Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6: DDR3 comes a knocking, again

Test Setup

Standard Test Bed Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Test Configuration
Processor:	Intel Core 2 Duo QX6700 (2.66GHz, 8MB Unified Cache)
RAM:	OCZ Reaper PC2-9200 (4x1GB) 3-4-3-8 975X, 4-4-4-10 P35, P965, 680i Corsair DDR3 CM3X1024-1333C9DHX (4x1GB) 8-7-7-20
Hard Drive:	Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer
System Platform Drivers:	Intel - 8.3.0.1013
Video Cards:	1 x MSI HD 2900XT
Video Drivers:	ATI 8.37.4.3 (HD2900XT Release Drivers)
CPU Cooling:	Tuniq 120
Power Supply:	OCZ ProXStream 1000W
Optical Drives:	Plextor PX-760A, Plextor PX-B900A
Case:	Cooler Master CM Stacker 830
Motherboards:	Intel D975XBX2 (Intel 975X) - BIOS 2692 ASUS P5K Deluxe (Intel P35) - BIOS 0304 ASUS P5K3 Deluxe (Intel P35) - BIOS 0411 MSI P35 Platinum (Intel P35) - BIOS 7345P01 Gigabyte P35-DQ6 (Intel P35) - BIOS F4 Gigabyte P35T-DQ6 (Intel P35) - BIOS F2N DFI Infinity P965 (Intel P965) - BIOS 424 EVGA 680i LT SLI (NVIDIA 680i LT) - BIOS P04
Operating System:	Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit
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Test conditions were maintained the same, as much as possible, over the platforms tested. Our game tests were run at settings of 1280x1024 HQ to ensure our GPU was not a bottleneck during testing. All results are reported in our charts and color-coded for easier identification of results.

We utilize new drive images on each board in order to minimize any potential driver conflicts. Our 3DMark results are generated utilizing the standard benchmark resolution for each program. We run each benchmark five times, throw out the two low and high scores, and report the remaining score. All results are run at stock speeds for this article although we will provide overclocked results in the next article that covers this board.

Our choice of software applications to test is based on programs that enjoy widespread use and produce repeatable and consistent results during testing. Microsoft Vista has thrown a monkey wrench into testing as the aggressive nature of the operating system to constantly optimize application loading and retrieval from memory or the storage system presents some interesting obstacles. This along with the lack of driver maturity will continue to present problems in the near future with benchmark selections. Our normal process was to change our power settings to performance, delete the contents of the prefetch folder, and then reboot after each benchmark run. This is a lengthy process to be sure, but it results in consistency over the course of benchmark testing. All applications were run with administer privileges.


The Gigabyte P35T-DQ6 test results we will present today are still preliminary. The BIOS we are utilizing is still under development and not all of the kinks have been worked out to our satisfaction. The main problems we encountered center around DDR3 overclocking past 1600MHz and strange behavior when overclocking the FSB past 460FSB and trying to run our memory higher than 1500MHz or lower than 1300MHz. We are still trying to nail down chipset strap changes and latency issues at high FSB speeds with this latest BIOS release.

We also had a problem overclocking past 550FSB speed on this board as there seemed to be an almost hard lock. We could POST to a 600FSB setting but the board would always freeze from 551FSB to 600FSB when entering Windows Vista regardless of memory, multiplier, or voltage settings. The points at which the chipset straps change tend to float with each BIOS release we receive or memory multiplier we utilize. To be fair, some of these problems are also occurring on the ASUS board and we hope to have a final report when our P35 roundup is published in the latter part of June.