*** Official Gigabyte 8PENXP and 8IPE1000/MK/Pro (865PE) Thread ***

[First]

In an effort to make finding information about the Gigabyte 8PENXP and 8IPE1000/MK/Pro (865PE) motherboards easier for all forum members, please post and discuss your issues, problems, experiences, rants, raves and FAQs here.

- Gigabyte 8PENXP Spec page
- Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Spec page
- Gigabyte 8IPE1000MK Spec page
- Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Pro Spec page

 

[squidman]

w00t! first one to post!

 

[tallman45]

I just ordered the 8IPE1000 Pro plus a 2.6C proc and will post results later in the week.

 

[binomial]

when will ur results be up? i'm rather impatient, as i can't decide between this m/b and asus p800 deluxe

 

[binomial]

does the 8IPE1000 pro have RAID? (ICH5R)

 

[tallman45]

Binomial,

No Raid Sata, don't want it. A PCI card offers many more config options, allows you to move the array (card and disks) to another PC, plus offers far more relaibility in that if something else goes wrong w/ the MB and you have to RMA it you loose all your data.

I am awaiting UPS delivery of the components I will have data sometime over the weekend, if possible. I have an 8IHXP awaiting the face off.

 

[tallman45]

I received the order about 2 hours ago. The board is installed outside the case.

Here are some initial numbers:

8IPE1000Pro
2.6C 800fsb
2 x 512 Kingston (PC2700) Winbond chips (aka ValueRam)
Ati 9100 (64mb)
Maxtor 80gb 80mb cache
Lite-On Combo CD-RW/DVD
Antec SLK3700
Win 2k Pro

Install was a breeze, no issues. Dual channel mem worked first try

Sandra Mem score:
4260 mb/sec for 865PE
3290 mb/sec for 850E 1066 RDRAM (2.4B proc)

Sandra Cpu Arthmatic:
2.6C Drystone 8020 Mips, Whetstone 2199/4803 Mflops
2.4B Drystone 6220 Mips, Whetstone 1384/3153 Mflops

Sandra Cpu Multimedia
2.6C Integer 12087, Floating Point 18851
2.4B Integer 9551, Floating Point 12181

Both systems are Not OCed except that the stock setting for the 850E is 4x134 (536fsb) and the 865PE is 4 x 201 (804 fsb).

I was very surprised at the additional mem bandwidth that Dual channel provides over 1066 rdrram. I was also surprised that despite both cpu's not being the same clock speed that a 200mhz diff (2.6 vs 2.4, plus the 800fsb and dual ch mem) meant such a big difference.

Thats all for now, tomorrow it all goes into that case and some apps get loaded. Hyperthreading function is N/A with Win2K but shows as active in the Bios. Primary function of this rig is Digital pic editing (Photoshop) no gaming

Would love to hook up IDE drives to the Sata ports till the prices fall on the Sata's, anyone know of a conversion adapter ?

 

[Auric]

Cool, finally some info on this board. I still wonder about the o'erclocking ability though.

How do you mean "loose all your data" if you have to RMA it? Could you not use the HDD's as-is with any ICH5R equipped board?

 

[tallman45]

Auric,

The striping information is held in the Raid controller. If you cannot remove that specific controller, which would be the case with an on-board ICH5R Raid, they your striping info is gone. The HDD's are worthless without the raid controller that created that specific raid. Hence the added safety of a PCI based controller.

In most cases the on-board Raid controller are lite or stripped down versions and offer you very little in the way of fine tuning the raid (ie: stripe size). I am not familiar yet with what options the ICH5R offers.

 

[binomial]

hi tallman,

are u sure there's no SATA raid?? according to gigabyte website, it says

"The Serial ATA, IEEE 1394 Firewire and IDE RAID are integrated to provide superior I/O performance and data protection. "

so does it have a separate RAID controller (silicon image, promise) then???

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Auric
Cool, finally some info on this board. I still wonder about the o'erclocking ability though.

Our labs were able to achieve a stable 270MHz FSB on the 8PENXP.

 

[tallman45]

I really do not see it if there is, no Bios info, definately no IDE channels other than IDE1 and 2. There is an empty spot just above the 2 yellow USB headers labeled SIL3112 that looks like place where a Raid controller chip would reside but this is empty. There is nothing in the manual either that refers to Raid of any kind. I see what you are saying by looking at the Gigabyte product guide for this MB. There are 2 Sata connectors but they run off of the ICH5 an do not have any Raid options in the Bios

 

[binomial]

thx for checking up on that tallman....
i'm quite disappointed that gigabyte haven't incorporated ICH5R, just plain ICH5.

do let us know how the board runs and overclocks....

 

[tallman45]

Binomial,

The board not having Raid is not a big deal. I have an onboard Raid Promise chip on my 8IHXP and there was no noticeable difference in day to day work or the loading of the OS. I only saw improvements when processing very large photo images. The 8PENXP does not use the ICH5R chip either, but does have a Silicon Image onbard Raid chip.

If you really want IDE Raid a PCI solution offers far more options and potential performance (striping choices), plus way more safety.

The board will burn in for a few days and I will experiment with OC'ing next week.

 

[Auric]

tallman45, are you saying the ICH5R has memory that stores that specific system's configuration?

Why would Gigabyte use a discrete SI RAID controller instead of Intel's offerering since the price difference would be so little with the ICH5R versus ICH5? Perhaps since SATA is transitionary they figger PATA RAID is more usefull at this point?

I am seriously considering the 8IPE1000 Pro because I do not really need RAID anyway (and am even more doubtful of 0) and because it has lots of room for large VPU/CPU heatsinks around the Northbridge unlike many of the others like those from Abit and Albatron. The Intel LAN and TI 1394 seem nice too.

Evan Lieb, are overclocking functions pretty much commonplace on 865PE boards? My last two have been Abit (BH6 440BX and ST6 815EP) because they were superior in this regard but the equivalent IS7 is less than ideal for heatsink space. Both cost the same. I have no experience with Gigabyte boards but have the idea they are more mainstream and usually dependable kinda like Asus.

 

[tallman45]

Auric,

I am not sure of the ICH5R but am sure that if you move IDE Raid 0 drives to a system and use a different controller than they were created on then your data is lost so in the case of Promise and Highpoint, yes the striping data must be stored in the controller.

I originally thought (based on the Gigabyte website) that the 8IPE1000 pro had IDE raid, simply becuase the extra IDE 3 and 4 come in very handy when connecting additional hard drives as masters. Spreading the drives over separate channels in all of my testing yields very safe and positive performance gains. The 8PENXP has the IDE raid hence the extra 2 channels.

I thought that the ICH5R was for SATA Raid, although you could connect IDE drives via IDE to SATA converters to get them to work. The 8PENXP has onboard IDE Raid, hence the omision of the ICH5R

You are correct in that the Lan, 1394, SATA, lots of USB ports and the 865PE make this a very nice and complete board. It is a full size board unlike some of the others and everything fits like it was designed by pros. The memory is far away enough from the AGP slot where you do not need to remove the video card to change memory.

 

[Auric]

What is the size of the heatsink? If I get this I will remove the fan but wonder if it is worth getting a replacement HS. I notice the non-Pro does not have a fan, but is the HS larger on that one?

Here is a review of the non-Pro.

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb

Originally posted by: Auric
Cool, finally some info on this board. I still wonder about the o'erclocking ability though.

Our labs were able to achieve a stable 270MHz FSB on the 8PENXP.

WHERE CAN YOU BUY ONE OF THESE BOARDS? I HAVE LOOKED AND CANNOT FIND THE 8PENXP EVEN THOUGH THE WEBSITE SAYS ITS AVABILABLE? ANY LINKS OR PRICES WOULD BE HELPFUL....this chipset and boards seem like they rock. I have an oc'd AT7MAX2 with an xp2100 running 2.4 and RAID 0 and it smokes. Thinking of trying one of the new 800fsb with HT and the dual channel.

Pointing me to the direction of the 8PenXP would be great!

JC

 

[tallman45]

Well so far OC'ing the 8IPE100 Pro has been a easy process. One full day at 230fsb 3ghz from a 2.6C chip no problems.
Starting to wonder if I should have saved some money and went with the 2.4C.

Temps are only slightly higher than stock settings. Stock P4 hs/fan and Antec SLK3700 case exhaust 120mm fan only.

24c to 26c

 

[binomial]

that is great to hear tallman, as i am seriously thinking of this board with a 2.6c too.
how is the bundle that came with the IPE1000 Pro...do they give u extra brackets, etc?

i'm looking to build a stable (not necessarily fast) system to last 3-4 years. i don't need RAID, gigabit LAN,
but firewire is necessary. i don't play any games; its more of a multimedia machine for digital photo editing,
music and movie playback.

do u think this board is the way to go?
or some other board, eg. aopen, albatron?

 

[tallman45]

The SW bundle includes all the usual Gigabyte windows drivers for Lan, usb, sound ,etc. Norton security bundle, Easytune,etc

The HW bundle includes an Ide cable, fdd cable, Usb adapter (2 ports), firewire adapter (1 port),Sp/Dif.

I'm sure I missed some, you may want to check out the website to get a complete detail

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-8IPE1000 Pro.htm

This rig is basically designed with the same specs as what you are looking for. The person I built this for needs this primarily for office products and photo and video editing. The USB and firewire were mandatory, as was the the mem bandwidth. Playing DVD's was requested. The most they needed from a video card was an ATI 9100 (aka 8500) which offers good 3d, great 2D, plus dual monitor support. Once SATA prices drop the 2 STAT ports will be used to help with the disk subsystem performance. This board is very fast, definately faster then the 1066 rdram rig next to it, which is a really fast pc to begin with.

I am fooling with OC'ing but it will not be run that way when I drop it off. Stability means I don't get any support calls. Albatron makes a great board, prior to this 865 I used the PX845pev Pro and have not had a problem with them at all. My last dozen or so rigs used the 3 above plus the Gigabyte 8IHXP, so I cannot comment on other products or manufacturers.

 

[NathanTX]

Originally posted by: Chunkee

WHERE CAN YOU BUY ONE OF THESE BOARDS? I HAVE LOOKED AND CANNOT FIND THE 8PENXP EVEN THOUGH THE WEBSITE SAYS ITS AVABILABLE? ANY LINKS OR PRICES WOULD BE HELPFUL....this chipset and boards seem like they rock. I have an oc'd AT7MAX2 with an xp2100 running 2.4 and RAID 0 and it smokes. Thinking of trying one of the new 800fsb with HT and the dual channel.

Pointing me to the direction of the 8PenXP would be great!

JC

According to Gigabyte's sales department, the GA-8PENXP will not be available in the United States. They did not provide a reason why.

 

[Chunkee]

DOH!

 

[tallman45]

Not sure if this is an error with PCmark 2002 but here are some numbers from different mb's.

Gigabyte 8IHXP
2.4B proc
1gb 1066 rdram
maxtor 80gb 8mb cache
Cpu = 5883, mem = 7402, hdd = 1156

Gigabyte 8IPE1000 pro
2.6C proc
1gb pc2700 dual channel model
maxtor 80gb 8mb cache
Cpu = 4727, mem = 6961, hdd = 1178

From these benchmarks it would seem that 1066 rdram performs better than pc2700 despite running in dual channel mode. Not sure what is up with the 2.6c ratings compared to a 2.4b other than the 2.4b really likes the 850E chipset.

I may swap the P4's and see what happens in another PCmark run.

 

[Harabecw]

er, use DDR400 on the springdale, dude