abit IP35-Pro: Houston, We Have a Winner
by Gary Key on November 1, 2007 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Memory Testing and Overclocking:
The abit IP35-Pro has the second best latency scores of our test units thanks to very aggressive tRD settings. abit's Sandra unbuffered scores are around 2% lower than the ASUS and Gigabyte boards but as we will see, overall performance is still extremely competitive with these boards.
Q6600 9x266
Q6600 8x455 2GB
Q6600 8x450 & 8x455 4GB
We were able to reach a final 8x455FSB overclock with our Q6600. The first 8x455FSB screenshot is with the 2GB memory configuration set at DDR2-1092 at 4-4-4-12 timings. Memory voltage was set to 2.30V although the system ran fine at 2.275V except with Supreme Commander, which, would lock up at any voltage setting under 2.30V. Our CPU voltage was set at 1.50V and was at the absolute limit of our air cooling setup during the POST routine. The one problem we had with the board throughout testing with the Quad Core processors consisted of Vdrop/Vdroop levels of up to .08V under load. With additional cooling and increasing the CPU voltage to 1.53V (1.45V after Vdroop) the board was able to POST and complete our test suite at 8x470FSB.
The 4GB configuration was still able to reach 455FSB but only at a 1:1 memory ratio that resulted in a DDR2-910 speed with 4-4-4-10 memory timings. We were able to drop our memory voltage to 2.250V with this configuration while CPU voltage was dropped to 1.49V resulting in a 1.43V reading under load. We were able to run our memory at the 5:6 ratio but had to drop our FSB settings to 450 and loosen timings to 5-5-5-15. Our test results generally favored this configuration when using 4GB of memory as it exhibited better latencies and throughput compared to the 8x455FSB 4GB setup. A couple of CPU centric benchmarks still favored the slightly higher CPU speed but overall, most applications performed better with the 8x450FSB setup.
E6550 7x550
We were able to reach a final FSB setting of 555 with our E6550. Our 2GB memory configuration was set at 1:1 ratio with 5-4-4-12 timings. This will result in the board setting performance level (Read Delay) to 7 but required memory voltages to be set to 2.275V. The maximum MCH voltage is 1.72V, and 520FSB and higher required that setting with this particular CPU. CPU voltage was set to 1.46V with Vdrop/Vdroop realizing a final 1.41V during normal operation. The highest FSB we have been able to attain with this CPU is 570 on the DFI P35 board.
The overclocking capability of this motherboard is extremely good but more importantly, very easy. The board's stability will start to trail off when you are near its limits so there is feedback from the board before you go over the edge. The board does not overclock quite as well as the DFI P35 TR, Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6, or the ASUS Blitz series of boards. However, unless you are trying to set overclocking records, the board will satisfy 95% of the users. If we could change one item with the overclocking capabilities, it would be excessive Vdroop with the quad core processors.
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The abit IP35-Pro has the second best latency scores of our test units thanks to very aggressive tRD settings. abit's Sandra unbuffered scores are around 2% lower than the ASUS and Gigabyte boards but as we will see, overall performance is still extremely competitive with these boards.
Q6600 9x266
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Q6600 8x455 2GB
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Q6600 8x450 & 8x455 4GB
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We were able to reach a final 8x455FSB overclock with our Q6600. The first 8x455FSB screenshot is with the 2GB memory configuration set at DDR2-1092 at 4-4-4-12 timings. Memory voltage was set to 2.30V although the system ran fine at 2.275V except with Supreme Commander, which, would lock up at any voltage setting under 2.30V. Our CPU voltage was set at 1.50V and was at the absolute limit of our air cooling setup during the POST routine. The one problem we had with the board throughout testing with the Quad Core processors consisted of Vdrop/Vdroop levels of up to .08V under load. With additional cooling and increasing the CPU voltage to 1.53V (1.45V after Vdroop) the board was able to POST and complete our test suite at 8x470FSB.
The 4GB configuration was still able to reach 455FSB but only at a 1:1 memory ratio that resulted in a DDR2-910 speed with 4-4-4-10 memory timings. We were able to drop our memory voltage to 2.250V with this configuration while CPU voltage was dropped to 1.49V resulting in a 1.43V reading under load. We were able to run our memory at the 5:6 ratio but had to drop our FSB settings to 450 and loosen timings to 5-5-5-15. Our test results generally favored this configuration when using 4GB of memory as it exhibited better latencies and throughput compared to the 8x455FSB 4GB setup. A couple of CPU centric benchmarks still favored the slightly higher CPU speed but overall, most applications performed better with the 8x450FSB setup.
E6550 7x550
 |
We were able to reach a final FSB setting of 555 with our E6550. Our 2GB memory configuration was set at 1:1 ratio with 5-4-4-12 timings. This will result in the board setting performance level (Read Delay) to 7 but required memory voltages to be set to 2.275V. The maximum MCH voltage is 1.72V, and 520FSB and higher required that setting with this particular CPU. CPU voltage was set to 1.46V with Vdrop/Vdroop realizing a final 1.41V during normal operation. The highest FSB we have been able to attain with this CPU is 570 on the DFI P35 board.
The overclocking capability of this motherboard is extremely good but more importantly, very easy. The board's stability will start to trail off when you are near its limits so there is feedback from the board before you go over the edge. The board does not overclock quite as well as the DFI P35 TR, Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6, or the ASUS Blitz series of boards. However, unless you are trying to set overclocking records, the board will satisfy 95% of the users. If we could change one item with the overclocking capabilities, it would be excessive Vdroop with the quad core processors.
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crimson117 - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
And if http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">this is the fix, then it's even more complicated than I had expected!Personally, I would RMA a board with this sort of defect present.
takumsawsherman - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
I love how these pro boards rarely have Firewire800. It's really a shame that others did not jump on the Gigabyte bandwagon a few years back when they started putting it on their high-end boards. If I remember correctly, they were cheaper than the current crop as well.Of course, I will wager that someone will say that people should use eSATA instead. There are only a few enclosures that have both FW and eSATA, and eSATA is not available on most PC's, and no Macs that I have seen have a eSATA port. I'm not even sure if you can daisy chain eSATA, and I like the FW800 connector better (feels more sturdy). Recently, I looked around for an enclosure to replace one of my old trusty FW400/USB2 enclosures with built in power supply. I ended up not finding the one I wanted, and was very sad, as my requirements were not great.
1. FW800
2. eSATA
3. USB2
4. 5 1/4" drive capacity
5. Built in AC/DC converter (no bricks)
6. Fan if neceaary, I don't care as this is a service drive, not involved with audio
The closest I could get was a NewerTechnology MiniStack V3 from eshop.macsales.com.
1. FW800
2. eSATA
3. USB2, including hub
4. 3.5 inch drives only
5. fan
6. Stupid brick power supply
It cost me $120 empty. It's a great enclosure, meant for stacking under a Mac Mini (and would be awesome for that, though I personally have no mini). There were also the mercury series from OWC at that store, but none had the built in PS, so I figured at that point who cares about 5 1/4.
The end result is that I tried it for a week. It now stays at home. While I used it, I got insane speeds when backing up customer systems over FW800 (Macs doing CarbonCopyCloner clones in a flash, despite the clones being around 30GB. USB2 was as expected (kind of lame), and FW400 was acceptable (but a downer after FW800). For anyone who is interested, the drive I put in it was a Seagate 320 SATA with the crazy SCSI-sized jumper removed. I never got to use eSATA, as I have found no systems that have the port, except one production server that I am not going to test on. I'm sure it's nice and fast.
Of course, with all the back and forth, carrying a brick around is annoying, when previously all I needed to carry was a firewire or usb cable. Of course, this has nothing to do with Abit's board, except that if more boards were made that included FW800, more varieties of enclosures would be available, and someone would make my above list come true.
Gary Key - Saturday, November 3, 2007 - link
I have always been disappointed with the lack of Firewire 800 on the upper end boards but it appears the users requesting it are in a very small minority (which includes me) according to the suppliers. We do have USB 3.0 and Firewire 1600 to look forward late next year. :)sheared - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
It should be noted that the Abit forums are, while not full, scattered with threads regarding incompatibilities between this MB and various PSU's. For now at least, you should be careful to select a PSU from a manufacturer that is known to work with the board. I selected a Seasonic thinking that a good, reputable manufacture such as that would have no issues. Wrong. POST code 8.2.Just be careful in the selection, and you'll do fine with this board.
Gary Key - Saturday, November 3, 2007 - link
PSU-We tried everything from a Seasonic S12 II 430W to the OCZ 1000w without a problems including a couple of "inexpensive" 500w power supplies out of generic cases without a problem. We tried to recreate some of the problems that users have noticed and could not with three different boards.
feraltoad - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
My X-fi xtreme music works great fortunately, it didn't crackle in my old Asrock DualSATA2 which some people reported as being a problem.I have a ZerDBA psu that works fine and a WD5000AAKS & WD3200KS & 36gb Raptor that works great, no raid though.
I've been very happy with the ip35 pro. I think editors choice is very well warranted. I use the uGuru program to OC in windows! How often can you OC in windows and have it be stable?
My heatsinks were OK, but I have heard some problems but the fix is super easy. Just replace the plastic pushpins in the sinks with bolts. That's an easy fix, sure you shouldn't have to paying that much for a mobo and they need to fix it, but if I had to saddled with a problem and I'm a pessimist(read: realist) and expect things to go bad I would rather have a problem that I can easily fix myself. So really it's a pessimist dream come true even if it comes out as the worse case scenario!
yyrkoon - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
there are also scattered reports of the larger Raptor HDDs not working under certain circumstances with these boards, as well WD SE16 HDD issues(mainly with RAID I think), and possible X-FI incompatibilities.ABITs forums though is one good example as to why their products still sold well, despite for having a 'bad rep' compared to other companies. Its these Forums that helps ABIT customers solve, and potential avoid issues with any given product.
For what it is worth, I have read about certain Seasonic PSUs being an issue with these boards, but the PSU I am using; an Antec EA500(EarthWATTS 500) *is* supposed to be built by Seasonic as well . . . it also works very well. However, I am also using the IP35-E, not the Pro.
yyrkoon - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
that it is about time you guys did a write up of this board, but I am mystified as to why you guy did not mention the IP35-E(the IP35 Pros 'little brother'). Sure it does not have all the bells and whistles, but on an extreme budget, the IP35-E is very hard to beat.My IP35-E is running an E6550 @ 3.33Ghz with stock cooling and stock voltages, and 100% stable for the last 1.5 weeks or so. Just being able to drop the FSB:DRAM ratio to 1:1, bumping up the MCH one notch, and setting the external clock to 475Mhz makes for very simple overclocking. I have a very hard time imagining any other board being easier than this when overclocking. All this, and superb functionality(everything worked straight out of the box) without updating the BIOS. I can imagine never updating the BIOS, the functionality for me is that good.
Now if I could only fit a thermalright cooler into my case, I would be in 'hog heaven'.
Gary Key - Saturday, November 3, 2007 - link
abit did not supply the IP35-E for review, but we bought one anyway and will show it against the MSI NEO2 and DFI Bloodiron shortly.