Anandtech p35 roundup?

[tuan209]

Just curious but when will Anandtech have their P35 roundup review? There are so many boards out there that I just cant choose =D.

 

[Oyeve]

I hear ya. I ordered a Gigabyte one from newegg yesterday and last week I got some pc8500 ram for when I get my C2D this summer. Couldnt resist the prices and figured RAM will go up, which it did already. I got my 2 gigs of DDR2for 75 AR not its 129 AR!!! Mobo was 129 and has thr FSB for the yet released CPUs. Hope I chose wisely.

 

[Skott]

TH put up a 8 mobo review of P35 mobos today. Still it'd be nice to see AT's version but I'm guessing it'll be awhile.

 

[postmortemIA]

I ordered Intel's P35 mobo last night - I prefer SigmaTel audio to ADI or similar, and plus I get nice 100/1000 NIC by intel.

0 o/cing but I never had luck with it.

Now, there's catch with few boards:

ICH9 vs ICH9R : make sure you get RAID, it will come handy

floppy: many boards don't come with floppy connector.

 

[kevman]

I tell you what, I am itching to pull the trigger on a P5K + E6600 + 2GB RAM right now.

its about $436, still haven't researched my next video card yet though...

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
floppy: many boards don't come with floppy connector.

So far all the P35/G33 motherboards except for Intel DP35DP and DG33TL come with a floppy connector.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
floppy: many boards don't come with floppy connector.

So far all the P35/G33 motherboards except for Intel DP35DP and DG33TL come with a floppy connector.

Yep, mine has diskette connection. Wish it had firewire, but i can slap in my FW card. Maybe even get a PCIE version as the mobo has 3 of em!

 

[FireTech]

Originally posted by: tuan209
Just curious but when will Anandtech have their P35 roundup review?

Just wait your turn! :laugh:
You P35 lovers have had multiple board reviews and yet some of us have been waiting over two months for Gary's µATX MB round-up

 

[Pharmdeity]

I'm sorry to say that Anand and his team have lost their focus. They stated several months ago that they'd be reviewing the P35 chip motherboards but they've published practically nothing. I'll be getting my info in a timely manner from a better site from now on.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Pharmdeity
I'm sorry to say that Anand and his team have lost their focus. They stated several months ago that they'd be reviewing the P35 chip motherboards but they've published practically nothing. I'll be getting my info in a timely manner from a better site from now on.

Well, I can see your point of view. Personally I do not put much worth in any review site but take it at face value. My decisions come from user reports on forums such as here and over at XS.

 

[Pharmdeity]

I agree. I've found Xtremesystems forums to be very helpful. I went with the abit IP35 pro board and have found abit's forums very useful also. I'm not familiar with any other manufacturer's forums except for ASUS's (which aren't very helpful even when they're up and running). If anyone is interested, the IP35 Pro runs my e6300 core2duo at 500mhz FSB with minimal pushing on air cooling (thermalright ultra120 extreme + s flex fan). Specifics found at xtremesystems.

 

[jkresh]

Pharmdeity, there should be something next week covering 680i and p35 along with q6600 (g0). They were supposed to get a G0 on Friday 7/28 but they got a B3, thye have been guaranteed a G0 for this Monday and the review should be up shortly there after.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

All the Abit IP35s are fantastic overclockers. Cool n quiet.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Pharmdeity
I agree. I've found Xtremesystems forums to be very helpful. I went with the abit IP35 pro board and have found abit's forums very useful also. I'm not familiar with any other manufacturer's forums except for ASUS's (which aren't very helpful even when they're up and running). If anyone is interested, the IP35 Pro runs my e6300 core2duo at 500mhz FSB with minimal pushing on air cooling (thermalright ultra120 extreme + s flex fan). Specifics found at xtremesystems.

It's mostly because the userbase at XS tends to take overclocking more seriously and they will find every mod and fix they can if it helps get better stability and higher clocks. Here and on other forums the userbase is not so extreme. There are overclockers, but they tend to be more relaxed about how far they get so certain issues like FSB walls, vdroop, beta bioses etc don't really show up.

 

[Gary Key]

Let's cut to the chase before I get the final roundup completed -

The under $150 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (our favorite board right now for the money)
2. MSI P35 Neo2-FR (P08 BIOS brought the board alive)
2. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
2.5 ASUS P5K (latest BIOS might get this to a two)
3. abit IP35 (still a couple of bugs left to work out)
4. Foxconn P35A (should be a rebate on it so it will go under $125, at that point, nice choice)

The under $125 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
2. abit IP35-E (not a big fan of the PCI GigE, no reason for it)
2.5 Biostar TP35D2-A7 (last BIOS really fixed a lot of issues)
3. ASUS P5K SE
4. Intel DP35DPM (do not plan on real overclocking, great stock board)

Over $150-
Still working on it... We will have an exclusive on the new Foxconn MARS board (it is surprising) and just got started on the water cooling tests on the new ASUS Blitz boards plus DFI is set to deliver their P35 board next week (looks like it will be going for $299....), the surprise in this group is the abit IP35-Pro as abit finally got it right on a new release...

 

[jkresh]

Gary have you tried the p5k premium yet (or the deluxe)? As supposedly the premium is the best of the asus boards in terms of fsb (oddly on xtremesystems it looks like it is hitting higher fsb's then even the watercooled blitz formula se, not sure about the blitz extreme).

For my upcoming q6600 build i am trying to decide between a 680i board (probably lanparty, possibly striker, mixed opions on evga but black perl could be interesting) or p35 (p5k premium, blitz formula se, maybe lanparty p35 or the foxconn depending on what you say). I haven't decided for the boards what I will be doing about nb/sb and mosfetts, probably for the 680i I would watercool the nb/sb and pick up a mosfet heatsink from thermaltake (either ekwaterblocks or swiftechs mcw30 for the nb/sb).

Someone on extreme has done something interesting in attaching a mcw30 to the southbrige on teh p5k premium but keeping the heatpipe (attached the waterblock to the top of the heatsink), which may or may not yeild any reasonable performance (results early next week I think).

 

[vailr]

Re: Abit IP35-Pro: there's a relatively easy mod to improve the heat pipe here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...=2330347&postcount=751
Also, a new bios was released 8/3/07 :
http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...2348706&postcount=1028

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Let's cut to the chase before I get the final roundup completed -

The under $150 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (our favorite board right now for the money)
2. MSI P35 Neo2-FR (P08 BIOS brought the board alive)
2. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
2.5 ASUS P5K (latest BIOS might get this to a two)
3. abit IP35 (still a couple of bugs left to work out)
4. Foxconn P35A (should be a rebate on it so it will go under $125, at that point, nice choice)

The under $125 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
2. abit IP35-E (not a big fan of the PCI GigE, no reason for it)
2.5 Biostar TP35D2-A7 (last BIOS really fixed a lot of issues)
3. ASUS P5K SE
4. Intel DP35DPM (do not plan on real overclocking, great stock board)

Over $150-
Still working on it... We will have an exclusive on the new Foxconn MARS board (it is surprising) and just got started on the water cooling tests on the new ASUS Blitz boards plus DFI is set to deliver their P35 board next week (looks like it will be going for $299....), the surprise in this group is the abit IP35-Pro as abit finally got it right on a new release...

$299 for a board this late? haha...unless it can do 600Mhz FSB with no mods and stock vcore :laugh:

Kidding of course but common...

 

[jkresh]

just looked up the evga black perl (680i watercooled everything), they are suggesting $500. Which is insane!, (maybe if it came with a thermochill radiator and a pump). I could get the lanparty for $260, the nb/sb blocks for $50-60 and the mosfet ro $40, plus a fuzion for about $60 = $400 for a better board with better watercooling blocks (probably much better in the case of the fuzion).

 

[FireTech]

Originally posted by: Pharmdeity
I'm sorry to say that Anand and his team have lost their focus. They stated several months ago that they'd be reviewing the P35 chip motherboards but they've published practically nothing.

Try waiting nearly five months for a round-up :laugh:

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Let's cut to the chase before I get the final roundup completed -

We're very much looking forward to seeing this P35 review after the much anticipated µATX MB round-up is posted.

 

[lopri]

I would really love to see 2x2GB and/or 4x1GB memory configuration tests for overclocking/stability. It's about time for AT to listen to enthusiasts' needs instead of marketing-driven DDR3 MHz racing.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: lopri
I would really love to see 2x2GB and/or 4x1GB memory configuration tests for overclocking/stability. It's about time for AT to listen to enthusiasts' needs instead of marketing-driven DDR3 MHz racing.

I sorta feel this way too.

I'm still surprised that companies like DFI can get away with releasing a board so late that offers no features which are different than other boards out months ahead of them and charge up to $100 more.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Let's cut to the chase before I get the final roundup completed -

The under $150 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (our favorite board right now for the money)
2. MSI P35 Neo2-FR (P08 BIOS brought the board alive)
2. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
2.5 ASUS P5K (latest BIOS might get this to a two)
3. abit IP35 (still a couple of bugs left to work out)
4. Foxconn P35A (should be a rebate on it so it will go under $125, at that point, nice choice)

The under $125 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
2. abit IP35-E (not a big fan of the PCI GigE, no reason for it)
2.5 Biostar TP35D2-A7 (last BIOS really fixed a lot of issues)
3. ASUS P5K SE
4. Intel DP35DPM (do not plan on real overclocking, great stock board)

Over $150-
Still working on it... We will have an exclusive on the new Foxconn MARS board (it is surprising) and just got started on the water cooling tests on the new ASUS Blitz boards plus DFI is set to deliver their P35 board next week (looks like it will be going for $299....), the surprise in this group is the abit IP35-Pro as abit finally got it right on a new release...

I'm well aware of the IP35-E's LAN issue. However, that should only show up in the theoretical maximum throughput speed test under laboratory condition. You'll never pump more than 50MB/s in the real world.

I gave this board bonus points because of the sophisticated and powerful MOSFET driven fan headers. The CPU and SYSTEM headers will work with 2-pin/3-pin/4-pin fan. Not many motherboards can do that.

I think people place too much emphasis on maximum stable FSB. My sample topped out at 488MHz, but that may be the upper limit of this E6320 CPU. It's counter-productive to try to overclock a 7x multi CPU because you'll need very fast RAM. The optimum balance between speed and performance is around 460MHz FSB.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Let's cut to the chase before I get the final roundup completed -

The under $150 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (our favorite board right now for the money)
2. MSI P35 Neo2-FR (P08 BIOS brought the board alive)
2. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
2.5 ASUS P5K (latest BIOS might get this to a two)
3. abit IP35 (still a couple of bugs left to work out)
4. Foxconn P35A (should be a rebate on it so it will go under $125, at that point, nice choice)

The under $125 boards fall into this rating -
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
2. abit IP35-E (not a big fan of the PCI GigE, no reason for it)
2.5 Biostar TP35D2-A7 (last BIOS really fixed a lot of issues)
3. ASUS P5K SE
4. Intel DP35DPM (do not plan on real overclocking, great stock board)

Over $150-
Still working on it... We will have an exclusive on the new Foxconn MARS board (it is surprising) and just got started on the water cooling tests on the new ASUS Blitz boards plus DFI is set to deliver their P35 board next week (looks like it will be going for $299....), the surprise in this group is the abit IP35-Pro as abit finally got it right on a new release...

I'm well aware of the IP35-E's LAN issue. However, that should only show up in the theoretical maximum throughput speed test under laboratory condition. You'll never pump more than 50MB/s in the real world.

I gave this board bonus points because of the sophisticated and powerful MOSFET driven fan headers. The CPU and SYSTEM headers will work with 2-pin/3-pin/4-pin fan. Not many motherboards can do that.

I think people place too much emphasis on maximum stable FSB. My sample topped out at 488MHz, but that may be the upper limit of this E6320 CPU. It's counter-productive to try to overclock a 7x multi CPU because you'll need very fast RAM. The optimum balance between speed and performance is around 460MHz FSB.

They put the LAN on PCI for a reason. With PCIe LAn you lose function of one PCIe 1x slot when using 2 video cards and LAN. With it on the PCI you can still use the PCIe slots. Like you said too, the difference will not be noticed and if you want, just replace the LAN with a PCIe card.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

People shouldn't focus on benchmarks alone. Get smart about what really matters in real-world use. I would gladly give up 50MHz CPU core speed for a board that can smoothly control my 2-pin 120 x 38 mm Panaflos.