Well, I did it. It's on it's way, along with 2GB Super Talent DDR3 1333. I read that that Ram really kicks butt in the OC/Timing area.
Full review to follow soon....
Update! Ok, good news and bad news. The bad news is that I was unable to obtain a quad core for testing, so this review will concentrate on the E8400. The good news is that I was able to also acquire a P5Q Deluxe (DDR2) for comparison, so many readers will find more value in that choice. I have spent allot of time accumulating data, so it took a while, but I am finally ready to begin. I decided that I would choose components that were commonplace in todays average build, and write this summary in a practical and down to earth manner, because let's face it folks, all we really care about is the numbers!
The review of the P5Q3 Deluxe will be along shortly, but for now we will concentrate on the DDR2 version.
Well, Intel has done it again. For those who weren't satisfied with the 965 chipset, they introduced the P35 or of course, a 975, depending on which chipset seemed to fit your needs the best. Clearly, there were no real world performance differences between the two, no SLI capability (lack of driver support), yet each seemed to develop it's own following, and each upped the bar when it came to overclocking potential. And then along came the X38, the direct descendant of the 975, followed quickly by the X48...it makes one wonder if the X38 wasn't a rush-to-production endeavour, as the only real substantial difference between the two would be an official support for 1600Mhz FSB. Finally this leads us to the P45 chipset, the last and final release by Intel for the Socket 775 platform. Yep folks, from here on out it will be for Nehalem, so whichever board you get now will probably have to last you at least six months.
So, what's new in the P45 chipset? Well, other than it's smaller die size for the chipset, not much. Intel shrank the 90nm wafers down to 65nm, and the two main reasons you should care about this is power consumption and temperature, but neither will mean much if your goal is overclocking anyhow, except that maybe your Northbridge will stay around 4 Deg C cooler on average.
Crossfire support is of course included, but in an 8x8 configuration. If your are looking for 16x16, you may consider a more pricy X48 board. Still, it is an improvement from the P35 in this regard. The sound gets a slight improvement with the new ADI2000B codec, although the differences between this and the older ADI1988B are unknown at the moment. Speaking of unknown differences, there is the new ICH10 southbridge as well.
Undoubtedly, what allot of people are wondering now is whether or not it is worth an upgrade from their current P35, X38 or X48 Motherboards. Hopefully I can help solve some of those questions with this look at three mainboards head to head:
Asus P5K Deluxe
This is one of the most well know P35 boards, and one that likely many people currently own. Many of the P5K series boards are very similar, and you should be able to find comparison with which ever flavor you own.
Asus Maximus Formula
The DDR2 variant of the X38 chipset. This is a Republic Of Gamers board, features allot of bling, but at it's heart it's just a first generation X38 Mobo. To keep the comparisons fair I opted not to go with the Watercooled Extreme version, although whether or not that would really make a difference in these tests is arguable at best.
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Another DDR2 version of a bi-platform chipset. Will it be a worthy replacement for the P35?
The test setup is as follows:
All tests were run in Windows XP Professional.
All games were ran at a Resolution of 1680x1050, Max settings.
Memory: 2x1GB Gskill 1066DDR2
CPU: E8400 Core2Duo
Hardrive: Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SataII
Video: BFG 8800GT OC (700Mhz Core)
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
All tests were done at stock clocks, with no overclocking of any components. The only problem we ran into was that the X38 board refused to run the Gskill memory at it's native 1066Mhz Bus speed. This was a potential parade crasher, but it was decided to handicap the X38 by running the memory at 1001Mhz. Not much of a defference, but a situation that still must be taken into consideration when comparing the benchmarks for those enthusiasts who squeeze ever Mhz out of every component they have!
We'll start with a quick look at a gratuitous SuperPi run for all three boards. The test was run several times on each setup and the averages were taken for this benchmark. Everyone knows that this test is highly sensitive to overall system muscle, and although the results were extremely consistent across the board, the P5Q scores it's first win off the bat by an impressive 3/100ths of a second. That, folks, is an eternity in cybertime considering all three systems were running stock speeds. Whether the 65Mhz memory handicapp of the X38 is a factor here we'll never know.
That's Two in a row for the P45 chipset so far, although it wasn't very far ahead of the X38. This close margin between these two is likely negligible considering the memory handicapp, once again. We are going to forget about that piece of info for a while, as it tends to sound like were playing favorites here.....The P35 clearly trails, though, at a loss of 50 3Dmarks with the same components.
With these synthetic benchmarks we start to see a trend. The Maximus and the P5Q stay relatively close, duking it out for the lead, but the aging P35 is clearly trailing behind. It must be stated, however, that the differences are very small, and not likely noticeable in everyday usage.
Our first Game Benchmark was a complete suprise, and turned the tables quite a bit. The P35 took an impressive win here with almost 10FPS over the P5Q, and almost 8FPS over the X38. I ran this test several times, and the results were consistent.
Again, the P35 took this benchmark, although by a very small margin. The X38 comes in last here, at over 2FPS behinf the P35.
Of particular importance to you overclockers out there would be the FSB Capabilities of these boards. I must say that I was a bit dissapointed that I could not achieve higher rates with either of these boards, but the P5Q dissapointed me the most. At first I thought that the CPU was FSB limited, but I later found that not to be the case. Perhaps the BIOS is still in it's infancy here, and updates will increase the FSB potential of this board. To Prove that the CPU was not the factor here, I will include a screenshot from my testing so far with the P5Q3 with the same CPU:
As far as overclocking goes at the stock multiplier, I am pleased to say that I have yet to find the stable limit with the P5Q. Current Clocks are in excess of 4Ghz, but at a voltage a wee bit higher than that of the X38 board.
My Thoughts:
I like the P45 chipset so far very much. It is a fun board to work with, and very stable. The layout is nice, and the chipset stays cool. The board seems to be at or near the top spot on most benchmarks, and the BIOS is still immature. The only drawbacks I see is that there are rumors of compatibility issues with Raptor HD (and I have experienced this as well) if running RAID or AHCI and a less than stellar FSB limit, although this could just be the paticular board I have tested. Overall, the board just seemed snappy and more responsive than the others, but I have no benchmark to illustrate that!
Overall, It is a solid buy. If you currently have an X38 or X48 board, I would not reccomend a switch unless you are in the market for an additional board. If you have an aging P35, however, It would seem a very logical and inexpensive choice for a new Mobo. I hope this helped somebody out in making a decision, or at the very least provided an entertaining read!
Full review to follow soon....
Update! Ok, good news and bad news. The bad news is that I was unable to obtain a quad core for testing, so this review will concentrate on the E8400. The good news is that I was able to also acquire a P5Q Deluxe (DDR2) for comparison, so many readers will find more value in that choice. I have spent allot of time accumulating data, so it took a while, but I am finally ready to begin. I decided that I would choose components that were commonplace in todays average build, and write this summary in a practical and down to earth manner, because let's face it folks, all we really care about is the numbers!
The review of the P5Q3 Deluxe will be along shortly, but for now we will concentrate on the DDR2 version.
Well, Intel has done it again. For those who weren't satisfied with the 965 chipset, they introduced the P35 or of course, a 975, depending on which chipset seemed to fit your needs the best. Clearly, there were no real world performance differences between the two, no SLI capability (lack of driver support), yet each seemed to develop it's own following, and each upped the bar when it came to overclocking potential. And then along came the X38, the direct descendant of the 975, followed quickly by the X48...it makes one wonder if the X38 wasn't a rush-to-production endeavour, as the only real substantial difference between the two would be an official support for 1600Mhz FSB. Finally this leads us to the P45 chipset, the last and final release by Intel for the Socket 775 platform. Yep folks, from here on out it will be for Nehalem, so whichever board you get now will probably have to last you at least six months.
So, what's new in the P45 chipset? Well, other than it's smaller die size for the chipset, not much. Intel shrank the 90nm wafers down to 65nm, and the two main reasons you should care about this is power consumption and temperature, but neither will mean much if your goal is overclocking anyhow, except that maybe your Northbridge will stay around 4 Deg C cooler on average.
Crossfire support is of course included, but in an 8x8 configuration. If your are looking for 16x16, you may consider a more pricy X48 board. Still, it is an improvement from the P35 in this regard. The sound gets a slight improvement with the new ADI2000B codec, although the differences between this and the older ADI1988B are unknown at the moment. Speaking of unknown differences, there is the new ICH10 southbridge as well.
Undoubtedly, what allot of people are wondering now is whether or not it is worth an upgrade from their current P35, X38 or X48 Motherboards. Hopefully I can help solve some of those questions with this look at three mainboards head to head:
Asus P5K Deluxe
This is one of the most well know P35 boards, and one that likely many people currently own. Many of the P5K series boards are very similar, and you should be able to find comparison with which ever flavor you own.
Asus Maximus Formula
The DDR2 variant of the X38 chipset. This is a Republic Of Gamers board, features allot of bling, but at it's heart it's just a first generation X38 Mobo. To keep the comparisons fair I opted not to go with the Watercooled Extreme version, although whether or not that would really make a difference in these tests is arguable at best.
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Another DDR2 version of a bi-platform chipset. Will it be a worthy replacement for the P35?
The test setup is as follows:
All tests were run in Windows XP Professional.
All games were ran at a Resolution of 1680x1050, Max settings.
Memory: 2x1GB Gskill 1066DDR2
CPU: E8400 Core2Duo
Hardrive: Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SataII
Video: BFG 8800GT OC (700Mhz Core)
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
All tests were done at stock clocks, with no overclocking of any components. The only problem we ran into was that the X38 board refused to run the Gskill memory at it's native 1066Mhz Bus speed. This was a potential parade crasher, but it was decided to handicap the X38 by running the memory at 1001Mhz. Not much of a defference, but a situation that still must be taken into consideration when comparing the benchmarks for those enthusiasts who squeeze ever Mhz out of every component they have!
We'll start with a quick look at a gratuitous SuperPi run for all three boards. The test was run several times on each setup and the averages were taken for this benchmark. Everyone knows that this test is highly sensitive to overall system muscle, and although the results were extremely consistent across the board, the P5Q scores it's first win off the bat by an impressive 3/100ths of a second. That, folks, is an eternity in cybertime considering all three systems were running stock speeds. Whether the 65Mhz memory handicapp of the X38 is a factor here we'll never know.
That's Two in a row for the P45 chipset so far, although it wasn't very far ahead of the X38. This close margin between these two is likely negligible considering the memory handicapp, once again. We are going to forget about that piece of info for a while, as it tends to sound like were playing favorites here.....The P35 clearly trails, though, at a loss of 50 3Dmarks with the same components.
With these synthetic benchmarks we start to see a trend. The Maximus and the P5Q stay relatively close, duking it out for the lead, but the aging P35 is clearly trailing behind. It must be stated, however, that the differences are very small, and not likely noticeable in everyday usage.
Our first Game Benchmark was a complete suprise, and turned the tables quite a bit. The P35 took an impressive win here with almost 10FPS over the P5Q, and almost 8FPS over the X38. I ran this test several times, and the results were consistent.
Again, the P35 took this benchmark, although by a very small margin. The X38 comes in last here, at over 2FPS behinf the P35.
Of particular importance to you overclockers out there would be the FSB Capabilities of these boards. I must say that I was a bit dissapointed that I could not achieve higher rates with either of these boards, but the P5Q dissapointed me the most. At first I thought that the CPU was FSB limited, but I later found that not to be the case. Perhaps the BIOS is still in it's infancy here, and updates will increase the FSB potential of this board. To Prove that the CPU was not the factor here, I will include a screenshot from my testing so far with the P5Q3 with the same CPU:
As far as overclocking goes at the stock multiplier, I am pleased to say that I have yet to find the stable limit with the P5Q. Current Clocks are in excess of 4Ghz, but at a voltage a wee bit higher than that of the X38 board.
My Thoughts:
I like the P45 chipset so far very much. It is a fun board to work with, and very stable. The layout is nice, and the chipset stays cool. The board seems to be at or near the top spot on most benchmarks, and the BIOS is still immature. The only drawbacks I see is that there are rumors of compatibility issues with Raptor HD (and I have experienced this as well) if running RAID or AHCI and a less than stellar FSB limit, although this could just be the paticular board I have tested. Overall, the board just seemed snappy and more responsive than the others, but I have no benchmark to illustrate that!
Overall, It is a solid buy. If you currently have an X38 or X48 board, I would not reccomend a switch unless you are in the market for an additional board. If you have an aging P35, however, It would seem a very logical and inexpensive choice for a new Mobo. I hope this helped somebody out in making a decision, or at the very least provided an entertaining read!
Last edited:
