Stop Lambasting Intel Motherboards

[jimmyj68]

It seems really hard to find an unbiased motherboard review of a board designed to function efficiently, for a long time, and not cost a bundle.

SPC review just did a piece on the MATX G33 board from Intel and badmouthed it becuase it won't overclock!!! Overclocking makes heat, heat requires cooling, cooling makes noise - why in the world would a review site lambast a board because you can't make it make heat- ergo- noise? The site is about silence!!!

Another question slipped in, another topic. I'm starting my out of curiosity upgrade hunt again and I find myself in the dark about the compatability of memory speeds versus CPU front side bus speeds. A DDR2 /p35 board board that does 1060, 800, and some lower FSB speeds - will it work with 800 speed memory and a 1333 FSB CPU? Even the numbers are getting confusing to me (probably old age).

I'm waiting for a 45NM CPU which will be most likely 1333 FSB, but I'm lost on what motherboards will handle it. I don't need 2 PCI-E 16 slots, do need a good supply of SATA ports, not concerned with legacy connectors, don't give a hoot about overclosking, will use add-on sound and video. How far out in left field am I?

Lets face it I don't understand this whole thing about memory speed versus CPU FSB speed versus , motherboard speed.

 

[OdiN]

Intel motherboards typically do not offer enthusiast options. They are, however, some of the most stable boards around. They are ideally suited for business/workstation use. Their support is awesome. If I ever had a problem with any of my customers Intel boards - I would simply get an RMA, and the new board would be delivered the next day.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Intel motherboards typically do not offer enthusiast options. They are, however, some of the most stable boards around. They are ideally suited for business/workstation use. Their support is awesome. If I ever had a problem with any of my customers Intel boards - I would simply get an RMA, and the new board would be delivered the next day.

What are you talking about? Here's the review he's talking about...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article785-page1.html

That's an Asus motherboard and not an Intel. The review is on a motherboard with an Intel G33 chipset.

The OP's questions are in regards to RAM speed vs FSB speed. In regards to that I can see his confusion. There are those that thought that you needed DDR2-1066 for a 1:1 ratio with a 1066FSB Core 2 Duo.

The answer is that you need to remember how the FSB is rated. Intel's FSB have been quad pumped since the original Pentium 4. That means a 1066FSB processor is using a 266MHz FSB. With DDR it has always been the speed rating is double that of the memory bus clock speed. So DDR2-800 is actually 400MHz memory bus.

So what is required for a 1066FSB? DDR2-533 is the answer. What is required for a 1333FSB? DDR2-667 is the answer. 1600FSB is DDR2-800, etc so on and so forth. That's when your memory is running 1:1 with the FSB. You get no performance boost by running the memory faster than the FSB.

 

[OdiN]

Oh...well he said it was an Intel motherboard, so I'm assuming it was an Intel motherboard, not an Asus motherboard. Silly me I guess.

 

[jimmyj68]

Please see hardware reviews for today on the Anand web site (here) and you will find listed the review of which I speak , an Intel board, SPreview also did an ASus board review mATX which I have not read and was not referencing. On SPC Review web page you will find both boards listed.

Thanks for the heads-up on bus speeds. I'll try and keep that in mind as I ponder my upgrade decisions.

 

[AmberClad]

I think he means this review.

Anyways, like OdiN has already alluded to, with the exception of the Skulltrail, Bonetrail, and Bad Axe boards, the Intel boards aren't meant for enthusiast use. They're certainly not marketed as such - if you go to Intel's website, their regular motherboards are categorized as media, workstation, office, etc motherboards, and they do those jobs admirably and stably.

The board in question, the Intel DG33TL, is clearly listed in the media category. Now, if they were testing one of the "extreme" class Intel-brand motherboards and found that it couldn't overclock worth a crap, then they might have a case...

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: jimmyj68SPC review just did a piece on the MATX G33 board from Intel and badmouthed it becuase it won't overclock!!! Overclocking makes heat, heat requires cooling, cooling makes noise - why in the world would a review site lambast a board because you can't make it make heat- ergo- noise? The site is about silence!!!

Perhaps you misunderstood them. The people at SPCR are generally more interested in underclocking than overclocking. From the point of view of their readers, it's certainly important to point out when a locked-down BIOS prevents underclocking.

"We would have liked to lower the CPU speed to see what effect it would have had on our test results, but due to the Orwellian BIOS, this just wasn't possible."

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article783-page5.html

 

[jimmyj68]

O.K., now there's a something I don't understand -- underclocking??? When I read that I kind of passed it off as a reviewer turn of a phrase - just what does underclocking do? Does a -say- 2.00 gig cpu running at 1.25 volts still run at 2.00 gig on less voltage? And memory? Doesn't a memory stick tend to not work if you don't have enough voltage? They may work faster on excessive voltage but run on less?? Explain me--------- Is the idea to run everything as low as possible so very little cooling--- if any--- is needed? No noise???

 

[exar333]

Besides lowering the voltage, oftentimes those wanting to run as silently as possibly will lower the multiplier (if able to) and/or lower the FSB. Just like overclocking, some chips respond well to undervolting, others do not. You will see that every CPU comes with it's own voltage that may differ slightly between chips. The dream of many silent PC enthusiasts is to have the quietest computer, and that often means passive cooling. If you can underclock a e2140 down to 1.0 Ghz (just for example) you might get away with a large passively-cooled setup.

Just my $0.02

 

[Tiamat]

SPCR is all about underclocking so that they can reduce heat output, and eliminate as many fans as possible. The BIOS probably didnt allow such tweaking so they would not be able to pursue their goals with this board -- that is, make a ultra-quiet decent performance system.