Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Overclocking Performance
We have already reviewed the overclocking capabilities of each board in detail during our review of the boards' feature sets if addtional information is required about the results. As a recap our ASUS P5B-E 1.02G motherboard is our top overclocking board. It is able to overclock further with our GEIL PC2-6400 memory than the ASUS P5B-E 1.01G board due to the additional memory voltage options. The Biostar TForce P965 board is limited to 500FSB due to its BIOS options. Our Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is limited to the 450FSB range due to issues overclocking our Micron D9 1GB modules and the Abit AB9-Pro is just limited at this time. We will now take a look at how our boards performed in a few of our standard benchmarks while overclocked.
Our end results are not that surprising as the higher you overclock a system the greater its performance will be and in this case that means the ASUS P5B-E 1.02G walks away with the trophy. In our application benchmarks that tend to be very CPU intensive we see the benefits of overclocking as our Nero Recode test shows an improvement of 16% on average with our WinRAR tests showing upwards of a 36% increase in performance. Our audio encoding test only showed an improvement of 11% but this is due to the fact that the CPU was waiting on the optical drive during the encoding process as it takes two minutes and three seconds to extract the audio files. In our Sandra memory results we see the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 having the highest Unbuffered results which directly translates to its class leading performance in our benchmarks. We also took notice of the very consistent performance from the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe board which has the second highest Sandra Unbuffered test results.
In our gaming benchmarks we see differences of 7% in Quake 4, up to 38% in Battlefield 2, and 59% in the older Serious Sam II title. This trend shows a definite improvement in the CPU/GPU balanced titles with little improvement in a title like Quake 4 that is already becoming GPU limited at 1280x1024. We implemented 4xAA in Quake 4 and the game shows no real differences in performance once it becomes GPU limited. Battlefield 2 still shows a 22% improvement but the spread between the Abit board and the ASUS 1.02G board is only 1% even though there is a 19% difference in the overclocking speed of the boards. Serious Sam II becomes GPU limited in a hurry when implementing 4xAA/8xAF settings although the frame rates are still very good.
Our opinion is that unless you are benchmarking to impress your friends and colleagues or are not GPU limited then there are few real gaming advantages to overclocking a system with the latest components. This basically means that to a certain degree you should invest in a very good GPU first and then start looking at the platform components based upon your timeline for keeping the system. Over time overclocking can become advantageous as you upgrade the GPU and simply overclock the system to improve CPU and memory performance. This can help extend the life of your main system components while allowing you to spend your money wisely during an upgrade cycle. Of course, there are those of us who throw this entire theory out the window (Ed: the author does this everyday!) every time a new component is introduced.
We have already reviewed the overclocking capabilities of each board in detail during our review of the boards' feature sets if addtional information is required about the results. As a recap our ASUS P5B-E 1.02G motherboard is our top overclocking board. It is able to overclock further with our GEIL PC2-6400 memory than the ASUS P5B-E 1.01G board due to the additional memory voltage options. The Biostar TForce P965 board is limited to 500FSB due to its BIOS options. Our Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is limited to the 450FSB range due to issues overclocking our Micron D9 1GB modules and the Abit AB9-Pro is just limited at this time. We will now take a look at how our boards performed in a few of our standard benchmarks while overclocked.
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Our end results are not that surprising as the higher you overclock a system the greater its performance will be and in this case that means the ASUS P5B-E 1.02G walks away with the trophy. In our application benchmarks that tend to be very CPU intensive we see the benefits of overclocking as our Nero Recode test shows an improvement of 16% on average with our WinRAR tests showing upwards of a 36% increase in performance. Our audio encoding test only showed an improvement of 11% but this is due to the fact that the CPU was waiting on the optical drive during the encoding process as it takes two minutes and three seconds to extract the audio files. In our Sandra memory results we see the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 having the highest Unbuffered results which directly translates to its class leading performance in our benchmarks. We also took notice of the very consistent performance from the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe board which has the second highest Sandra Unbuffered test results.
In our gaming benchmarks we see differences of 7% in Quake 4, up to 38% in Battlefield 2, and 59% in the older Serious Sam II title. This trend shows a definite improvement in the CPU/GPU balanced titles with little improvement in a title like Quake 4 that is already becoming GPU limited at 1280x1024. We implemented 4xAA in Quake 4 and the game shows no real differences in performance once it becomes GPU limited. Battlefield 2 still shows a 22% improvement but the spread between the Abit board and the ASUS 1.02G board is only 1% even though there is a 19% difference in the overclocking speed of the boards. Serious Sam II becomes GPU limited in a hurry when implementing 4xAA/8xAF settings although the frame rates are still very good.
Our opinion is that unless you are benchmarking to impress your friends and colleagues or are not GPU limited then there are few real gaming advantages to overclocking a system with the latest components. This basically means that to a certain degree you should invest in a very good GPU first and then start looking at the platform components based upon your timeline for keeping the system. Over time overclocking can become advantageous as you upgrade the GPU and simply overclock the system to improve CPU and memory performance. This can help extend the life of your main system components while allowing you to spend your money wisely during an upgrade cycle. Of course, there are those of us who throw this entire theory out the window (Ed: the author does this everyday!) every time a new component is introduced.
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Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
The DS4 will be reviewed. Gigabyte has stated they will not bring it into the US but we are still trying to convince them (really more like begging and calling our marketing rep at home on the weekends to beg some more) to release it in the States. The copper backplate can be removed off the DQ6 and I really did not see any benefit with it on in testing. It makes for a good rebate with the price of copper today. ;-)The AHCI issues stay the way they are at this time. It is frustrating to say the least. I was being a bit sarcastic in my statement but it is a little harder than it should be to enable AHCI on the ICH8R.
Ryan Norton - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
I'm in Taiwan, so the DS4 is all over the place :)Capt Caveman - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Not sure if you live in the US or not but Gigabyte is not bringing/selling the DS4 to the US.Also, the copper backplate for the DQ-6, can be removed with a tworx(sp?) screwdriver. At XS, many just went to Home Depot and got longer screws for their HSF.
lopri - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Excellent review that'll help potential buyers enormously. A couple things:1. Error in the chart (page 14): There is a discrepency between the chart (3-4-3) and the commentary (3-4-4) :)
2. In memory review Wesley always put tRP ahead of tRCD, while Gary does the opposite. It'd be nice to have a consistency for less experienced users!
3. Gary, did you test the P5W-DH with wirless module installed or without? I recently found out the wirless module could skew CPU/memory-sensitive benchmarks on this board big time. I'm not sure if my finding is true in general, but if it is, then the comparison between a board with such feature and a board without it can be unfair.
4. Can Sandra Unbuffered be really an indication of general performace? @400FSB, setting memory ratio 4:5 (DDR2-1000/4-4-3) boosted the score by a whooping 400~500 MB/s from the ratio 1:1 (DDR2-800/3-3-3), which never realized for other tests in a meaningful way. Oh this is about my own testing. :D
Thanks for the great review.
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Thanks for the comments.1. The timing error is corrected. Jarred and I were editing at the same and we found out after the article went live that our saves to the final copy would overwrite each other. Bad timing for several other mistakes that have been cleared up now.
2. Wes is wrong. Just kidding, we will get on the same page. :)
3. I turned off the WiFi on the PSW-DH. The scores were even worse with it on. Not that they are bad but the board runs a little looser timings in order to overclock at the high end. DFI also does this with their boards targeted for the overclocking market.
4. Sandra Unbuffered can be an indication of performance in apps that are memory sensitive. This is not always the case but it is one of the better yardsticks available at this time.
Lothar - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Do you plan on comparing the Gigabyte DS3 vs the S3 version for us to know if there are performance/overclocking issues with the S3?The only difference so far between the DS3 and S3 is "All Solid Capacitors".
Are there any other difference I'm missing?
The S3 is $110, and the DS3 is $150.
I have a hard time to justify paying an extra $40 for only "all solid capacitors"
The term is nothing but marketing to me so far.
I haven't seen any proof of a performance/overclocking issue between the two boards.
If you or anyone else plan on testing the differences or can provide something(Ex: any review link) stating otherwise, that would be great.
Nakazato - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
In theory, cleaner power.... but aside from the theory, the onboard sound does start flaking out the higher you go. This has been true on 2/2 boards I've tried it on. So an add-in card is needed for the higher overclocks... 460+ish.goinginstyle - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
No issue here with the Biostar board at 500FSB and the Realtek ALC-883. It sounds fine but a X-FI is still the way to go for gaming.Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Yes, the S3 will be in part two. :)
Lothar - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
The only other differences I found were RAID support and 2 extra USB ports...It's not worth the $40 price difference if performance and overclocking results are the same IMO.