Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe: Feature Set
We really liked the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe motherboard when we reviewed it in our Conroe Buying Guide as we thought it had the best blend of performance and price at the time. One omission in this motherboard is the lack of Firewire support that we found in both the Asus and Abit boards. Considering this motherboard is in the $150 price range we find this to be perplexing. Also, the memory voltage only goes to 2.2V but this did not hinder its overclocking capabilities during testing.
The only real change in the motherboard since its release has been a significant upgrade to the BIOS that cleared any remaining memory compatibility issues along with an increase in overclocking capability to 500FSB. The motherboard is the only one in our roundup to use the VIA VT6410 IDE chipset instead of the now standard JMicron JMB363. While it does not offer additional SATA ports like the JMicron, the IDE performance and compatibility was better in our testing. Our original feelings about the performance and compatibility of this board have not changed but we have noticed the board to be in very short supply. Biostar assures us this supply issue will be solved by early November.
Biostar includes several software utilities with the board: an Overclock Program, Hardware Monitoring application, Smart Fan Utility, and an online BIOS update applet. The overclock utility allows for changes to the FSB and basic system voltages. The smart fan utility allows control of the CPU and main system fan header within Windows. The Hardware monitoring utility allows for real time monitoring of CPU temperature, CPU fan speeds, and basic system voltages. Biostar includes an automatic overclocking utility in their BIOS that offers three different settings named V6, V8, and V12.
We naturally selected the V12 setting in the BIOS and after a reboot were greeted with Ford Pinto performance. Okay, it was not that bad but the final results were a blistering 2009MHz CPU speed via a 7x287FSB with the memory speed at DDR2-715. However, the system was smart enough unlike our other boards to actually set the memory timings at something other than an ultra safe 5-5-5-15 setting with actual timings at 4-4-4-10. This is unusual as the BIOS will default to DDR2-667 (4:5) settings with timings at 5-5-5-15 when left on auto settings. Overall, the automatic overclocking worked without any issues and provided a small increase in speed just as Biostar intended it to work.
| Biostar TForce 965 Deluxe | |
| 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 + ICH8R |
| Bus Speeds: | 200 to 500 in 1MHz Increments |
| Memory Speeds: | Auto, 533, 667, 800 |
| PCIe Speeds: | Auto, CPU, Fixed at 100MHz, 100MHz~200MHz |
| PCI: | Fixed at 33.33MHz |
| Core Voltage: | Startup, 1.10000V to 1.80000V in 0.00625V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Auto, 6x-11x in 1X increments for Core 2 Duo |
| DRAM Voltage: | 1.8V, 2.0V, 2.1V, 2.2V |
| DRAM Timing Control: | SPD, 8 DRAM Timing Options |
| NB Voltage: | Auto,1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V, 1.8V |
| Memory Slots: | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots: | 1 - PCIe X16 1 - PCIe X4 1 - PCIe X1 3 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID: | 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Intel ICH8R (RAID 0,1,5, 1+0,JBOD) |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 Standard ATA133/100/66/33 Port (2 drives) - VIA VT6410 |
| 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 Realtek RTL 8110SC |
| Onboard Audio: | Realtek ALC883 HD-Audio 8-channel 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 Serial 1 x Audio Panel 1 x RJ45 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision: | AWARD ip96a803 |
We really liked the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe motherboard when we reviewed it in our Conroe Buying Guide as we thought it had the best blend of performance and price at the time. One omission in this motherboard is the lack of Firewire support that we found in both the Asus and Abit boards. Considering this motherboard is in the $150 price range we find this to be perplexing. Also, the memory voltage only goes to 2.2V but this did not hinder its overclocking capabilities during testing.
The only real change in the motherboard since its release has been a significant upgrade to the BIOS that cleared any remaining memory compatibility issues along with an increase in overclocking capability to 500FSB. The motherboard is the only one in our roundup to use the VIA VT6410 IDE chipset instead of the now standard JMicron JMB363. While it does not offer additional SATA ports like the JMicron, the IDE performance and compatibility was better in our testing. Our original feelings about the performance and compatibility of this board have not changed but we have noticed the board to be in very short supply. Biostar assures us this supply issue will be solved by early November.
Biostar includes several software utilities with the board: an Overclock Program, Hardware Monitoring application, Smart Fan Utility, and an online BIOS update applet. The overclock utility allows for changes to the FSB and basic system voltages. The smart fan utility allows control of the CPU and main system fan header within Windows. The Hardware monitoring utility allows for real time monitoring of CPU temperature, CPU fan speeds, and basic system voltages. Biostar includes an automatic overclocking utility in their BIOS that offers three different settings named V6, V8, and V12.
We naturally selected the V12 setting in the BIOS and after a reboot were greeted with Ford Pinto performance. Okay, it was not that bad but the final results were a blistering 2009MHz CPU speed via a 7x287FSB with the memory speed at DDR2-715. However, the system was smart enough unlike our other boards to actually set the memory timings at something other than an ultra safe 5-5-5-15 setting with actual timings at 4-4-4-10. This is unusual as the BIOS will default to DDR2-667 (4:5) settings with timings at 5-5-5-15 when left on auto settings. Overall, the automatic overclocking worked without any issues and provided a small increase in speed just as Biostar intended it to work.
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JarredWalton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Oh, trust me, Gary tested with a LOT of RAM types and manufacturers. However, for the *benchmarks* he settled on one specific set of DIMMs. I think he's trying to put together some information on how the various boards worked with other RAM (see above comment from Gary). Cheers!stmok - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
LOL...I think its more like: "What the hell were the Abit engineers thinking?!"Based on your experiences, do you know if the Analog Devices AD1988A HD Audio Codec works in Linux? I wouldn't mind going for the ASUS P5B-E at the end of the year.
And finally, is the rev 1.02G mobo available now? Or in a few months time?
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
The 1.09 ADI AD1988A drivers worked fine in SUSE 10.1. Realtek has better support at this time but ADI seems to be catching up. Believe it or not, but we booted every board with SUSE 10.1 just to make sure they went to the desktop. We might even do a once in a while look at Linux down the road.
xsilver - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
what is the range of overclocking possible with pc6400 ram?without dividers? with dividers?
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Good question, depends on the PC2-6400 RAM. We are working on something right now to answer your question with a few different modules.xsilver - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
probably something standard like corsair VS or something priced very similar if there is better performance elsewherexsilver - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
also I would assume that 1gig vs. 2gig makes no difference but if it does, it would be good to know.Madellga - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Excellent review Gary. I also look forward for the round 2 and also for a 975/ATI/Nvidia reviews.Please try to mention the Vmch used for the overclocking results, as this says a lot about the motherboads also.
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
I am setting up a overclocking settings table and will try to show some additional results with different memory types that we used in testing. I have no idea when this will be finished. ;-)Ryan Norton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
This article is terrific-- now I just need to read the high-end part and I can finally put together a Core 2 Duo system.Will the DS4 be included in the high-end guide? I don't want a DQ-6 because the copper backplate under the processor socket would prevent installation of a Scythe Ninja heatsink.
Are the AHCI issues going to stay the way they are, with needing to load the drivers from a floppy disk during Windows install, or are there any P965 boards that don't require "an engineering degree and a day off" as you guys said?