thought I put this bit in just in case )

As you have already got the X58 might as well go with the 920.
One plus point on the X58 boards is the dual 16x PCI-E slots.

 

[paininlife]

well answer to your question is simple...just go for i7 920
* as said earlier you can run Sli/Xfire @ x16 x16
* more future proof as it will be intels hi-end socket and will have i9
* tri-channel ram 6gb
* HT support means more boost @single core while playing games

 

[AMG]

yeahs if money is no problem, you want the best i7 X58 triple DDR3...flys and support for i9

however some people are forgetting the 830(?) also has HT but is for P55

 

[Shakeel]

get the 1366

 

[Yiuca]

Personally I find this all to be subjective, people are quick to rule the 1366 as the best, it has chunks of memory bandwidth, can overclock further with lower voltage due to having no onboard PCI-E controller & doesn't switch down to 8x/8x when SLI/XF, of course because of the on-board PCI-E controller the P55 lot is more suited to gaming, has lower power consumption (or generally is more energy efficient) & still has sufficient memory bandwidth in all reality.

Since you have an X58 board already, then you should perhaps just keep on the 1366 route, only 8xx i7s work with P55, the 9xx i7s are 1366 only. I personally went for 1156 out of the 2 because I'm not bothered of the upgrade to i9, prefer single graphics cards & the difference between tri-channel & dual channel is negligible at best. What swayed it for me though is gaming is a little better because of the on-die PCI-E controller although I figure I'll have to tinker with overclocking more, but it were mainly the lower power consumption that helped sway me to it aswell.

It is also worth considering that at stock the 860 outperforms the 920 in the majority of scenarios due to the more aggressive turbo boost, games because of the on-die PCI-E controller & energy consumption due to the gating... Overall in that respect the 860 is a nice buy but regardless depending on what you want the choice is really subjective, the 860 or the 920 they are essentially the same yet different. (You're trading pros & cons but ultimately can get similar performance depending on how you're going to use it) As an example SLI will work in P55 boards however 1366 will outperform (usually only by small margins currently) the 1156 equivalents at that point. However if you're willing to pay out chunks for 2 graphics card then chances are you're not going to worry about saving a few pennies getting socket 1156 neither.

 

[Lord Sindore]

thanks for the head up and for all the pro's and con's of the i7 and i5.

 

[AMG]

and I just seen another reason to have i5 - this http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=RGCfyoMbpYozjuTg&templete=2

that thing looks awsome @_@

 

[reygjabla]

now that the new core i5 has bin released, I find my self asking questions on which motherboard is the best x58 or p55?

I'm getting a core i7 chip and have an x58 mobo, but I could sell the x58 mobo if the p55 chip-set is the better out of the two, as from what I can tell the i7's will work in the p55 mobo, however I don't know if this is just in a limited fashion or not, can any one enlighten me?

This

Although there are three new Lynnfield-core processors at launch only once is worth buying. Click to enlarge.

In contrast, the fully-fledged LGA1366 Core i7-920 is cheaper than both of the new Lynnfield Core i7 CPUs. With LGA1156 and dual-channel DDR3 memory comparable in price to LGA1366 and triple-channel kits, we don't see the point in opting for an LGA1156 Core i7 CPU at all. If you're too lazy or scared to overclock, the Core i7-860 is faster thanks to Turbo Boost (rev 2), but the Core i7-920 is far faster when manually overclocked.

However, opting for an LGA1366 system has many advantages over an LGA1156 one. There's a wider choice of motherboards and coolers, while the X58 chipset and triple-channel memory are better for gaming than P55 and dual-channel memory. Folders and multi-monitor enthusiasts will also appreciate the extra graphics slots of provided by X58, while having 6GB of memory for much the same price as 4GB is also welcome. Finally, we know that Intel will continue to release CPUs on LGA1366, as the company told us that prototypes of the six-core Gulftown CPU are currently being tested on LGA1366 motherboards. This forthcoming CPU probably won't be cheap, however. Therefore, neither LGA1156 Core i7 CPU is worth buying - you'd be better off with an LGA1366 and Core-i7-920 system.

Of course, there will be cheaper LGA1156 motherboards on the way, which will help to make the Core i5-750 more attractive - the cheapest we are close to forming an opinion on is MSI's P55-GD65 motherboard, but at around £135, it's still priced higher than we would have hoped. For the Core i5-750 to become a truly great purchase, we believe that there need to be a bunch of respectably-featured boards closer to the £100 mark because, even with the P55-GD65 and cheaper memory, the platform costs aren't much lower than a Core i7-920 based system.

With that in mind, even if you like the look of the Core i5-750, you really should decide whether you can stretch to an i7-920 as things currently stand, just to make sure you're getting a good deal. Either way, our advice is to go out and buy a Core i7-920 before Intel realises its mistake and discontinues it.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/09/08/intel-core-i5-and-i7-lynnfield-cpu-review/11

 

[Freddie1980]

I'm sorry but Bi-tech are talking nonsense, since when has triple channel memory ever been an advantage over dual channel (in gaming)? They have a point about comparable memory prices but that won't be an advantage for long as most OEM box shifters will use the P55 platform putting thus demand will increase the supply of dual channel sets which will lower the prices.

Having two x16 slots on X58 is also no better then having two x8 slots on P55, so long as you have a decent controller x8 will provide enough bandwidth for even the most demanding of video cards.

 

[Nelly]

True & besides it wont be long before 2 x 4GB kits come into play you see.

 

[fizzle-187]

I'm sorry but Bi-tech are talking nonsense, since when has triple channel memory ever been an advantage over dual channel? They have a point about comparable memory prices but that won't be an advantage for long as most OEM box shifters will use the P55 platform putting thus demand will increase the supply of dual channel sets which will lower the prices.

Having two x16 slots on X58 is also no better then having two x8 slots on P55, so long as you have a decent controller x8 will provide enough bandwidth for even the most demanding of video cards.

If this is true, and I decided to run SLI then would I be receiving the same performance as x16,x16 bandwith? Or would I lose performance?

 

[95thrifles]

If this is true, and I decided to run SLI then would I be receiving the same performance as x16,x16 bandwith? Or would I lose performance?

youd lose performance, but its marginal

 

[ejr22]

True & besides it wont be long before 2 x 4GB kits come into play you see.

What do you mean true? It's rubbish....

since when has triple channel memory ever been an advantage over dual channel?

That doesn't even deserve an answer really. Only a fool would say dual channel equals the performance of triple channel.

Having two x16 slots on X58 is also no better then having two x8 slots on P55, so long as you have a decent controller x8 will provide enough bandwidth for even the most demanding of video cards.

For today's games, maybe. You will still lose up to about 5% in performance but who's to say what tomorrow will bring? I'd rather have the x16 x16 bandwidth in place.

 

[Nelly]

What do you mean true? It's rubbish....

That doesn't even deserve an answer really. Only a fool would say dual channel equals the performance of triple channel.

Really? http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Memory/Intel-Core-i7-Dual-Channel-vs.-Triple-Channel-Memory-Mode.html

For today's games, maybe. You will still lose up to about 5% in performance but who's to say what tomorrow will bring? I'd rather have the x16 x16 bandwidth in place.

Not much point for people gaming at 24" or below though, any game using a single 5870 is easily good enough.

 

[Freddie1980]

That doesn't even deserve an answer really. Only a fool would say dual channel equals the performance of triple channel.

I should have been a bit clearer, I was specifically referring to gaming performance. The only real world application where I've triple channel having a edge is when it comes to 3D rendering work other then it's only faster in synthetic tests.

For today's games, maybe. You will still lose up to about 5% in performance but who's to say what tomorrow will bring? I'd rather have the x16 x16 bandwidth in place.

Not even 5% with the HD5870, in most cases it's less then a frame and it's not until you drop down to X4 until you start to see the HD5870 being bottlenecked and even then it's only a 4 or 5 frames.

As I said before it's more important to have a good PCI-ex controller then it is to have bandwidth, some top end P45 boards are notoriously bad for Crossfire performance but that had nothing to do with the lack of bandwidth.

 

[Gazb]

...
As I said before it's more important to have a good PCI-ex controller then it is to have bandwidth, some top end P45 boards are notoriously bad for Crossfire performance but that had nothing to do with the lack of bandwidth.

Well that opens up a good question. As far as I'm aware the 1156 has the pci-e controller intergrated into the cpu but the 1366 doesn't, its handled by the X58 chipset.
So has there been much testing (if possible) carried out to see if the intergrated controller is better than the X58 controller?

 

[Stormar]

intresting and have no idea

 

[sastusbulbas]

Considering all the benchmarks showing how well P55 socket i5 and i7 processors are doing, it may well be that there is something improved?

What I keep reminding myself is how well i7 did when released and how the DO stepping and newer motherboards improved matters, I have to say I would guess a revision of some sort is in order of Intels CPU's if the superior I7 920 is so close in performance to the P55 platforms. Since P55 came out it was said the kit was too expensive, yet there are still newer expensive boards released, all at EX58 costs?

So far from what I have read the gap between them at stock is mute, as the P55's have that sorted, but overclocked benchmarks seem to show trivial improvements along with no performance gain 16x/16x bandwidth and triple memory in real world applications?

Did the PC industry shoot it's wad and provide kit with no real world performance benefits?

I myself came on here with the intent of building a new PC with a maximum budget of £800, and since reading the online benchmarks and opinions and benchmarks here I am now unsure what to commit to.

Socket LGA1156 is meant to be some middle ground, but already it's shown it can come up to the Socket LGA1366 and give its back door a good boot and it's not even out of kinder garden. We have also seen issues with overclocking volts and component specification/failure with P55, yet results of both overclocked are reasonably close.

I can't help but wonder where the DO 920 and £200 EX58 motherboards will be sitting while P55 motherboards and processors improve?

 

[Arachnae]

Triple Channel vs Dual channel.. i'd be more inclined to take it seriously if they were using high spec RAM..
I can't see any logical reason why anyone would shell out for a brand new i7 processor and mobo, be it 1366 or 1156 and then not buy ram of at least 1333mhz.. and more likely to be 1600mhz or above.

With regards to the original question.. you have to define "best" for a proper answer.

Are you meaning the most powerful?
If you want to future proof for the power, then the 1366 chipset is better since it will support the i9 processors.
If you have a budget then maybe it's a good idea to look for the best combination of items that are within budget..