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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
62 Comments
View All Comments
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.