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P965 Motherboard Roundup

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cyberkost

Lifer
Sep 24, 2005
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YEAH!!! I like seeing P5B-E in there!. What I don't like is that there seem to be a couple of motherboards in the "budget" sector, which are kickass. Too bad we won't know what they are until after a couple of weeks ... or, maybe, Gary will be kind to us and leak some info, say into this thread ?..
 

Icepick

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2004
3,663
4
81
I had my eye on the Asus P5B-E before this article was posted. What drew me to it is that it is one of the few midrange price offerings that include firewire. It was between that and the Abit AB9-Pro. I was really hoping that the P5B-E would perform well in the roundup and it looks like it did. The Abit AB9-Pro is inferior because of the low overclocking performance and placement of the IDE port. It would be very difficult to maintain a clean wiring job unless a SATA optical drive is used.

I don't need to see the other articles. The high end boards are too expensive for me. I can't justify spending $200+ on the mobo alone. Unless there's a surprise budget board that has firewire I see little reason to consider anything but the P5B-E.
 

Icepick

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2004
3,663
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Originally posted by: cyberkost
YEAH!!! I like seeing P5B-E in there!. What I don't like is that there seem to be a couple of motherboards in the "budget" sector, which are kickass. Too bad we won't know what they are until after a couple of weeks ... or, maybe, Gary will be kind to us and leak some info, say into this thread ?..

I'll bet the Gigabyte S3 is one of the "kickass" performers - especially when you factor in the low price. That would be the board for me if it included firewire.
 

Cheex

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2006
3,123
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Originally posted by: RamIt
Originally posted by: Cheex
Me especially. I kinda want to see what he did with my Foxconn so i can know what to try with mine....:)

here goes a heads up comparison to the gigabyte dq6. there are other reviews on the net if u google.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/foxconn-gigabyte-p965/index.x?pg=1

I've read this article before and many others several times.
The real benefit will be to see what Gary does and how he does it and then then do it the same way...:)...
From his reviews, i think he's good at what he does...That's why i thought the review would be up already (hint hint Gary)...;)
 

cyberkost

Lifer
Sep 24, 2005
20,228
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Uf-f ... just finished reading the article (great job guys!). I was sort of biased in that I wanted P5B-e v1.02G even before reading (much like Icepick). A few things held me back:
** unavailability of the board (at least we now know it's coming out soon -- 1.02G that is, since I'm hoping to repeat what Gary&Co did)
** positioning of the IDE port
** presence of the LPT (ASUS could have put more useful connectors in that space)
** unattractiveness of the color scheme (Biostar does *look* a lot more cooerl)
** absence of the silent pipe
** a chance of some other surprise-board popping out in the last minute and getting the crown of the best mobo all-around
Of these, the first and the last still apply ... looks like most other boards suffer from issues similar to above (and some happened not to have firewire). So I guess when 1.02G comes out and if there is no surprises, I'll be getting one.
 

Gary Key

Senior member
Sep 23, 2005
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Originally posted by: ChiPCGuy
Hey Gary--did the roundup hit a snag? Thanks.

Sorry guys, my father became very ill this week and I spent the majority of my time with him. He is doing better now but still not out of the woods. Part one is finally up now. ;)

 

Gary Key

Senior member
Sep 23, 2005
866
0
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Originally posted by: Cheex
Originally posted by: you2
Two questions about the foxconn. Does it run fairly cool (one review said the gigabyte d3 ran a bit warm). Does it use good capacitors? (a review of the gigabyate said it used very good component and only real flaw was that it ran a bit warm.

My Foxconn mobo temps are in the 40's and it does use solid capacitors around the cpu where the power circuitry is.

PS: Yeah Gary, I am also impatiently waiting. I wanna see how well my board can do.


It does very well, next Thursday you will see if I was able to hit your FSB speeds. :D
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
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Sorry to hear about your dad; hope he's doing better.

Awesome review as always :D

I am eagerly anticipating the following parts 2 & 3.

/yes, even though i already have & love my P5B Deluxe :p
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
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Gary...

At the end of their lives, people never say "I wished I spent more time at the office..."

Take care of your Dad, the office/work will be waiting for you...

Hope all works out fine.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,901
1,972
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Nice article (with luck the next two will come out sonner than planned :) )

Quick question - how many phases did the voltage regulator have on the asus board (you mentioned this for the other boards but not the asus).

Also of those boards which do you think would be the most stable for uptime 24/7 for a couple of years? I.e., you mentioned that the gigabyte used solid capictors - but did the (for example) asus or biostar boards use quality capacitors ?
 

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
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Yeah, I'm eager to read parts II & III. I hope your father recovers quickly and completely, Gary.
 

Gary Key

Senior member
Sep 23, 2005
866
0
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Originally posted by: you2
Nice article (with luck the next two will come out sonner than planned :) )

Quick question - how many phases did the voltage regulator have on the asus board (you mentioned this for the other boards but not the asus).

Also of those boards which do you think would be the most stable for uptime 24/7 for a couple of years? I.e., you mentioned that the gigabyte used solid capictors - but did the (for example) asus or biostar boards use quality capacitors ?


The Asus uses a three phase design (it is stated in the article now) and regarding 24/7 operation I think the any of the boards would be fine. They all used high quality capacitors but it will be interesting to see if the switch to 100% solids will prove to make a difference over time.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,901
1,972
136
Ok. Thank you Gary. I definitly want to wait for the review on low end boards to see if they are as durable as the middle end. My application is a bit unique in that I don't need dual pci-e or firewire (or significant overclocking) but would like durability.

Thank you for doing the article.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
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Gary, do you know what differences there are between the Biostar P965 Deluxe and the Biostar 965PT which can be found on Newegg for around $100? From the pictures, the only difference I see are 2 more sata ports on the deluxe model.

Thanks

Hope you father is doing well.
 

Gary Key

Senior member
Sep 23, 2005
866
0
0
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Gary, do you know what differences there are between the Biostar P965 Deluxe and the Biostar 965PT which can be found on Newegg for around $100? From the pictures, the only difference I see are 2 more sata ports on the deluxe model.

Thanks

Hope you father is doing well.


We received the PT model yesterday from Biostar. It is the exact same PCB as the 965 Deluxe only with the ICH8 instead of the ICH8R. The BIOS is different also. I will have this in the roundup now but it will be on Monday. The Intel board we were supplied has been removed from the SKU list so we are testing another one now. We will also have a couple of new benchmarks. ;-)
 

Enig101

Senior member
May 21, 2006
362
0
0
Originally posted by: Gary Key
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Gary, do you know what differences there are between the Biostar P965 Deluxe and the Biostar 965PT which can be found on Newegg for around $100? From the pictures, the only difference I see are 2 more sata ports on the deluxe model.

Thanks

Hope you father is doing well.


We received the PT model yesterday from Biostar. It is the exact same PCB as the 965 Deluxe only with the ICH8 instead of the ICH8R. The BIOS is different also. I will have this in the roundup now but it will be on Monday. The Intel board we were supplied has been removed from the SKU list so we are testing another one now. We will also have a couple of new benchmarks. ;-)
Really looking forward to this review. I need to decide on a motherboard and there are so many pros and cons to consider.

 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Originally posted by: Gary Key
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Gary, do you know what differences there are between the Biostar P965 Deluxe and the Biostar 965PT which can be found on Newegg for around $100? From the pictures, the only difference I see are 2 more sata ports on the deluxe model.

Thanks

Hope you father is doing well.


We received the PT model yesterday from Biostar. It is the exact same PCB as the 965 Deluxe only with the ICH8 instead of the ICH8R. The BIOS is different also. I will have this in the roundup now but it will be on Monday. The Intel board we were supplied has been removed from the SKU list so we are testing another one now. We will also have a couple of new benchmarks. ;-)

That is good news Gary. Hopefully Biostar didn't strip the BIOS, as it would make the PT model an incredible buy, perhaps even more so than the DS3. We anxiously await the next installment of the roundup.
 

Gary Key

Senior member
Sep 23, 2005
866
0
0
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Originally posted by: Gary Key
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Gary, do you know what differences there are between the Biostar P965 Deluxe and the Biostar 965PT which can be found on Newegg for around $100? From the pictures, the only difference I see are 2 more sata ports on the deluxe model.

Thanks

Hope you father is doing well.


We received the PT model yesterday from Biostar. It is the exact same PCB as the 965 Deluxe only with the ICH8 instead of the ICH8R. The BIOS is different also. I will have this in the roundup now but it will be on Monday. The Intel board we were supplied has been removed from the SKU list so we are testing another one now. We will also have a couple of new benchmarks. ;-)

That is good news Gary. Hopefully Biostar didn't strip the BIOS, as it would make the PT model an incredible buy, perhaps even more so than the DS3. We anxiously await the next installment of the roundup.

The BIOS is stripped. You can use the P965 Deluxe BIOS on it, still working with it today to see if there are any issues in doing this beyond the fact it boots and runs the majority of benchmarks just fine. We added in the MSI Neo also, review will be up late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

 

ChiPCGuy

Senior member
Sep 4, 2005
536
0
0
Hi Gary:

I think there may be an error in the roundup. The Biostar board uses a RTL8110SC NIC which is, as far as I can tell, a PCI device and not PCI-E. Both the Biostar boards (PT and Deluxe versions) utilize this same part.