9 P35s reviewed

[chuckm]

http://www.techspot.com/articl...5-motherboard-roundup/

 

[ultra laser]

They really should show a picture of the entire motherboard instead of just snippets. It's very annoying.

 

[postmortemIA]

9 "same" boards reviewed, all but mine?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: ultra laser
They really should show a picture of the entire motherboard instead of just snippets. It's very annoying.

The el cheapo $90 Gigabyte appears to have OST caps. Could someone confirm? I know those in the pictures are not Panasonic/Matsushita, Chemicon, Rubycon, Sanyo, or Hitachi.

 

[chuckm]

Seems a few members are awaiting the review here. Bumpin' this to the top for those that can't wait.

 

[Heidfirst]

"This means they also retain Crossfire support via two PCI Express x16 slots (that work at x8). "
hmm, that's a glaring error ...

They also didn't pick up on why abit went to PCI LAN on the Pro whereas they use PCI-E on the IP35-E & IP35 ...
(to allow another PCI-E slot to remain active when the x16 & x4 are in use)

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst
"This means they also retain Crossfire support via two PCI Express x16 slots (that work at x8). "
hmm, that's a glaring error ...

They also didn't pick up on why abit went to PCI LAN on the Pro whereas they use PCI-E on the IP35-E & IP35 ...
(to allow another PCI-E slot to remain active when the x16 & x4 are in use)

Contrary to popular belief, the IP35-E is actually a more robust board than IP35 Pro. IP35 Pro strikes a balance between price plus bells and whistles. IP35-E is geared for maximum performance at the lowest cost. No RAID, 1394a, solid caps, and flashy heat pipe. The E's three separate heat sinks work exceptionally well with good case flow. A small 80mm fan positioned just above the RAM slot will provide adequate cooling for the RAMs, NB, and SB. Use the Big Typhoon and 120 x 38mm Panaflo to cool the CPU and MOSFET heat sink.

 

[Nickel020]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
[Contrary to popular belief, the IP35-E is actually a more robust board than IP35 Pro. IP35 Pro strikes a balance between price plus bells and whistles. IP35-E is geared for maximum performance at the lowest cost. No RAID, 1394a, solid caps, and flashy heat pipe. The E's three separate heat sinks work exceptionally well with good case flow. A small 80mm fan positioned just above the RAM slot will provide adequate cooling for the RAMs, NB, and SB. Use the Big Typhoon and 120 x 38mm Panaflo to cool the CPU and MOSFET heat sink.

Well I have found that the flashy heatpipes are actually a good thing, since the NB on my DS3 has reached 94° in BIOS after rebooting from overclocked testing in Orthos (this is without increasing the NBs voltage). My system was stable, but in a closed case the temp would be even higher and therefore i slapped a thermalright HR-05-IFX on the NB.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Contrary to popular belief, the IP35-E is actually a more robust board than IP35 Pro.

I haven't seen any evidence that the -E is more robust than the Pro - cheaper & on the same performance level, yes but more robust?
& if you need/want RAID, firewire, Crossfire or uGuru's features it's not really an option is it?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Contrary to popular belief, the IP35-E is actually a more robust board than IP35 Pro.

I haven't seen any evidence that the -E is more robust than the Pro - cheaper & on the same performance level, yes but more robust?
& if you need/want RAID, firewire, Crossfire or uGuru's features it's not really an option is it?

BIOS is buggy. I along with others (here and @ ABIT forum) have experienced flashing IP35 Pro BIOS screen during use. 1394a can be added for about $15. Guru = Bells and Whistles.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=126781

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: Nickel020

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
[Contrary to popular belief, the IP35-E is actually a more robust board than IP35 Pro. IP35 Pro strikes a balance between price plus bells and whistles. IP35-E is geared for maximum performance at the lowest cost. No RAID, 1394a, solid caps, and flashy heat pipe. The E's three separate heat sinks work exceptionally well with good case flow. A small 80mm fan positioned just above the RAM slot will provide adequate cooling for the RAMs, NB, and SB. Use the Big Typhoon and 120 x 38mm Panaflo to cool the CPU and MOSFET heat sink.

Well I have found that the flashy heatpipes are actually a good thing, since the NB on my DS3 has reached 94° in BIOS after rebooting from overclocked testing in Orthos (this is without increasing the NBs voltage). My system was stable, but in a closed case the temp would be even higher and therefore i slapped a thermalright HR-05-IFX on the NB.

The maximum measured temperature of my IP35-E's NB under Orthos and 85F room is 48C. I positioned a K-type TC at the base of the heat sink, 1/2" from the NB chip. CPU = E4300 @ 3.46GHz.

The Gigabyte P965 runs blazing HOT. Perhaps you're seeing the same hot temperature with your P35 board.

 

[Pain999]

maybe hold out for this ?God of War? Motherboard?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/m...ay/20070830221422.html

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Probably too late to the game with X38 available next week. There's no need to push any Intel chip north of 500MHz FSB. You're much better off spending a little more $ for a CPU with a 9x or higher multi.

 

[ROJAS]

Thanks for sharing info.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

BIOS is buggy. I along with others (here and @ ABIT forum) have experienced flashing IP35 Pro BIOS screen during use. 1394a can be added for about $15. Guru = Bells and Whistles.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=126781

If the Pro BIOS is buggy based on the odd scrambled character then you can say the same of the IP35-E/IP35 for it's current double boot.
Whether it has firewire or uGuru is irrelevant imo to robustness.
Personally I like uGuru & miss it if I move to a board without it - I for one & am willing to pay a bit extra for it.
& you would still be without RAID if you wanted it.

At the end of the day they are very similar mobos differentiated by features & pricing - some people need/want the features & are willing to pay for them & some don't.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Double boot does not affect performance. If the BIOS is scrambled, then I cannot make changes. BTW, the double post is an issue with P965/P35 chipsets. Problem also affects some Asus and Gigabyte boards. Guru will lock up fan speed control. Again, a common problem with IP35 Pro. $70 non-RAID vs $180 RAID. I wouldn't call a difference of 250% as "a bit extra".

 

[Heidfirst]

The double boot does affect the board performance though - you yourself say that it adds 14 secs to the boot time - & there are far more people affected by that than by scrambled characters in the Pro's BIOS.
In any event going by the reports of the problems with P5Ks both are very minor issues.
I'm very aware that the double boot is a chipset related issue & affects other mobos too.

Extra $100 isn't paying just for uGuru though but for the firewire, ICH9R, eSATA, external clearCMOS etc. etc.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Firewire is stuck at 14.4MB/s. Even if it is fully functional, 1394a only 10% faster than USB 2.0 in real-world condition. Most people don't use 1394a.

Guru and external CMOS reset are toys. Set in once in BIOS and forget about it.

What's the big deal about ICH9R? RAID? Most people don't RAID. As for IP35-E, it has two more USB 2.0 ports, and is capable of controlling a 2-wire fan. LAN chip and Jmicron are on PCI-E instead of PCI. These are real benefits for the average user. Finally, the IP35-E runs cooler at the MOSFET heat sink because it doesn't have to dissipate the extra heat from the NB.

I can purchase an eSATA card for $15. So it's $85 vs $180.

Bottomline, IP35 Pro = a lot of fluffs for very little gain in everyday real-world performance.

 

[Heidfirst]

abit has a beta BIOS that supposedly addresses the 1394 transfer speed issue.
Most people may not use it but for some it is a requirement.

10 USB ports imo should be enough for most folk.
I doubt that many people need to control a 2-pin fan as they are pretty much all 3-pin, 4-pin or 4-pin Molex these days.
The Pro has 2 Gb ethernet ports (which could be teamed) but they are on PCI to allow for the x16, x4 & x1 all to be in use at once - going with a PCI-E LAN wouldn't have allowed that & for the vast majority of users they will see no difference.
The JMicron on the Pro is also on the PCI-E bus (it's only made in PCI-E format).

Bottomline, your needs/wants are your requirements & that's fine for you but not every one is the same otherwise we would only have 1 colour of car, 1 size of TV screen etc.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Many powerful 120 x 38 mm fans come with just two pins. These are industrial grade fans. My point is most people (including me) don't need the extra bells and whistles found on IP35 Pro. The price increase is way out of line when compared against IP35-E.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Many powerful 120 x 38 mm fans come with just two pins. These are industrial grade fans.

& how many people use them?
Dashed few I would bet & of those no doubt a healthy percentage have some form of fan controller.

My point is most people (including me) don't need the extra bells and whistles found on IP35 Pro. The price increase is way out of line when compared against IP35-E.

Well, you could level those complaints against all the non-basic mobos from the other mfrs as well. My perfect board would probably be an IP35-E but with uGuru (I like it & I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount for it).
The IP35 is pretty much on a par or more often cheaper than it's equivalent Asus & Gigabyte competitors as is the Pro.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Experienced PC overclockers rely on the Panaflos because they are quiet at low speed. At higher rpm, these fans deliver very good pressure to circulate air inside the PC. Why waste more $ for an external fan controller when the onboard fan speed control is capable of adjusting the fan speed based on CPU or SYSTEM temp in 1C resolution?

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Experienced PC overclockers rely on the Panaflos because they are quiet at low speed.

imo you don't buy 38mm deep fans for quiet (& yes, I do have some panaflo 120x38mms).
Yate Loons are quieter & cheaper (& have 3-pin) .

Overclocking on air & quiet are a compromise - if you want max oc you'll have to put up with a certain amount of noise & if you want quiet you'll have to accept that you won't hit max oc.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Mine are inaudible at 0.3 meter when idling and under medium load. YL fans have low static pressure across the fan.

 

[Skott]

Weird how they listed the P35-S3L but when it came to the performance testing its score werent shown. Whats up with that?