Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3: Feature Set
The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is one of the more value priced offerings in our mid-range lineup with a street price around $145. Unlike the other boards in our roundup it does not use the Intel ICH8R which means two additional SATA ports and RAID capabilities come from the JMicron JMB363 chipset that also serves as the IDE controller. The DS3 also does not come with Firewire capability which is a mistake in our opinion.
The BIOS is feature rich and is geared towards the enthusiast with a significant amount of voltage/memory timing options provided you remember to enter Ctrl-F1 while in the BIOS setup screen. Why Gigabyte continues to force the user to remember this keystroke sequence for additional BIOS options is beyond us. This motherboard is marketed to the performance crowd so why not let us have access to these commands without the secret code?
Gigabyte also includes a full suite of utilities for the board: EasyTune5, M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker), Download Center, Xpress Install, @BIOS, Smart LAN, Smart Fan, and Virtual Dual BIOS. We found the @BIOS utility to be very handy for downloading and then updating the BIOS while in Windows. For those who are squeamish about updating their BIOS within Windows, Gigabyte has the Q-Flash utility built into the BIOS that allows updating from a floppy drive.
EasyTune5 is probably one of the most utilized utilities in the Gigabyte arsenal and allows for control of the FSB and certain voltages within Windows although a reboot is required for most voltage settings. We found the utility worked well for squeezing out those last few FSB increases but we still found ourselves tweaking the BIOS the majority of the time. The PC Health monitor provided basic readings of the system but for some odd reason our CPU temperature liked to blip under 20C when capturing our screenshots. Our actual idle temps at stock settings were 27C on this board. The Smart Fan utility allows control over the two fan headers.
Like our other boards in this roundup Gigabyte includes a dynamic overclocking capability dependent up system load or preset attributes. This capability can be located within the BIOS under the C.I.A.2 setting and is no way affiliated with the US government. The settings range from Cruise (5% increase) to Full Thrust (17% increase). We decided to see how well this motherboard performed at Full Thrust and were treated with a blank screen on reboot. After a quick CMOS clear event we backed down to the Turbo (15% increase) setting and were able to complete our benchmark testing. C.I.A.2 determined our Turbo settings would end at a final 7x308FSB providing a CPU speed of 2156MHz and our memory running at DDR2-924 with 5-5-5-15 settings. Just as predicted by C.I.A.2 an increase of over 15% in the FSB speed was realized.
| Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 | |
| Market Segment: | Mid-Range Performance |
| CPU Interface: | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support: | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Pentium EE, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme |
| Chipset: | Intel P965 + ICH8 |
| Bus Speeds: | 100 to 600 in 1MHz Increments |
| Memory Ratios: | Auto, 2, 2.5, 3, 2.66, 3.33, 4 |
| PCIe Speeds: | Auto, 90MHz~150MHz in 1MHz Increments |
| PCI: | Fixed at 33.33MHz |
| Core Voltage: | Normal, 1.0250V to 1.6000V in 0.00625V increments, 1.80V, 2.0V |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Auto, 6x-11x in 1X increments if CPU is unlocked, downwards unlocked, Core 2 Duo |
| DRAM Voltage: | Normal, +.1V ~ +.7V in +.1V increments |
| DRAM Timing Control: | Normal, 9 DRAM Timing Options, Memory Performance Enhance Mode |
| FSB Termination Voltage: | Normal, +.1V ~ +.3V in +.1V increments |
| MCH Voltage: | Normal, +.1V ~ +.3V in +.1V increments |
| Memory Slots: | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots: | 1 - PCIe X16 3 - PCIe X1 3 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID: | 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Intel ICH8 2 SATA 3Gbps Ports - (RAID 0,1,JBOD) - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394: | 10 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers no firewire support |
| Onboard LAN: | Gigabit Ethernet Controller - PCI Express Interface Marvel 88E8053 |
| Onboard Audio: | Realtek ALC-883 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC |
| Power Connectors: | ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EATX 12V |
| I/O Panel: | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel Port 1 x S/PDIF Optical 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial 1 x Serial Port 1 x Audio Panel 1 x RJ45 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision: | Award F7 |
The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is one of the more value priced offerings in our mid-range lineup with a street price around $145. Unlike the other boards in our roundup it does not use the Intel ICH8R which means two additional SATA ports and RAID capabilities come from the JMicron JMB363 chipset that also serves as the IDE controller. The DS3 also does not come with Firewire capability which is a mistake in our opinion.
The BIOS is feature rich and is geared towards the enthusiast with a significant amount of voltage/memory timing options provided you remember to enter Ctrl-F1 while in the BIOS setup screen. Why Gigabyte continues to force the user to remember this keystroke sequence for additional BIOS options is beyond us. This motherboard is marketed to the performance crowd so why not let us have access to these commands without the secret code?
Gigabyte also includes a full suite of utilities for the board: EasyTune5, M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker), Download Center, Xpress Install, @BIOS, Smart LAN, Smart Fan, and Virtual Dual BIOS. We found the @BIOS utility to be very handy for downloading and then updating the BIOS while in Windows. For those who are squeamish about updating their BIOS within Windows, Gigabyte has the Q-Flash utility built into the BIOS that allows updating from a floppy drive.
EasyTune5 is probably one of the most utilized utilities in the Gigabyte arsenal and allows for control of the FSB and certain voltages within Windows although a reboot is required for most voltage settings. We found the utility worked well for squeezing out those last few FSB increases but we still found ourselves tweaking the BIOS the majority of the time. The PC Health monitor provided basic readings of the system but for some odd reason our CPU temperature liked to blip under 20C when capturing our screenshots. Our actual idle temps at stock settings were 27C on this board. The Smart Fan utility allows control over the two fan headers.
Like our other boards in this roundup Gigabyte includes a dynamic overclocking capability dependent up system load or preset attributes. This capability can be located within the BIOS under the C.I.A.2 setting and is no way affiliated with the US government. The settings range from Cruise (5% increase) to Full Thrust (17% increase). We decided to see how well this motherboard performed at Full Thrust and were treated with a blank screen on reboot. After a quick CMOS clear event we backed down to the Turbo (15% increase) setting and were able to complete our benchmark testing. C.I.A.2 determined our Turbo settings would end at a final 7x308FSB providing a CPU speed of 2156MHz and our memory running at DDR2-924 with 5-5-5-15 settings. Just as predicted by C.I.A.2 an increase of over 15% in the FSB speed was realized.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
62 Comments
View All Comments
smn198 - Monday, October 23, 2006 - link
Would you be able to re-run using 4 drives for all of the tests please?
jonp - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
-- “…budget sector and includes boards from ECS, Foxconn, Intel, and Gigabyte.” – will the MSI P965 Neo-F be in this set?-- the Abit AB9 Pro feature set does not show the eSata port on the SI 3132 (two SATA). it does show a serial port on the i/o panel but not one in the picture.
-- The Biostar feature set shows 4 USB on the i/o panel when there are six in the picture.
JarredWalton - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Fixed - thanks.powchi - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Can I use a 20-pin power supply on these boards since all are using 24-pin connectors? Or will I be needing 20pin to 24pin adaptor?The PSU is an Enermax NoiseTaker EG475P-VE SFMA 470W ATX 12V v1.3.
Aikouka - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Some motherboard manufacturers will no longer support your motherboard if they find out you've been running it with a 20-pin ATX plug or a 20->24-pin adapter. Just be safe and get a newer PSU :). I know DFI will no longer support the motherboard if it specifically asks for a 24-pin.JarredWalton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Technically, yes you can use 20-pin PSUs. Will they work, and will the system be stable? That varies. I haven't had any issues on the systems where I've done it, but if you do high overclocking it will likely become a serious issue.powchi - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Jarred,So there's no need to use a 20pin to 24pin adaptor? What are the differences when using and not using an adaptor? Thanks.
lopri - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
No. As a matter of fact, the adapter should be avoided. Just plug the 20-pin connector to 24-pin receptacle with 4-pin left empty. Like Jarred said, it should work in theory and it does in practice. However, the quality of PSU and how intense is one's OC can affect the (long-term) stability.JarredWalton - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
I suppose the adapter *could* help, as it ensures power is available on all the 24-pins, but you're still taking the power from the same source so depending on how that works out it can actually make things worse. I would typically say that if you have a 400W or better PSU you should be fine with little to moderate OC'ing even with 20-pins. (I have an OCZ ModStream 450W that certainly works fine in a 939 board with a decent 2.0 to 2.6 GHz overclock.)lopri - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
Yes! Not to brag about myself or anything, but I went through countless Socket 939 Opterons on DFI NF4 SLI-D with original Antec TruePower EPS12V (20-pins, not the TP2 with 24-pins) including an Opteron 165 @3.0GHz (9x333). TCCD up to 325MHz/2.5-4-3-8! The setup was absolutely stable.