Roundup tests of motherboards aimed at Intel Core 2 Duo processors
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
Gigabyte 965P-DS3 was one of the first motherboards that appeared at our test lab and immediately surprised us with its high retail price. By the present time, its price has gone down to ~$130, which is quite acceptable. With this money, the user gets only the basic capabilities of the P965 chipset.
The board uses one PCI Express x16, three PCI Express x1, and three PCI slots.
Among the remaining expansion options are 10 USB 2.0 ports, integrated 8-channel audio, and a Gigabit LAN controller. Besides, there are 4 Serial ATA II links (without support for RAID). A couple of Serial ATA II links (and one Parallel ATA link) are implemented with an additional RAID controller.
The design of the rear panel has practically standard configuration, except the COM1 port, where the optical and coaxial SP-DIF output is positioned instead.
The board's BIOS also provides the necessary kit of memory settings.
The system monitoring section is indeed weak because the voltage monitoring is only half-implemented. In all the other respects, there is nothing to complain about: the board keeps track of the processor's and system's current temperature, as well as the rotational speed of the two fans. Besides, the user can bind the fan's rotational speed to the CPU temperature.
As to the overclocking capabilities, the board showed quite decent results (FSB=450 MHz).
Here are the overclocking features: FSB adjustable within 200 to 700 MHz, raise of voltage on the CPU to 2.0 V, on the memory - to 2.4 V, on the north bridge - by 0.3 V, and on the FSB - by +0.3 V.
Interim conclusion: Gigabyte 965P-DS3 is a typical workhorse, with overstated price, scarce package bundle, but of very good overclocking capabilities.
Pros:
- High stability and excellent performance level;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID ( 6 links; ICH8 + Gigabyte SATA2);
- Partial support for one P-ATA link (Gigabyte SATA2);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller;
- Support for the USB 2.0 serial bus (10 ports);
- A rich set of Gigabyte's own technologies: (Xpress BIOS Rescue, Xpress Recovery, Q-Flash, C.I.A. 2, etc.);
- Gigabyte's utilities - EasyTune5, @BIOS, FaceWizard.
Cons:
- Price a bit too high;
- Scarce package bundle.
The board's specific features:
- Good results of overclocking the processor and memory.
Gigabyte 965G-DS3
We are dwelling on Gigabyte 965G-DS3 because it is an exact replica of Gigabyte 965P-DS3 with the integrated graphic core G965.
The unified PCB design has pre-determined the same number of expansion slots (one PCI Express x16, three PCI Express x1, and three regular PCI slots),
as well as identical expansion options: ten USB 2.0 ports, integrated 8-channel audio, a Gigabit LAN controller, as well as an additional Serial ATA II controller (in the end, the board supports 6 Serial ATA II and one Parallel ATA links).
Note the lack of COM ports on the rear panel. Instead of the first port, there are optical and coaxial SP-DIF outputs, and in the stead of the second - a VGA output.
The only accessible COM port has been implemented with a bracket (which is missing in the package bundle). By the way, the package bundles of Gigabyte 965G-DS3 and Gigabyte 965P-DS3 are equally scarce.
The board's BIOS offers a standard selection of settings.
The system monitoring section fully coincides with the respective BIOS section of Gigabyte 965P-DS3.
The same can be said about overclocking tools.
Here are the overclocking features: FSB adjustable within 200 to 700 MHz, raise of voltage on the CPU to 2.0 V, on the memory - to 2.4 V, on the north bridge - by +0.3 V, and on the FSB - by +0.3 V. But the practical results have proved much lower - a stable FSB speed did not exceed 300 MHz. Evidently, the integrated video core reduces the board's overclocking capability.
As regards the performance of the integrated core at 3D applications, at that the board can't please the user. The operating speed is higher than that of i915G but lower than i945G. Anyway, engineers at Gigabyte can't be blamed for that - the problem is in Intel drivers.
Pros:
- High stability and excellent performance level;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID ( 6 links; ICH8 + Gigabyte SATA2);
- Partial support for one P-ATA link (Gigabyte SATA2);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller;
- Support for the USB 2.0 serial bus (10 ports);
- A rich set of Gigabyte's own technologies: (Xpress BIOS Rescue, Xpress Recovery, Q-Flash, C.I.A. 2, etc.);
- Gigabyte EasyTune5, @BIOS, FaceWizard;
- Reasonable price.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Good results of overclocking the processor and memory.
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Content: |
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Page 1 - Chipsets
Page 2 - Roundup table of motherboards
Page 3 - abit AW9D-MAX, abit AB9 Pro
Page 4 - ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe, ASUS P5W64-WS Pro
Page 5 - ASUS Commando, ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
Page - ASUS P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi, ASUS P5B-E
Page 7 - P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe, Striker, P5N32-E SLI, and P5N32-E SLI PLUS
Page 8 - ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium, ASUS P5N-E SLI
Page 9 - Gigabyte 965P-DQ6, Gigabyte 965P-DS4
Page 10 - Gigabyte 965P-DS3, Gigabyte 965G-DS3
Page 11 - Foxconn 975X7AB, Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H
Page 12 - MSI P6N SLI Platinum, MSI P965 Platinum
Page 13 - MSI P965 Neo, MSI P965 Neo2
Page 14 - Intel D975XBX2 (i975X), Intel DG965RYCK
Page 15 - ECS NF650SLIT-A, ECS nForce 570 SLIT-A
Page 16 - ECS PN2 SLI2+, ECS P965T-A
Page 17 - Performance, conclusions
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