Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ASUS P5B-E: Feature Set
ASUS is replacing the P5B (non-deluxe) with the P5B-E. The improvements in the board have centered around better performance and overclocking capabilities. ASUS has improved the BIOS while upgrading or adding additional capacitors on the board. Our opinion is that they have succeeded based upon our test results. The current motherboard that is shipping is a 1.01G revision with either the C1 or C2 P965 stepping. As we witnessed in an earlier article there is not a real difference in performance between the two chipsets.
The current P5B-E 1.01G is very well optioned and sells for around US $160. ASUS will be launching a new revision of the motherboard oriented to the enthusiast crowd in the near future and it sports a new PLL controller that allows up to 1.7V for the MCH and 2.45V for the memory. The current 1.01G board does not offer voltage selections for the MCH and memory is limited to 2.10V. The board revision is 1.02G and we do not know if the name will change at this time or not. However, this should not deter the majority of users from considering the 1.01G motherboard as there is no difference in the performance of the boards except in overclocking when utilizing mid to lower range memory modules that require additional voltage.
ASUS supports their AI Suite of utilities with the P5B-E that include AI N.O.S., AI Gear, AI Nap, AI Booster, and Q-Fan applications. ASUS AI Gear allows for four different fixed settings ranging from maximum performance to maximum power saving. ASUS AI Nap is a power savings utility and Q-Fan controls the CPU and chassis fans. AI Booster allows you to overclock the CPU to a certain level without rebooting to the BIOS. AI N.O.S. determines the load on the system and automatically overclocks the system up to 20%.
We found when setting the AI N.O.S. setting to auto that the system would boot our E6300 at 7x266 with the memory set at DDR2-800 with timings of 5-5-5-15. Once in XP and stressing the system with game play or 3DMark06 it would automatically raise the FSB to 275 with the memory at DDR2-824. If we set the AI N.O.S. from Auto to Sensitive then we could predetermine the percentage of overclock capability with the Turbo setting up to 20%. At the 20% setting the system would lock up due to our memory running at DDR2-958, something not possible with our GEIL DDR2-800 being limited to 2.1V. The FSB setting was 7x319 with memory timings at 5-5-5-18.
Once we backed down to a 15% overclock setting then the system would operate normally. This resulted in a 7x306 FSB with the memory speed at DDR2-920 with timings of 5-5-5-18. We found this to be strange as the system would operate with the memory set manually to 4-4-4-12 at DDR2-980 in our overclock tests. Overall, we still suggest you manually adjust the BIOS for optimum settings with your components.
| ASUS P5B-E (1.01G and 1.02G Revision) | |
| Market Segment: | Mid-Range Performance |
| CPU Interface: | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support: | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Pentium EE, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme |
| Chipset: | Intel P965 + ICH8R |
| Bus Speeds: | 100 to 650 in 1MHz Increments |
| Memory Speeds: | Auto, 533, 667, 800, 889, 1067 |
| PCIe Speeds: | Auto, 90MHz~150MHz in 1MHz Increments |
| PCI: | Auto, Fixed at 33.33 |
| Core Voltage: | Base CPU V to 1.7000V in 0.0125V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Auto, 6x-11x in 1X increments if CPU is unlocked, downwards unlocked |
| DRAM Voltage: | Auto, 1.80V ~ 2.10V in .10V increments on 1.01G, 1.80V ~ 2.45V on 1.02G |
| DRAM Timing Control: | Auto, 10 DRAM Timing Options |
| NB Voltage: | Not available 1.01G, 1.4V~1.7V on 1.02G |
| Memory Slots: | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots: | 1 - PCIe X16 3 - PCIe X1 3 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID: | 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Intel ICH8R (RAID 0,1,5, 1+0,JBOD) 1 SATA 3Gbps Ports - JMicron JMB363 1 e-SATA 3Gbps Port - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394: | 10 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers 2 Firewire 400 Ports by VIA VT6307 - 1 I/O Panel, 1 via Header |
| Onboard LAN: | Gigabit Ethernet Controller - PCI Express Interface Attansic L1 |
| Onboard Audio: | ADI 1988A 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC |
| Power Connectors: | ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EATX 12V |
| I/O Panel: | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel Port 1 x S/PDIF Optical 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x Audio Panel 1 x RJ45 1 x eSATA 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision: | AMI 0601 |
| Board Revision: | 1.01G, 1.02G |
ASUS is replacing the P5B (non-deluxe) with the P5B-E. The improvements in the board have centered around better performance and overclocking capabilities. ASUS has improved the BIOS while upgrading or adding additional capacitors on the board. Our opinion is that they have succeeded based upon our test results. The current motherboard that is shipping is a 1.01G revision with either the C1 or C2 P965 stepping. As we witnessed in an earlier article there is not a real difference in performance between the two chipsets.
The current P5B-E 1.01G is very well optioned and sells for around US $160. ASUS will be launching a new revision of the motherboard oriented to the enthusiast crowd in the near future and it sports a new PLL controller that allows up to 1.7V for the MCH and 2.45V for the memory. The current 1.01G board does not offer voltage selections for the MCH and memory is limited to 2.10V. The board revision is 1.02G and we do not know if the name will change at this time or not. However, this should not deter the majority of users from considering the 1.01G motherboard as there is no difference in the performance of the boards except in overclocking when utilizing mid to lower range memory modules that require additional voltage.
ASUS supports their AI Suite of utilities with the P5B-E that include AI N.O.S., AI Gear, AI Nap, AI Booster, and Q-Fan applications. ASUS AI Gear allows for four different fixed settings ranging from maximum performance to maximum power saving. ASUS AI Nap is a power savings utility and Q-Fan controls the CPU and chassis fans. AI Booster allows you to overclock the CPU to a certain level without rebooting to the BIOS. AI N.O.S. determines the load on the system and automatically overclocks the system up to 20%.
We found when setting the AI N.O.S. setting to auto that the system would boot our E6300 at 7x266 with the memory set at DDR2-800 with timings of 5-5-5-15. Once in XP and stressing the system with game play or 3DMark06 it would automatically raise the FSB to 275 with the memory at DDR2-824. If we set the AI N.O.S. from Auto to Sensitive then we could predetermine the percentage of overclock capability with the Turbo setting up to 20%. At the 20% setting the system would lock up due to our memory running at DDR2-958, something not possible with our GEIL DDR2-800 being limited to 2.1V. The FSB setting was 7x319 with memory timings at 5-5-5-18.
Once we backed down to a 15% overclock setting then the system would operate normally. This resulted in a 7x306 FSB with the memory speed at DDR2-920 with timings of 5-5-5-18. We found this to be strange as the system would operate with the memory set manually to 4-4-4-12 at DDR2-980 in our overclock tests. Overall, we still suggest you manually adjust the BIOS for optimum settings with your components.
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smn198 - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
Would you be able to re-run using 4 drives for all of the tests please?
jonp - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
-- “…budget sector and includes boards from ECS, Foxconn, Intel, and Gigabyte.” – will the MSI P965 Neo-F be in this set?-- the Abit AB9 Pro feature set does not show the eSata port on the SI 3132 (two SATA). it does show a serial port on the i/o panel but not one in the picture.
-- The Biostar feature set shows 4 USB on the i/o panel when there are six in the picture.
JarredWalton - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Fixed - thanks.powchi - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Can I use a 20-pin power supply on these boards since all are using 24-pin connectors? Or will I be needing 20pin to 24pin adaptor?The PSU is an Enermax NoiseTaker EG475P-VE SFMA 470W ATX 12V v1.3.
Aikouka - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Some motherboard manufacturers will no longer support your motherboard if they find out you've been running it with a 20-pin ATX plug or a 20->24-pin adapter. Just be safe and get a newer PSU :). I know DFI will no longer support the motherboard if it specifically asks for a 24-pin.JarredWalton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Technically, yes you can use 20-pin PSUs. Will they work, and will the system be stable? That varies. I haven't had any issues on the systems where I've done it, but if you do high overclocking it will likely become a serious issue.powchi - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Jarred,So there's no need to use a 20pin to 24pin adaptor? What are the differences when using and not using an adaptor? Thanks.
lopri - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
No. As a matter of fact, the adapter should be avoided. Just plug the 20-pin connector to 24-pin receptacle with 4-pin left empty. Like Jarred said, it should work in theory and it does in practice. However, the quality of PSU and how intense is one's OC can affect the (long-term) stability.JarredWalton - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
I suppose the adapter *could* help, as it ensures power is available on all the 24-pins, but you're still taking the power from the same source so depending on how that works out it can actually make things worse. I would typically say that if you have a 400W or better PSU you should be fine with little to moderate OC'ing even with 20-pins. (I have an OCZ ModStream 450W that certainly works fine in a 939 board with a decent 2.0 to 2.6 GHz overclock.)lopri - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Yes! Not to brag about myself or anything, but I went through countless Socket 939 Opterons on DFI NF4 SLI-D with original Antec TruePower EPS12V (20-pins, not the TP2 with 24-pins) including an Opteron 165 @3.0GHz (9x333). TCCD up to 325MHz/2.5-4-3-8! The setup was absolutely stable.