865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003 - Part 1: 20-way Shootout
by Evan Lieb on June 12, 2003 10:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Overclocking and Stress Testing
To make sure that each FSB we were able to achieve was as stable as possible we conducted several hours of stress testing on all twenty motherboards (except Intel’s of course). Each motherboard was put through an identical stress test scenario where six loops of SPECViewperf 7.0 was completed while Prime95 torture tests were being run in the background for a total of twelve hours straight. Our stress tests are normally conducted with Prime95 running in the background for 24 hours straight while our benchmark suite is rerun, but due to time constraints we were forced to cut that figure in half and omit the benchmark suite rerun. However we decided to increase the SPECViewperf runs to make up for lost Prime95 stress testing in this roundup, so all in all these stress tests will still give you an accurate representation of how reliable your system will be over an extended period of time.
We used the following setup to overclock each motherboard:
|
Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed |
|
|
Processor:
|
Pentium
4 2.4GHz (800MHz FSB) CPU - HT Disabled
|
|
CPU
Vcore:
|
1.525V
(default)
|
|
Cooling:
|
Intel
Retail HSF & Thermal Pad
|
|
Power
Supply:
|
Enermax
350W
|
Here were the results we attained:
|
Maximum Overclocked FSB Frequency
|
|
| ABIT IC7 (875P) |
280MHz
|
| ABIT IC7-G (875P) |
280MHz
|
| ABIT IS7 (865PE) |
278MHz
|
| ABIT IS7-G (865PE) |
278MHz
|
| Albatron PX865PE Pro (865PE) |
278MHz
|
| Albatron PX865PE Pro II (865PE) |
278MHz
|
| AOpen AX4C Max (875P) |
266MHz
|
| ASUS P4C800 Deluxe (875P) |
280MHz
|
| ASUS P4P800 Deluxe (865PE) |
283MHz
|
| DFI PRO875 LAN Party (875P) |
282MHz
|
| Epox 4PDA2+ (865PE) |
273MHz
|
| Epox 4PCA3+ (875P) |
275MHz
|
| Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra (875P) |
272MHz
|
| Gigabyte 8KNXP (875P) |
281MHz
|
| Gigabyte 8PENXP (865PE) |
270MHz
|
| Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Pro (865PE) |
270MHz
|
| Intel D875PEBZ (875P) |
N/A
|
| Intel D865PERL (865PE) |
N/A
|
| MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R (875P) |
254MHz
|
| Soyo P4I875P DRAGON 2 (875P) |
275MHz
|
It's no surprise to see that ABIT, ASUS, and Gigabyte round out the top 3 here with their 865PE and 875P motherboards. Albatron, Epox, and Soyo make good showings as well. A surprising showing comes from DFI's PRO875 LAN Party motherboard, whose 282MHz FSB overclock was just 1MHz FSB shy of highest overclocking motherboard tested in this roundup, the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe. We released a more detailed review of DFI's PRO875 LAN Party motherboard a few days ago. Anyway, if you plan on purchasing a 2.4C processor don't be surprised if you reach well over 270MHz FSB with these motherboards or over 280MHz FSB with the best 865PE/875P motherboards.
Take a look at our 865PE & 875P Memory Compatibility Guide for detailed information on which memory modules are compatible with these motherboards.
UPDATED on 6/13/2003
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18 Comments
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Zak - Sunday, January 18, 2004 - link
I bought IS7 after reading this article and I've been having problems. Random resets, then BSOD after changing XP recovery settings. Over the past few months it worsened. In the begining it like once a week maybe. I wasn't concerned, bad driver I thought. Now it won't run more than an hour without BSOD. I have Corsair XMS DDR400 in it. I've played with memory settings for weeks, timings and voltages as well, reinstalled XPPro several times, updated BIOS, got all newest drivers and run out of ideas... I've put a stick of DDR333 because that's all have to test and I still get the same random BSOD, even durnig XP installation. I have no PCI cards in this box. Mushkin calls this board problematic and attributes the memory problems to forced implementation of PAT that is not normally present in 865. I may try getting it replaced by NewEgg but I don't suppose it'll help. I'm thinking about getting a 875 board instead. Zak.Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
I would like to see part II of the roundup of the 865 chipset. I wonder what is the delay?Anonymous User - Monday, October 13, 2003 - link
I thought Part 2 would be out by now at least... There are good new boards out there I'd like to see... Shuttle AB60R (cheap and full featured) and Abit IC7-MAX3 (OTES for mobo power area). I am still looking forward to seeing this, eventually, right guys?Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Any comments on newer motherboards? Why hasn't supermicro been tested since 2000?Looking to compare supermicro
Intel s875wp1-e and Super P4SCE (SuperServer 5013C-I (SYS-5013-CI)) for a $50k cluster
Thanks
syzygyus@yahoo.com
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Evan, how in the world is #4 going to research your statement when the articles/review comments forum gets purged/is gone now ?Anonymous User - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link
Any word on Revision 2 of the Gigabyte 8knxp ultra board yet?Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
I bought the is7 after I read this article. It had many problems. I ended up having to ram this board twice. If you read the abit forum boards you will see alot of problems I am fairly surprised after all the tests this board was put through nothing ever went wrong. I will not buy another abit product period. I will stick to gigabye i've built 6 systems with Gigabyte and yet to have any problems with them. Save for the chipset fans having a low life.Anonymous User - Friday, August 8, 2003 - link
I bought the Abit IS7 and am completely pleased. One note is that many of the IS7's appear to be getting shipped with the gigabit lan as opposed to the sales brochure stated 10/100. (mine has the gigabit)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
How could it be that the Asus p4c 800 de luxe is more expensive then the asus p4p deluxe but in the testresults it is slower?I would think i am misinformed by the computershop?
And the p4c deluxe got a gigabit lan on board, despite mentioning in the summary of this Mb it has not.
PixelDoc - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - link
Error Re: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MoBoThis MoBo has 4, not 2 SATA connectors, 2 controlled by ICH5R and 2 more contolled by the SIL3112 chip.