Abit IP35-E Review (500MHz FSB board)...$90 @ NewEgg + $6.61 ship

Page 13 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: Gepidae
Hey Serpent, back here for help again =P. Can anyone please explain to me how do I use memset to test if my ram is the component holding back my oc? With a fsb of 451 my ddr2 800mhz crucial ballistixs are oced to 902 and I cannot go further. Btw, I run timings of 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v

Use CPUz to verify 1:1 memory divider and set timing to 5-5-5-15. Bump Vdimm to 2.1 or 2.2V.

Load memtest86 and run test #5 for one hour to check for stability. Red = Failed test.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: zhoutian
Hey guys, I just put together my system with the IP35 Pro motherboard, and everything seems to be running; however, my system is only reading 1 GB of RAM when I have 2X1GB sticks installed. I know it's not the RAM since I plugged the second stick in by itself in slot#1 and the system booted up fine reading 1 GB of RAM. I have also tried putting the 2 sticks of RAM in both DIMM1+DIMM3 and DIMM2+DIMM4 combos. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong, or could I just have a bad motherboard (everything else seems to be running fine).

Here are my computer specs if they would be helpful:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
2X1GB Crucial BL2KIT12864AA804 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 RAM
Abit IP35 Pro
EVGA 640MB Geforce 8800GTS
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU

Also, if you can figure out my RAM capacity problem, how do you set the RAM to DDR2-800? I know how to set the timings in the bios to 4-4-4-12, but afterwards CPU-Z still reads my RAM as DDR2 @ 400mhz.

Reflash to the latest BIOS and reset CMOS. Is 2GB of RAM detected during boot? Could be defective MB.

 

Kupe

Junior Member
Jul 27, 2007
20
0
0
Originally posted by: bretto
Just some advice, the Freezer 7 doesn't fit either. Well, it does, but the only way it fits is if you turn it so the fan is facing down towards the bottom of the case. If you want to point it towards the back of the case it hits the NB hs. Kind of defeats part of the purpose of this particular HS...
There are at least 2 people in this thread that said that they got freezer 7's in and facing the right way. One person posted pictures. It looks really tight, but it can be done.

I decided to take another look at it, because I was able to get the heatsink in pretty easily, but
I had to nudge the NB HS a bit to get the fan on. I took some pictures:

Lifted NB HS
Lift 2

As you can see, the fan casing was lifting the NB cooler a bit. I wasn't having any temp or stability problems, but this worried me. I decided to take Heidfirst's advice and snip a bit of the fan bracket off. I took a picture with it off while I was at it:

No fan

As you can see, the heatsink fits just fine, although I kind of had to slide the lower two fins under the little lip at the top of the NB HS.

And here's what it looks like after clipping off the offending corner:
After

hardly ideal, but everything's fine now. According to the box, the freezer 7 Pro is 104 mm long, while the fan casing is 107 mm long. Those 3 mm make a good bit of difference it seems.

I'd wager that if your cooler is less than 104 mm length-wise (up and down when looking at the installed MB) you'll probably be fine.
 

chiew

Member
Jul 30, 2007
150
0
0
Paypal deal is over and the board is out of stock.
Guess I'll keep my 965P with its hot NB :(
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: ihaveaquestionforyou
i've noticed on the ABIT website that the IP35-E does not use their new "Silent OTES" cooling technology. anybody know specifically what that "Silent OTES" adds?

also it says that the IP35-E doesn't have solid capacitors and that it's the IP35 and IP35 Pro that has the solid caps. can anyone confirm this?


edit: it looks like gigabyte has a comparable basic p35 board, same features: 4 sata, no raid, 4 phase power, etc, for the same price (disregarding the abit rebate).
it's called the p35-ds3L. what are people's opinions on it compared to this ABIT board? i haven't been able to find much information online.

IP35/IP35-E has solid caps around the CPU socket. Abit has superior fan control and 100% Japanese caps.

 

gwight

Junior Member
Aug 12, 2007
5
0
0
Hi everyone.

Found the forum with a Google search and I immediately joined after reading this great thread. After days searching the web it was great to find somewhere where people were sharing really useful information.

I am just about to order the components for my first build and had a couple of questions about my first choice MB - the Abit IP35 pro.

I would like to do some modest overclocking but have no prior experience. From the thread I have gathered that there is little if any performance difference between the pro and the lower cost IP35 E. For a newbee builder and hopefully a modest overclocker, which board would be the most sensible to buy? I am particularly interested in how easy it would be for an inexperienced builder to achieve some modest overclocking. What are the practical differences in working with the two boards for overclocking?

Finally I can buy 2 GB Crucial Ballistic Kits of either 800MHz 6400 4-4-4-12 or 1066MHz 8500 5-5-5-15 for very little difference in price. (Note I don't understand what the latency numbers actually mean). My inclination is to get the faster memory since I gather from the thread that the faster memory seems to be compatible even though the MB only lists up to 800 memory. What differences in performance would I see between these two memories with either the Pro or the E and which would be the more sensible choice?

Other components planned are E6750 CPU with arctic freezer pro 7 (although after reading the thread I will now also look at the Big Typhoon) and 256 MB X1950XT graphics.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

 

AlucardX

Senior member
May 20, 2000
647
0
76
Originally posted by: gwight
Hi everyone.

Found the forum with a Google search and I immediately joined after reading this great thread. After days searching the web it was great to find somewhere where people were sharing really useful information.

I am just about to order the components for my first build and had a couple of questions about my first choice MB - the Abit IP35 pro.

I would like to do some modest overclocking but have no prior experience. From the thread I have gathered that there is little if any performance difference between the pro and the lower cost IP35 E. For a newbee builder and hopefully a modest overclocker, which board would be the most sensible to buy? I am particularly interested in how easy it would be for an inexperienced builder to achieve some modest overclocking. What are the practical differences in working with the two boards for overclocking?

Finally I can buy 2 GB Crucial Ballistic Kits of either 800MHz 6400 4-4-4-12 or 1066MHz 8500 5-5-5-15 for very little difference in price. (Note I don't understand what the latency numbers actually mean). My inclination is to get the faster memory since I gather from the thread that the faster memory seems to be compatible even though the MB only lists up to 800 memory. What differences in performance would I see between these two memories with either the Pro or the E and which would be the more sensible choice?

Other components planned are E6750 CPU with arctic freezer pro 7 (although after reading the thread I will now also look at the Big Typhoon) and 256 MB X1950XT graphics.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.


1. in terms of overclocking and bios, all 3 boards should behave the same. the only difference will be in the cooling solution provided by Abit with the heatpipe design. I'm not sure it has been verified how much cooler the NB and SB get on the Pro versus the Economy. base your buying decision on whether you need the extra bells and whistles the Pro comes with. i went with the IP35 (theres IP35-E, IP35, IP35-Pro) myself.

2. If you run both sticks at 800mhz you won't notice any difference. CAS and latencies give you a beneifit of only 1-2%. very hard to notice in real world applications. I went with Crucial pc8500 (1066) ram to give me headroom on an overclock. Since it wasn't much more expensive, this way I know I will never be limited by RAM speed and it takes one headache out of the equation of overclocking. I'd go with 8500

3. No issue with cpu and heatsink. I'm not familiar with Big Typhoon, I use thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. big, heavy, expensive, PITA to install but worth it. Idle temps are around 23C. Load temps get up to about 44C.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: gwight
Hi everyone.

Found the forum with a Google search and I immediately joined after reading this great thread. After days searching the web it was great to find somewhere where people were sharing really useful information.

I am just about to order the components for my first build and had a couple of questions about my first choice MB - the Abit IP35 pro.

I would like to do some modest overclocking but have no prior experience. From the thread I have gathered that there is little if any performance difference between the pro and the lower cost IP35 E. For a newbee builder and hopefully a modest overclocker, which board would be the most sensible to buy? I am particularly interested in how easy it would be for an inexperienced builder to achieve some modest overclocking. What are the practical differences in working with the two boards for overclocking?

Finally I can buy 2 GB Crucial Ballistic Kits of either 800MHz 6400 4-4-4-12 or 1066MHz 8500 5-5-5-15 for very little difference in price. (Note I don't understand what the latency numbers actually mean). My inclination is to get the faster memory since I gather from the thread that the faster memory seems to be compatible even though the MB only lists up to 800 memory. What differences in performance would I see between these two memories with either the Pro or the E and which would be the more sensible choice?

Other components planned are E6750 CPU with arctic freezer pro 7 (although after reading the thread I will now also look at the Big Typhoon) and 256 MB X1950XT graphics.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

I've reached the same maximum overclocked speed with 7x (488MHz) and 9x (425MHz) multiplier CPUs when evaluating IP35-E vs IP35 Pro. The sweet spot for all of these P35 boards is around 460MHz FSB. I'd go with the DDR2 800 RAM. Even better if the 800 RAM is rated for 1.8V operation. It should be able to hit 460MHz FSB with 2.0 to 2.1Vdimm. The speed difference is very small and not noticeable under normal use. The 1066 RAM is overvolted 800 with loser timing. Both RAMs will perform similarly with either board...minus some minor BIOS tweaking.

The IP35-E has a simpler and more stable BIOS with my test rig. It is also capable of controlling 2-pin fan.

I wouldn't waste $ on 6750. Go with E4300/E4400. About the same performance level at the same core speed. There isn't much to be gained from pushing a C2D chip from 3.2GHz to 3.6GHz. Use the $ save toward Peryn next year.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Abit IP35-E with four sticks of DDR2 800 Kingston "N5" ValueRAM. WXP Pro SP1 with 3GB of total physical memory. 2.1Vdimm, 5-5-5-18-2T and 1:1.50 memory divider with E4300 (200MHz default FSB). RAM is Orthos stable up to 542MHz. Looks like this board is capable of running four sticks @ DDR2 1066.
 

gwight

Junior Member
Aug 12, 2007
5
0
0
Originally posted by: AlucardX
Originally posted by: gwight
Hi everyone.

Found the forum with a Google search and I immediately joined after reading this great thread. After days searching the web it was great to find somewhere where people were sharing really useful information.

I am just about to order the components for my first build and had a couple of questions about my first choice MB - the Abit IP35 pro.

I would like to do some modest overclocking but have no prior experience. From the thread I have gathered that there is little if any performance difference between the pro and the lower cost IP35 E. For a newbee builder and hopefully a modest overclocker, which board would be the most sensible to buy? I am particularly interested in how easy it would be for an inexperienced builder to achieve some modest overclocking. What are the practical differences in working with the two boards for overclocking?

Finally I can buy 2 GB Crucial Ballistic Kits of either 800MHz 6400 4-4-4-12 or 1066MHz 8500 5-5-5-15 for very little difference in price. (Note I don't understand what the latency numbers actually mean). My inclination is to get the faster memory since I gather from the thread that the faster memory seems to be compatible even though the MB only lists up to 800 memory. What differences in performance would I see between these two memories with either the Pro or the E and which would be the more sensible choice?

Other components planned are E6750 CPU with arctic freezer pro 7 (although after reading the thread I will now also look at the Big Typhoon) and 256 MB X1950XT graphics.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.


1. in terms of overclocking and bios, all 3 boards should behave the same. the only difference will be in the cooling solution provided by Abit with the heatpipe design. I'm not sure it has been verified how much cooler the NB and SB get on the Pro versus the Economy. base your buying decision on whether you need the extra bells and whistles the Pro comes with. i went with the IP35 (theres IP35-E, IP35, IP35-Pro) myself.

2. If you run both sticks at 800mhz you won't notice any difference. CAS and latencies give you a beneifit of only 1-2%. very hard to notice in real world applications. I went with Crucial pc8500 (1066) ram to give me headroom on an overclock. Since it wasn't much more expensive, this way I know I will never be limited by RAM speed and it takes one headache out of the equation of overclocking. I'd go with 8500

3. No issue with cpu and heatsink. I'm not familiar with Big Typhoon, I use thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. big, heavy, expensive, PITA to install but worth it. Idle temps are around 23C. Load temps get up to about 44C.


Did you have any problems posting with the PC8500 RAM and what voltage are you running it at? From other posts in this thread it looks like the RAM is not a problem although it should run at 2.2 volts and not the stock 1.8 volts.

I don't want to run Raid so I don't think I need the IP35 - the E looks sufficient. At least this is my conclusion from the Newegg spec list. Am I missing anything?



 

ihaveaquestionforyou

Junior Member
Aug 10, 2007
4
0
0
So, in your opinion, between the P965-DS3 and this IP35-E, which would be the better board in regards to performance/stability/longevity? This is regardless of price, in my situation they would essentially cost the same.
 

aiya24

Senior member
Aug 24, 2005
540
0
76
IP35-E uses a newer chipset than the P965-DS3 so it's guaranteed to work with penryn when it comes next year. some P965 boards might still support it but its kinda iffy. the P35 chipset also runs cooler than the P965.

if your buying new now, your better off getting a P35 based board (if you don't need SLi)

also, the IP35-E doesn't do RAID so if you need it, you'll have to go to the IP35.
 

gwight

Junior Member
Aug 12, 2007
5
0
0
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Originally posted by: gwight
Hi everyone.

Found the forum with a Google search and I immediately joined after reading this great thread. After days searching the web it was great to find somewhere where people were sharing really useful information.

I am just about to order the components for my first build and had a couple of questions about my first choice MB - the Abit IP35 pro.

I would like to do some modest overclocking but have no prior experience. From the thread I have gathered that there is little if any performance difference between the pro and the lower cost IP35 E. For a newbee builder and hopefully a modest overclocker, which board would be the most sensible to buy? I am particularly interested in how easy it would be for an inexperienced builder to achieve some modest overclocking. What are the practical differences in working with the two boards for overclocking?

Finally I can buy 2 GB Crucial Ballistic Kits of either 800MHz 6400 4-4-4-12 or 1066MHz 8500 5-5-5-15 for very little difference in price. (Note I don't understand what the latency numbers actually mean). My inclination is to get the faster memory since I gather from the thread that the faster memory seems to be compatible even though the MB only lists up to 800 memory. What differences in performance would I see between these two memories with either the Pro or the E and which would be the more sensible choice?

Other components planned are E6750 CPU with arctic freezer pro 7 (although after reading the thread I will now also look at the Big Typhoon) and 256 MB X1950XT graphics.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

I've reached the same maximum overclocked speed with 7x (488MHz) and 9x (425MHz) multiplier CPUs when evaluating IP35-E vs IP35 Pro. The sweet spot for all of these P35 boards is around 460MHz FSB. I'd go with the DDR2 800 RAM. Even better if the 800 RAM is rated for 1.8V operation. It should be able to hit 460MHz FSB with 2.0 to 2.1Vdimm. The speed difference is very small and not noticeable under normal use. The 1066 RAM is overvolted 800 with loser timing. Both RAMs will perform similarly with either board...minus some minor BIOS tweaking.

The IP35-E has a simpler and more stable BIOS with my test rig. It is also capable of controlling 2-pin fan.

I wouldn't waste $ on 6750. Go with E4300/E4400. About the same performance level at the same core speed. There isn't much to be gained from pushing a C2D chip from 3.2GHz to 3.6GHz. Use the $ save toward Peryn next year.

Many thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

Apologies for the very basic questions but even after reading an enormous amount on the web I still still find my knowledge base is very superficial. Hopefully that will improve.

The 1066 RAM is overvolted 800 with loser timing.
I don't understand enough yet about memory - I thought that both memories were rated at 2.2volts and the 800 would run at this max speed and the 1066 would have a significantly higher max speed but also running at 2.2 volts.

I'd go with the DDR2 800 RAM. Even better if the 800 RAM is rated for 1.8V operation.
Found it difficult to find voltage ratings for RAM to make easy comparisons - at least looking at suppliers specs here in the UK and couldn't find Kingston 800 with a quick search. I am inclined to go with the Crucial even though I understand that it is supposed to run at 2.2volts. What happens if you run it at the 1.8 stock voltage of the motherboard or lower voltages than the 2.2 listed?.


I wouldn't waste $ on 6750. Go with E4300/E4400.
In addition to some gaming I want to edit some large image files. I see that the E4xxx has a 2MB cache and the E6XXX has 4MB. Would this give any performance difference. I think at this stage I would be happy with around 3 to 3.2 GHz but I can see how easy it would be to get the over-clocking bug!! I would like to keep a reasonably quiet and cool system. I plan to use an Antec 182 case.



 

njdevilsfan87

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2007
2,341
264
126
My IP35-E has been a POS and I am RMAing it for refund.

On both an E4300 and Q6600 I get this random boot failure at times, and I'm not talking about the double. The double post is when it actually successfully boots with my current bios settings. The boot failure occurs when the second post in the double post fails. Instead of it booting, all my leds in my case just flicker and all goes dead. It does this at complete random, meaning sometimes it works at certain settings, and other times it does not. And every time it fails, the next time it boots all my settings are defaulted and I have to go into this bios, save it, and have it redo the entire boot process and hope it doesn't fail. Complete pain in the ass.

Also don't over clock a quad too much with this board... the PWM gets ridiculously hot with an overclocked quad in there.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: ihaveaquestionforyou
So, in your opinion, between the P965-DS3 and this IP35-E, which would be the better board in regards to performance/stability/longevity? This is regardless of price, in my situation they would essentially cost the same.


Gigabyte board runs hotter, and doesn't overclock as well as IP35-E. Abit is also compatible with Peryn.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: njdevilsfan87
My IP35-E has been a POS and I am RMAing it for refund.

On both an E4300 and Q6600 I get this random boot failure at times, and I'm not talking about the double. The double post is when it actually successfully boots with my current bios settings. The boot failure occurs when the second post in the double post fails. Instead of it booting, all my leds in my case just flicker and all goes dead. It does this at complete random, meaning sometimes it works at certain settings, and other times it does not. And every time it fails, the next time it boots all my settings are defaulted and I have to go into this bios, save it, and have it redo the entire boot process and hope it doesn't fail. Complete pain in the ass.


Retest the board outside the case. Reflash BIOS to 11 and run Memtest to verify that it's stable. Finally, always wipe the HDD and clean install Windows with a new board.

From your descriptions, it appears that your system is WAY OVERCLOCKED. That's why the board resets the FSB to 200 (default) with the E4300. If stable at default, then you need to use Memtest and Orthos to check for system stability at the overclocked setting.
 

njdevilsfan87

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2007
2,341
264
126
It has done it when I have manually set stock settings. Even at stock, when all I do is change the RAM voltage, I get these random boot failures. Any changes I make to the bios at all results in boot failures.

My E4300 (3150MHz) & Q6600 (3375MHz) have both been stable on Orthos and x4 P95 for hours the times I have been able to successfully boot. Trust me, I know my overclocks are stable. CPUs never passed 70C in CoreTemp while priming. The RAM is also stable, I've tested different types of RAM, Crucial Ballistix, some kind of DDR2-667 value RAM, and etc. I have already tested it outside of the case, and same boot failures.

My bios is dated from 5/24 which I believe is already BIOS 11.

And I'm not really up for a Windows reformat. How would that help if the hard drive isn't detected until after it posts? I'm pretty sure I removed all previous mobo software/drivers.
 

aiya24

Senior member
Aug 24, 2005
540
0
76
sound like you just got a bad board. haven't heard people running into problems like your's with their boards. lets hope your next board doesn't have the same problems :)
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: njdevilsfan87
It has done it when I have manually set stock settings. Even at stock, when all I do is change the RAM voltage, I get these random boot failures. Any changes I make to the bios at all results in boot failures.

My E4300 (3150MHz) & Q6600 (3375MHz) have both been stable on Orthos and x4 P95 for hours the times I have been able to successfully boot. Trust me, I know my overclocks are stable. CPUs never passed 70C in CoreTemp while priming. The RAM is also stable, I've tested different types of RAM, Crucial Ballistix, some kind of DDR2-667 value RAM, and etc. I have already tested it outside of the case, and same boot failures.

My bios is dated from 5/24 which I believe is already BIOS 11.

And I'm not really up for a Windows reformat. How would that help if the hard drive isn't detected until after it posts? I'm pretty sure I removed all previous mobo software/drivers.


1st rule of trouble shooting is to start with a CLEAN HDD and OS. Like you said, it could be a bad board. I've worked with 5 IP35-Es. No problemo right out of the box.
 

Upgr8er

Member
May 4, 2005
87
0
66
And I'm not really up for a Windows reformat. How would that help if the hard drive isn't detected until after it posts? I'm pretty sure I removed all previous mobo software/drivers.

Hmmmm . . . so you swapped out motherboards with the same hard drive thinking it was waking up in the old motherboard? What was your old motherboard? I've had this work when the chipsets and processors were similar, but when I tried this with two very different chipsets, it acted similar to what you describe . . . I know it doesn't make sense because the boot off the drive should not affect the bios . . . but I had it happen.



 

njdevilsfan87

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2007
2,341
264
126
Well... I'll format and give it a shot. Hopefully it solves the problem. I just hate formatting... :(

I'm getting a second hard drive for my OS and drivers only, and anything I won't mind having to re-install should I need to format again in the future. But first, time to transfer everything to external HDD, which is going to take forever.

My old motherboard was a 965P-DS3... from what I have read... P965 and P35 are VERY similar. Essentially that P35 is just an upgraded P965. It's not like I'm going from AM2 to P35.
 
Oct 1, 2003
156
0
0
Has anyone tried going back to the v10 bios and seeing if the bouble boot still happens? I read somewhere that it only happens with v11 bios but I'm too lazy to try it.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
Originally posted by: SilentAssassin
Has anyone tried going back to the v10 bios and seeing if the bouble boot still happens? I read somewhere that it only happens with v11 bios but I'm too lazy to try it.


No go. Still double post with 10 BIOS using the 'WB" switch when flashing.