Does 965P have issues with E6600/4MB Conroes?! Please explain!!

[Dance123]

Hi,

Something I have been wondering about for a while:

If you get a Core 2 Duo CPU like the E6600 (I am not talking about top model X6800), is it true or not that a 975x mobo will give better performance then a mobo with a 965 or 945P chipset?!

About 965 and Core 2 Duo, the Anandtech review you can read over here mentions: "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."

Will this FSB limitation on the 965 compared to 975X make ANY difference with a Core 2 Duo E6600 or not?! I don't intend to overclock in case that matters!

Anybody could please explain this? Thanks very much!!

 

[Talcite]

in terms of FSB, no there is no limitation based on chipset alone. The FSB is usually limited by the motherboard's components and it's bios. If you get a good OCer, then you can probably push it to 500 fsb as well.

 

[Dance123]

Hi,

Is it true that in the meantime there is already a BIOS update that give 500 fsb for the Asus P5B Deluxe.

Why is this 500 fsb vs 400 fsb so important for a Conroe, and is this relevant to all Conroes like E6600 or only the top model?! I don't understand why 500 fsb is important?

Now, if there's a BIOS update for this, what performance advantages does the 975x (Asus P5W Deluxe or Intel BadAxe) still have over a 965 mobo like Asus P5B for a Conroe E6600?!

What are the difference between those 2 chipsets and how does that affect the performance with an E6600 Conroe. Anybody could give a bit more info about this cause I don't understand it. When I look at the specs it seems both chipsets are the same at first sight.. what am I missing I wonder??

 

[Nightmare225]

Because with 500 FSB, you can go to and beyond 4 GHz.

 

[Dance123]

Originally posted by: Nightmare225
Because with 500 FSB, you can go to and beyond 4 GHz.

4 Ghz? I don't think there are 4Ghz Core 2 Duo's yet, or are you talking about overclocking?

If I don't intend to overclock (which I won't do), won't 400 FSB be a bottleneck then for an E6600? How much FSB does a standard E6600 need.

How does FSB work, cause when reading about Core 2 Duo and mobos, they always mention FSB 800/1066. So where does the 400 and 500 fit into that picture and what about that 1066 FSB?

I am no tech expert, so anybody could please explain this to me?

Also, coming back to my original question, if the FSB doesn't make any difference between 975x and 965 chipsets, how will the 975x still give better performance compared to the 965 or 945 chipsets?!!

I would appreciate it if somebody could give a clear overview about all this!! I would really appreciate that cause it's all very confusing to me!! Thanks very much!!

 

[o1die]

The difference between 965 and 975 is minimal. I would choose a board based on features you need and price. 965 is newer and cheaper. The best deal right now is the Msi 965p-neo f for around $97 at newegg.

 

[Talcite]

FSB modifications are only for overclocking. the basic FSB is 266 mHz. The CPU multiplies that by a set number (different for every cpu model) and comes up with the cpu clock. for example:

The e6300 is 1.86 ghz. It has a multiplier of 7x. The fsb is 266mHz. 7 x 266mHz = ~1.86gHz

Since cpu multipliers are locked by the manufacturer, there is only one other way to boost the clock frequency of the cpu. By boosting the FSB. Another example.

Stock e6300 = 1.86 ghz. Stock FSB = 266mHz. Locked multiplier = 7x.
If we boost the fsb to lets say, oh 400mHz then... 7 x 400 = 2.8ghz.

See?
There's much more to just boosting FSB in overclocking, such as boosting the vCore (voltage supplied to CPU), the ram voltage, ram timings, and also locking the PCIE bus and other things. But the basics are all there.

You don't have to worry about all this though. Simply putting a conroe into a compatible motherboard will result in an automatic configuration of FSB at ~266mHz.

When they mention FSB 1066, that is because it is quad pumped. (multiplied by 4) This is the case with ram frequency.

To your original question:
There is no real performance benefit bestown by the 975x chipset. It's just that the 975x has more features, like crossfire. It is also an enthusiast chipset, so it means that (usually) they can goto higher FSB.

Anyways, I'm really no expert on this either. I've never actually overclocked before, but I'm interested in all the theory so I do some reading on the topic. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Brahmzy]

Geez you guys. You all need to hang out @ xtremesystems and read for about 5 hours.

The 965P boards are having issues with the 9x+ multi's and 4mb cache(i.e. E6600 n up). By issues, I mean that the same E6600 will usually clock about 100-200MHz higher on a 975X with similar voltage.

I'll say it again:

E6300/E6400? Get 965P (i.e. GB DS3 is a great board for these procs)
E6600+? Get 975X (P5W DH is a great example)

This may change as BIOS improvements are made to both platforms, but for now that's pretty much the deal. Yes there are those that defy this rule, but in most cases, this has proven itself.

 

[Talcite]

Ahh so Dance123, the verdict is the chipset doesn't really matter if you're not overclocking.

 

[Dance123]

Originally posted by: Brahmzy
The 965P boards are having issues with the 9x+ multi's and 4mb cache(i.e. E6600 n up). By issues, I mean that the same E6600 will usually clock about 100-200MHz higher on a 975X with similar voltage.

Somebody please explain that again as this all confuses me..

Those issues with E6600 of it losing 100-200MHz with 965 compared to 975x with similar voltage, does this happen when you run E6600 at standard speed or are you talking about overclocking?!

Also, what are the problems with 965 and 4mb cache of Conroes??

Please explain in simple English as I am no tech expert? Thanks alot!!

 

[gobucks]

everybody here is talking about overclocking results. what people are saying is that if your e6600 is stable when overclocked to 3.5GHz on a 975X, it might only be stable up to around 3.3GHz using a 965P. if you run at stock speeds, performance will be pretty much the same whether you get a 965P or a 975X. If you don't plsn on overclocking at all, just pick your board based on features and price. I personally like the Abit AB9 since it has passive heatpipe cooling on the chipset and its audio supports dolby digital live, which is nice if you have a nice set of digital surround speakers. Intel's 965P board is also pretty nice, and it's only $120.

 

[BadThad]

When they mention FSB 1066, that is because it is quad pumped. (multiplied by 4) This is the case with ram frequency.

Just to confuse Dance123 a little more....the ram is actually "double pumped", lol. So actually, a 1066MHz fsb will have the ram running at 533MHz.

2 x 266MHz fsb = 533MHz RAM
4 x 266MHz fsb = 1066MHz Quad-pumped FSB

 

[Hidden Hippo]

I didn't have any problems with my AB9 (other than a problem with the RAM, which had to be downclocked) unless I decided to overclock. However, I don;t know whether this is relveant but my board came with a stock 272MHz FSB rather than 266. Slightly odd, but I'm not especially bothered about that.