Hardocp's Bottom Line On The P35

[DasFox]

Taken from here:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM0MywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

The Bottom Line

Don?t take of this as ?anti-Intel,? it is just that the P965 chipset that I have in my own system right now is a great product and the P35 seems to be doing little to surpass it even if it is as good a product as the P965 is. The P35 is little more than a P965 with a DDR3 memory controller thrown into the mix that many of us are not going to give a damn about considering how much money we have tied up in DDR2 that performs as good as DDR3 if not better when overclocked. The P35 is currently for system integrators, not for computer enthusiasts.

Well what does everything think about this?

I personally was considering holding out to get a P35 for gaming, but that's all I want the board for, for my "GameRig"

Now I'm wondering if a nice P965 with a good old C2D E6600 for gaming is going to be good enough... OR if I might just stick to getting an 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz because I've heard good things about gaming performance with the memory controller on the CPU over C2D that doesn't...

ALOHA

 

[Heidfirst]

I would say that if you have a good 965 then there is no real incentive to change (unless you absolutely must have the latest toys).
On the other hand if you were looking at buying a 965 then you might as well go P35 (DDR2 variants) instead.

 

[n7]

I am not going to even read that review.

I have found Hard OCP's reviews to be poor & biased at best, especially their video card reviews.

Considering the excellent results AT's Gary got in the P35 previews (I'm at work; haven't read the full review on AT yet), i am going to be inclined to say that once again, Hard OCP = not where i'd go for good reviews.

 

[DasFox]

Well I sold off my 939 stuff, except a mobo still trying to sell.

Now I'm looking to build something else.

ALOHA

 

[theprodigalrebel]

The P35 is compatible with the 45nm Penryn CPUs that are currently scheduled to come out Q4 2007/Q1 2008. Has an improved memory controller, a new southbridge and preliminary reports reveal incredible overclocking potential.

Unless all etailers resolve to rip off people by price-gouging P35-motherboards, I don't think it is unfeasible to imagine quality P35 motherboards coming out for a little more than existing P965 motherboards in the relevant price/performance brackets.

You will pay extra for fancy heat-pipes, eSATA, IEEE1394, OMGITSBLACK PCB etc. and other features just like you do with current P965 motherboards. They go all the way from $90 to $229 and I expect P35 to be priced similarly.

 

[DasFox]

I hope there will be some nice inexpensive P35 boards, because I'd rather wait and see what X38 brings before going crazy on a nice board.

 

[1ManArmY]

I found ASUS P5K Deluxe anywhere from 229 - 235. Standard P5K 147

 

[gchanjam]

That conclusion from Hardocp is pretty dumb. As of now, for a new system, there is no reason to go P965 as a comparable P35 board can be had for $20-$40 more which is no big deal. Newer chipset, new SB, new memory controller, and support for 45nm chips is a great deal.

 

[Cookie Monster]

If he was saying that for enthusiasts with p965/p975x or even the 680i/650i boards already i can understand because the performance benefit from moving to the p35 chipset is very very minimal at best. (we are talking about anything between 0~8% performance increase in various benchmarks)

However for people wishing to jump to PCI-e, or have a lower end board thats wanting to upgrade, this mobo is much more attractive than the p965. For hardcore OCers, this board is a must since its hitting FSB speeds never seen by any other boards. (485FSB OC on quad cores!, check it out at XS)

 

[DasFox]

Well as I said I tossed my 939 and was looking for the next move, I guess this is it, now if I can only keep my pants on till July 22nd with the Intel price cuts, ahhhhh

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: n7
I am not going to even read that review.

I have found Hard OCP's reviews to be poor & biased at best, especially their video card reviews.

Considering the excellent results AT's Gary got in the P35 previews (I'm at work; haven't read the full review on AT yet), i am going to be inclined to say that once again, Hard OCP = not where i'd go for good reviews.

If you ignore the redneck(Mr. K....)'s 'opinion' at the end, their motherboard reviews are actually decent. And they (the motherboard review team, not the editor) actually write the review from the users' point of view and I often find issues that are not mentioned anywhere else, but do turn up in end-users' experience. But their graphs and presentation in general is horrible.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I ignore Hard OCP also. Too biased for me. If you're building from scratch which I will be soon also, I would go P35. You can get an Asus P5K (non-deluxe) for $150.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel I don't think it is unfeasible to imagine quality P35 motherboards coming out for a little more than existing P965 motherboards in the relevant price/performance brackets.

going by pre-order prices that I've seen in the UK abit's P35s may actually be cheaper than their equivalent 965s

 

[tungtung]

HardOCP has gone too hard on the P35.

Honestly I kinda felt that they always want every new product released to yield a significant performance improvement before they say it's a good product, they almost always ignore the other improvements and updates that these new products brings. All they care is speed and nothing else matter ... for them if a new product doesn't yield their desired speed improvement then that product is a failure.

 

[drakore]

I had a s939 and just made the switch to p35. I got the Gigabye GA-P35-DQ6. Granted I got mine for 170$ CAD so the choice was a no brainer... I highly recommend this board and chipset because it is quite excellent

 

[AlucardX]

i think the point of the bottom line was about DDR2, money invested, and how in reality DDR3 just isn't that much faster if you can even find good sticks.

at any rate, i need a new build this summer (still on socket A), and with 45nm support.. i guess it makes sense to go with p35. i could give a ****** all about ddr3

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah well they are right imo. DDR3 is a waste, and imo P35 isnt much better, if at all, over the P965. I suppose if someone was just upgrading, might as well go for the P35. I just bought the Abit quadgt myself so bleh.

 

[DasFox]

Well from all the reviews I've seen the P35 has quite a performance boost with the newer memory controllers, but yes it does seem like overall performance isn't that big.

This is what AnandTech said in one review:

In the area of memory bandwidth improvement, it appears that the memory controller is roughly adding about 5% to P965 performance while the faster 1333 processor bus contributes an additional 11% to 13%. The total improvement in memory bandwidth for P35 compared to the P965 is 16% to 18%. Memory is just one small part of overall system performance, so this does not translate into a 16% improvement in system performance. System performance is improved, but real-world performance improvements are smaller.

In pure number crunching it appears that the P35 only slightly improves performance, in the 0.5% to 2.5% range.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

To all the HardOCP naysayers, I don't think anyone needs to defend HardOCP, their dedication to reviewing products based on real world performance versus benchmarks speaks for itself.

 

[Skott]

Considering all the reviews to date I'd say if you have a 965 setup and happy with it then no real need to go P35. Wait for the next generation. But if you are using something older or wanting to add another PC to your household then the P35 is a good choice.

Just my two cents

 

[lopri]

As far as HardOCP reviews goes, all you need to do is ignore the "Editor's note". Dan Morris (their mobo reviewer) and Brent Justice (their video card reviewer) know what they are doing. It's just Mr. K-B that doesn't know anything technical but set the overall tone of the review therefore ruining a fine/hard work of those said reviewers. I don't understand (well, actually I do) why he has to say something on every single review, but for a reader, it shouldn't be hard to tell a useful information from a biased opinion.

 

[Fallengod]

Originally posted by: Skott
Considering all the reviews to date I'd say if you have a 965 setup and happy with it then no real need to go P35. Wait for the next generation. But if you are using something older or wanting to add another PC to your household then the P35 is a good choice.

Just my two cents

I would concur. :thumbsup: