P55 vs. P45 Chipset

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Hello folks,

I am a newbie to PC builds, I am a kinda newbie to the whole PC world so be patient with me, please!

I am not a total tard though. I have taught myself how to format and reprogram my crappy PC's. My first PC came from a dumpster behind a PC shop...took me a week to figure out how to make it work...then to reprogram it took me a week...it was an old Gateway that barely had room on the HDD for win95.....ANYHOO

My first question is which would be the better chipset P45 or P55....remember I'm a newbie, so don't get too techy on the answers please !!!

I was looking at the Intel BOXDP55WG LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
with Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor.

Would this be better than the P45 chipset 775 pin and intel core 2 Duo?

[Psymon]

First, weclome

I think your question is a little too vague for an absolute answer.
As to which chipset is better, or , I think it's safe to say the P55 wins.

However, you ask if the i5-750 is better than a P45 with a core 2.

There are core2 processors that out perform the i5 but the P55 chipset offers advantages in other places.

It's not really something you should be worrying yourself about. If you're thinking of buying a new PC soon, then it's usually a case of setting a budget and buying what fits, or deciding just how much power you want and getting that regardless of cost.

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Thanks for the welcoming,

I have a very small budget and want the most gaming power for my buck!

I want as many power options as possible for future upgrades as well, that is why I was thinking the P55 would be better.
I would also like to know, is there an advantage to multiple video cards wired SLI if you do not plan to run multiple monitors? Does it make games run better? or faster? or better resolution? or is it purely for multiple monitors?

[Psymon]

ATI do crossfire, nVidia do SLI.

You get both benefits. The typical GPU has 2 outputs, so the number of possible monitors scales with the GPUs. You'll also get a higher frame rate in your games.

Personally, I've never been keen on SLI and that. It only makes sense to do it if the best card available at the time isn't good enough.

For the same price, you'll mostly get better performance out of 1 card than 2 cheaper cards.

ATI's have 4 outputs. 1x HDMI, 1x Displayport, 2x DVI.