Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Systems: Benchmark Setup
All boards support current socket 775 Intel processors. We chose an E6300 for testing as we feel this will be a very popular Core 2 Duo CPU choice with the P965 motherboards. We also chose GEIL PC2-6400 for our memory choice as it represents an excellent blend of performance at today's inflated prices although we are starting to see some price stabilization after six weeks of continued price increases in the DDR2 market. We are utilizing the MSI X1950XTX video card to ensure our 1280x1024 resolutions are not completely GPU bound for our motherboard test results. We did find in testing that applying a 4xAA/8xAF setting in most of today's latest games created a situation where the performance of the system starts becoming GPU limited.
A 2GB memory configuration is now standard in the AT test bed as most enthusiasts are currently purchasing this amount of memory. We chose memory from GEIL that would offer a wide range of memory settings during our stock and overclocked test runs. Our memory timings are set based upon determining the best memory bandwidth via MemTest 86 and our test application results for each board.
Our revision 1.01G Asus P5B-E motherboard will operate at memory settings of 4-4-3-8 compared to 3-3-3-9 for the other motherboards. This is due to the 2.1V memory limitation and our choice of memory for the P965 roundup. The Asus P5B-E 1.02G offers identical performance at the same memory settings as the 1.01G board so our results will be comparable regarding motherboards.
All other components in our test configurations are exactly the same with the boards being set up in their default configurations. Our video tests are run at 1280x1024 resolution for this article at standard settings. We will not report on 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF single and ATI CrossFire until part three of the roundup. Since our games are GPU limited at that setting all initial results in our testing are within one percent of each other.
All boards support current socket 775 Intel processors. We chose an E6300 for testing as we feel this will be a very popular Core 2 Duo CPU choice with the P965 motherboards. We also chose GEIL PC2-6400 for our memory choice as it represents an excellent blend of performance at today's inflated prices although we are starting to see some price stabilization after six weeks of continued price increases in the DDR2 market. We are utilizing the MSI X1950XTX video card to ensure our 1280x1024 resolutions are not completely GPU bound for our motherboard test results. We did find in testing that applying a 4xAA/8xAF setting in most of today's latest games created a situation where the performance of the system starts becoming GPU limited.
| Standard Test Bed Performance Test Configuration |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz, 2MB Unified Cache) |
| RAM: | Geil PC2-6400 800MHz Plus (2x1GB- GX22GB6400PDC), 2.30V (Micron Memory Chips) |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer |
| System Platform Drivers: | Intel - 8.1.1.1001 |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI X1950XTX |
| Video Drivers: | MSI/ATI Catalyst 6.10 |
| CPU Cooling: | Scythe Infinity |
| Power Supply: | OCZ GameXstream 700W |
| Optical Drive: | Sony 18X AW-Q170A-B2 |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Motherboards: | Asus P5B-E (Intel P965 C2, 1.01G) - BIOS 0601 Asus P5B-E (Intel P965 C2, 1.02G) - BIOS 0601 Abit AB9-Pro (Intel P965 C1) - BIOS 1.5 BioStar T-Force 965 Deluxe (Intel P965 C1) - BIOS Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (Intel P965 C2) - BIOS F7 Asus P5NSLI (NVIDIA 570SLI) - BIOS 0601 Asus P5W-Deluxe (Intel 975X) - BIOS 1407 |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| . | |
A 2GB memory configuration is now standard in the AT test bed as most enthusiasts are currently purchasing this amount of memory. We chose memory from GEIL that would offer a wide range of memory settings during our stock and overclocked test runs. Our memory timings are set based upon determining the best memory bandwidth via MemTest 86 and our test application results for each board.
Our revision 1.01G Asus P5B-E motherboard will operate at memory settings of 4-4-3-8 compared to 3-3-3-9 for the other motherboards. This is due to the 2.1V memory limitation and our choice of memory for the P965 roundup. The Asus P5B-E 1.02G offers identical performance at the same memory settings as the 1.01G board so our results will be comparable regarding motherboards.
All other components in our test configurations are exactly the same with the boards being set up in their default configurations. Our video tests are run at 1280x1024 resolution for this article at standard settings. We will not report on 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF single and ATI CrossFire until part three of the roundup. Since our games are GPU limited at that setting all initial results in our testing are within one percent of each other.
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zjohnr - Tuesday, November 7, 2006 - link
In all the features tables for the motherboards in this article the PCI slots are listed as being PCI v2.3. However, looking at the pictures for the boards, the slots have PCI v2.2 keying. I think the entry in the features tables is wrong. (Is it?)Patsoe - Saturday, October 28, 2006 - link
Seeing all the trouble with the P965 - especially with the non-intel p-ata controller and with the ich8r - I'd be inclined to get a Core2-ready i945P board with ICH7R instead. Would that be a sane idea?BadThad - Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - link
Is the v1.02G Asus P5B-E using all solid capacitors? I read a press release stating that Asus was releasing the "P4B-E Plus" version with all solid caps. Rumor says the "Plus" version will not be sold in the USA.....arrgggggg. Tell me that's not true. I want the solid caps for long-term reliability. I'm wondering if our "Plus" is actually the v1.02G?Thanks
Gary Key - Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - link
The 1.01G and 1.02G boards are exactly the same except for a PLL controller. Asus stills states the P5B-Plus will not be imported into the States but you never know.keithke - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
I was interested to hear you used this Scythe Infinity Air Cooler as I was going to do the same. Were there any issues with the Northbridge heatsink sitting so close? Or did it just plop right in with no spacing issues?Thx
Keith
Gary Key - Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - link
No issues with the Inifinity on all four corners. It is a close fit but it works fine with the enclosed fan.SniperWulf - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
Hey guys,Did you have any strange anomolies with the X-fi on the DS3 while overclocked? When I was using that board with the F6 bios, I'd have to reboot like 3-4 times before windows would properly detect it. I eventually grew tired of it and bought a P5B-D so I haven't had a chance to try F7 with it.
Gary Key - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
I did not have any issues with the X-FI on the DS3 when it was overclocked. The F5 and F6 BIOS releases were not X-FI friendly where F4 was perfect. F7 is working for some and not others, I did not have an issue with it. F8 will fix it for good.schlumpfi106 - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
Im a little bit disappointed that there are so few informations about the cooling/silencing-related capabilitites of the boards. I would like to know how many fans can be connected, if the connectors are 3- or 4-pin, and if there is a way to control the fan speeds (preferably via SpeedFan). I don't care about a one-percent performance difference. My first priority is a reasonably silent system.goinginstyle - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
He mentioned the number of fan headers on each board and even added a couple of comments on the ones that did not work right. In the features section there was a statement about whether the included utility worked or not. Sure he did not say anything about SpeedFan but how far do you want a guy to go after 26 pages? Also, if you click on the Enlarge picture on the boards you can clearly make out whether the fan headers are 3 or 4 pin.