Conroe Buying Guide: Feeding the Monster
by Gary Key & Wesley Fink on July 19, 2006 6:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ASUS P5B Deluxe
Basic Features
ASUS has done a fantastic job in putting together a full-featured, quiet, and stable Intel P965 motherboard for Core 2 Duo. Almost every feature lavished on the P5W-DH Deluxe is also present on the P5B Deluxe. This includes an 8-phase power design and fan-less heatpipe cooling.
The feature set of the ASUS 965 board is also outstanding, with the real issues with the P5B Deluxe limited to general complaints and questions about how Intel has implemented the 965 chipset. For more information on the Intel P965 chipset please look back at the AnandTech preview of the 965 chipset.
Despite the similarity of the ASUS 975X and 965 top boards, a closer look at options does tell you 965 is targeted a bit lower than 975. The FSB adjusts to 400 on 965, more than enough on most processors, except Conroe actually can reach 400, 450, and beyond. The 975X has adjustments to 500 FSB. Other subtle differences are the ADI chipset HD audio on 965 and a Dolby Digital Master Studio (Dolby Digital Live) audio choice for the 975X.
Basic Performance
Intel's thinking on the 965 chipset remains a mystery to us. We expected the new 965 might be a bit faster than 975 since Intel tells us the 965 uses a better memory controller. That was not the case, as 965 remained a bit slower than 975X. The missing support for CrossFire is also a mystery. The 965 has an X16 slot and an X4 slot, but it cannot operate in multi-GPU mode for CrossFire. The only Intel option for CrossFire is the 975X.
Another odd puzzle is that the X6800, which is completely unlocked, only operates unlocked DOWN in P965. The stock multiplier of the 2.93 chip is 11x, and you cannot select higher multipliers on P965 as you can on 975X. On the one hand Intel is telling us all that the P965 is a uniquely up-to-date chipset that supports Conroe really well, while on the other hand we discover 965 is crippled in some areas compared to 975X. You will also see the 965 does not support ECC memory while the 975X does, but that will only matter to a small percentage of users.
Perhaps with time the P965 will become a faster, better board than 975, but at this point in time the BIOS implementations are much more immature than 975X BIOS solutions. Based on the costs we have seen for top 965 boards compared to 975, it would take a big price difference to persuade us to buy 965 instead. In general, those wider price differences don't exist in this round of motherboards. Both ASUS boards, the 975X P5W-DH and the P965 P5B Deluxe, are now for sale at the same $269 price. Frankly, at the same price we could never recommend this 965 motherboard over the better performing, better-featured and better-overclocking 975X model.
Overclocking
While 965 is being talked about as the better match to Conroe, we are finding that basic performance of the 965 boards is still a bit below 975X performance. This is particularly true in the overclocking area, where we have generally reached lower overclocks with 965 boards than we could achieve with the better 975 boards. In this case the ASUS P5B Deluxe has a maximum FSB range of 400 (bios 0403 released today now raises this to 500), while the ASUS 975X board has settings to 500 FSB. This 400 top limited the highest overclock we could achieve to a 372 FSB, or a 39% OC of the 2.66 E6700 compared to the 50% overclock it achieved on the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe.
Overclocking is still much less stable on the 965 ASUS than we experienced on their 975X motherboard. The ASUS board is generally stable, but it could still benefit from a few more rounds of BIOS refinement. In fact, all of the 965 boards were less polished and mature than their 975X counterparts - not to mention the missing features detailed above.
Basic Features
| ASUS P5B Deluxe | |
| Market Segment | High-End/Enthusiast |
| CPU Interface | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| Chipset | Intel P965 + ICH8R |
| Thermal Design | 8-phase power Fan-less Heatpipe Cooling ASUS Stack Cool 2 for OC |
| Default Bus Speed | 1066 (533/266) |
| Bus Speeds | 100 to 400 in 1MHz Increments |
| Memory Speeds | DDR2 at Auto,400,533,667,800,889,1067 |
| PCIe Speeds | Auto, 90 to 150 in 1MHz Increments |
| Performance Mode | Auto, Standard Turbo |
| AI Overclocking | Manual, Auto, Overclock Profile, AI N.O.S. |
| PCI | Auto, 33.3, To CPU |
| Core Voltage | Auto, 1.225V (Actual CPU voltage) to 1.7000V in 0.0125V increments |
| FSB Termination Voltage | Auto, 1.2v, 1.3v, 1.4v, 1.45v |
| NB Voltage | Auto, 1.25v, 1.35v, 1.45v, 1.55v |
| SB Voltage | Auto, 1.5v, 1.6v, 1.7v, 1.8v |
| PEG Link Mode | Auto, Slow, Normal, Fast, Faster |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, 6x-CPU default in 1X increments (depends on CPU) - DOWN only |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 1.8V to 2.45V in .05v increments (except for 2.2V) |
| Multi-GPU Option | None |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Unbuffered non ECC Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 PCIe X16 1 PCIe X16 operating at X4 or X2 1 PCIe X1 3 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 6 SATA2 3Gb/s Drives by Intel ICH8R (RAID 0,1,5,10) PLUS 2 SATA2 3 Gb/s Drives by JMicronJMB363 (RAID 0,1) (1 internal,1 external) TOTAL 8 Sata2 3Gb/s drives |
| Onboard IDE/IDE RAID | One Standard ATA133/100/66 (2 drives) by JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by ICH8R 2 Firewire 1394a by TI |
| Onboard LAN | DUAL PCIe/PCI Gigabit by Marvel for AI Net2, PLUS WiFi 54Mbps supporting 802.11g |
| Onboard Audio | Azalia HD Audio by ADI 1988B 8 channel codec |
| Power Connectors | 24-pin ATX 4 or 8-pin EATX 12V |
| Back Panel I/O Ports | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Serial 1 x Audio I/O Panel (6 plug programmable) 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out Port 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Out Port 1 x IEEE 1394a Firewire 1 x External SATA2 2 x RJ45 LAN 1 x Wireless LAN antenna 4 x USB |
| BIOS Revision | AMI 0602 - June 30, 2006 |
ASUS has done a fantastic job in putting together a full-featured, quiet, and stable Intel P965 motherboard for Core 2 Duo. Almost every feature lavished on the P5W-DH Deluxe is also present on the P5B Deluxe. This includes an 8-phase power design and fan-less heatpipe cooling.
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| Click to enlarge |
The feature set of the ASUS 965 board is also outstanding, with the real issues with the P5B Deluxe limited to general complaints and questions about how Intel has implemented the 965 chipset. For more information on the Intel P965 chipset please look back at the AnandTech preview of the 965 chipset.
Despite the similarity of the ASUS 975X and 965 top boards, a closer look at options does tell you 965 is targeted a bit lower than 975. The FSB adjusts to 400 on 965, more than enough on most processors, except Conroe actually can reach 400, 450, and beyond. The 975X has adjustments to 500 FSB. Other subtle differences are the ADI chipset HD audio on 965 and a Dolby Digital Master Studio (Dolby Digital Live) audio choice for the 975X.
Basic Performance
Intel's thinking on the 965 chipset remains a mystery to us. We expected the new 965 might be a bit faster than 975 since Intel tells us the 965 uses a better memory controller. That was not the case, as 965 remained a bit slower than 975X. The missing support for CrossFire is also a mystery. The 965 has an X16 slot and an X4 slot, but it cannot operate in multi-GPU mode for CrossFire. The only Intel option for CrossFire is the 975X.
Another odd puzzle is that the X6800, which is completely unlocked, only operates unlocked DOWN in P965. The stock multiplier of the 2.93 chip is 11x, and you cannot select higher multipliers on P965 as you can on 975X. On the one hand Intel is telling us all that the P965 is a uniquely up-to-date chipset that supports Conroe really well, while on the other hand we discover 965 is crippled in some areas compared to 975X. You will also see the 965 does not support ECC memory while the 975X does, but that will only matter to a small percentage of users.
Perhaps with time the P965 will become a faster, better board than 975, but at this point in time the BIOS implementations are much more immature than 975X BIOS solutions. Based on the costs we have seen for top 965 boards compared to 975, it would take a big price difference to persuade us to buy 965 instead. In general, those wider price differences don't exist in this round of motherboards. Both ASUS boards, the 975X P5W-DH and the P965 P5B Deluxe, are now for sale at the same $269 price. Frankly, at the same price we could never recommend this 965 motherboard over the better performing, better-featured and better-overclocking 975X model.
Overclocking
| ASUS P5B Deluxe Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Dual Core, 2.67GHz, 4MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 10x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.525V (default 1.2V) |
| Cooling: | Tuniq Tower 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ GameXstream 700W |
| Memory: | Corsair Twin2X2048-PC2-8500C5 (2x1GB) (Micron Memory Chips) |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Cache |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio) |
372x10 3720MHz (+39%) |
While 965 is being talked about as the better match to Conroe, we are finding that basic performance of the 965 boards is still a bit below 975X performance. This is particularly true in the overclocking area, where we have generally reached lower overclocks with 965 boards than we could achieve with the better 975 boards. In this case the ASUS P5B Deluxe has a maximum FSB range of 400 (bios 0403 released today now raises this to 500), while the ASUS 975X board has settings to 500 FSB. This 400 top limited the highest overclock we could achieve to a 372 FSB, or a 39% OC of the 2.66 E6700 compared to the 50% overclock it achieved on the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe.
Overclocking is still much less stable on the 965 ASUS than we experienced on their 975X motherboard. The ASUS board is generally stable, but it could still benefit from a few more rounds of BIOS refinement. In fact, all of the 965 boards were less polished and mature than their 975X counterparts - not to mention the missing features detailed above.
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Erm... onboard sound isn't "legacy". As for the others, the instant you release something without floppy support, someone is going to want to install an OS that needs drivers on a floppy (XP). I still find BIOS updates to be far more successful when done from a floppy as well. Give it another year and the floppy might truly start to disappear; we just need better support for USB storage devices.Makaveli - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Could u elaborate little more on the painful part of going from the AMD system to the conroe.rjm55 - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
What they said in the recommendations was pretty clear: "Most of our Reference systems have been based on AMD/AM2 for the last couple of years. To be honest, going back to some of those same systems after our Conroe testing, the differences are more obvious and painful than you might think. Conroe is clearly the faster platform - and not by small, barely measurable differences."They said it was painful going back to the slower AMD systems for some testing after working with all these Conroe boards.
phusg - Thursday, July 20, 2006 - link
I think Makaveli's point is how is is slower? Gaming, switching apps, overall? I'm interested in some elaboration on this point too.mine - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
missed the abit ab 9 proonly 965 board so far that showed some improvements in real wotld apps. over the 975.
but great review so far ...wait for more ..
Gary Key - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
We really wanted to include the Abit AB9 Pro, however we did not have time to fully test the latest bios that unlocks the memory timings. We did not feel it would be fair to the readers or Abit to publish numbers until we had a shipping bios for review. I will not go through another a review of system with a bios that is not going to be released. ;-) We will post a follow up once we have concluded our testing.DeathSniper - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
On page 3:I'm thinking you wanted to use 'coarse'? :D
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Our grammar checking software needs an education :D Fixed.archcommus - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Once again you guys continue to impress me. Can't think of another site that delivers this much (and this high quality) content.Thanks for keeping us informed!
vmsein - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Hello gentlemen and thanks for the informative article. Could you let us know which BIOS version was used for testing on the P5W-DH? Thanks in advance!