Press Release: DFI Launches the INFINITY P965, Providing the Ultimate C/P Solution

It's official boys and girls, DFI unveils their long overdue motherboard for the Conroe platform. Speculations abound that this is supposed to be a LANParty series, however, "degraded" to Infinity due to the timing of release. But hey, it should be all good and much better for all of us FanBoys. Check it out...

DFI Launches the INFINITY P965, Providing the Ultimate C/P Solution

As always DFI has always been known to push technology to its outer limits and the Infinity P965 is no exception. This Intel based motherboard provides users with a perfect solution that not only offers tremendously high performance and “ over-clockablity ” but also boosts an extremely attractive price. DFI has chosen to use the Intel P965 + ICH8R chipsets to allow the board to support the most advance processors (including Core 2 Quad), DDRII-800 and Crossfire functions. Although the motherboard is a bit late arriving to the market the motherboard and BIOS are brilliantly designed to offer users unsurpassed over-clocking that will not disappoint even the most advanced overclocker. In addition DFI has redesigned the packaging to further accent the fact that DFI's Infinity series have entered the next generation of gaming performance.

A chipset solution that adopts Intel P965 + ICH8R

DFI's INFINITY P965 motherboard adopted Intel's P965 chipset and did not miss a beat. The P965 is commonly regarded as “Conroe's sole platform” amongst the enthusiasts' community. The chipset embraces Intel's “Fast Memory Access Technology” to provide enhanced processing speed and supports Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows Vista. ICH8R is essentially an advanced and upgraded edition of ICH7R. It provides support for more USB and SATA slots, both in quantity and performance. Further it supports the newest technologies such as iAMT and QST. In addition the ICH8R is the most advance chipset in its family and provides enhanced RAID functionality and therefore it supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5 categories.

4 Phases Digital PWM

Obviously since DFI is never content to use inferior components they have chosen to use the advanced 4-phase digital PWM instead of the ordinary 3-phase PWM that is commonly seen in the market these days. A digital PWM supplies components with stabilized current which is a necessity for all enthusiasts and is extremely important when the time comes to select the right type of motherboard for gaming. In addition do to its design the digital PWM works without the worry of capacitor explosion and electrolyte leakage, it gives every enthusiast unlimited freedom from fear while he is overclocking or gaming.

Supports ATI Crossfire multi-rendering

It can not be denied that Crossfire technology has brought revolutionary changes to the way 3D technologies work. Nowadays, hardcore gamers largely choose to use Crossfire technologies to provide them with the ultimate in 3D rendering while gaming. Crossfire technology certainly differentiates advanced hardcore gamers from the beginners. And since the Infinity P965 supports 2 Crossfire VGA cards (one of the PCI slots runs with x16, while the other runs with x4) it allows users to utilize the best 3D rendering technology in the market.

Uses entirely solid aluminum capacitors (INFINITY P965-S Edition)

For an added level of performance DFI has implement the use of all solid aluminum capacitors on the INFINITY P965-S. Solid aluminum capacitors provide high reliability and durability even under the most demanding of circumstances. Enthusiasts prefer solid aluminum capacitors because they know that this will allow the motherboard to work impressively even during over-clocking and without the worry of problems such as capacitor explosion or electrolyte leakage.

8 Channels high-definition audio

Besides the realistic visual effect and fabulous 3D graphics, the sound performance is another factor that attracts gamers' attention. Just imagine yourself submerged in the dynamics of gaming with full 3D graphics and lifelike sound effects; if you're not careful you might not be able to tell reality from fantasy which only leads to the thrilling experience provide by this board. That's why the INFINITY P965 adopted the 8–channel Azalea audio CODEC which provides you with the most unforgettable gaming experience of your life.

Fully supports Windows Vista

The brand new Operation system Microsoft Vista, it provides faster graphic process ability. In addition, Vista also brings a fresh experience to users about on-line security, wireless resources sharing and entertainments. DFI INFINITY P965 is fully supports Microsoft Vista.

Other Features

Four years ago, DFI was the first-in-industry to offer EZ switches for users. Now INFINITY P965 still provides the same traditional EZ on & off to let an enthusiast enjoy over-clocking with or without a computer casing. Genie BIOS of DFI motherboard is versatile at various voltage levels and settings. It is an “all time favorite” feature for enthusiasts. Other special features include high speed DDRII-800 memory support. The capacity can go up to a gigantic 8GB.

To suit the needs of enthusiasts, DFI has prepared two editions of P965 at the press time. INFINITY P965-S fully adopts aluminum solid capacitors on it board while the INFINITY P965 is the cost/performance edition without solid capacitors.

Source:DFI Launches the INFINITY P965, Providing the Ultimate C/P Solution

Tech Link (Motherboard): abit AB9 QuadGT – Fully fledged P965 motherboard

Tweaktown reviews the relatively new motherboard from Abit*, their AB9 QuadGT. This board got a very good high score from the author and can overclock well too. If you are planning to get this board, check out the review and see if it fits your needs.

Final Thoughts

As far as we are concerned, we believe the guys over at Universal abit are certainly on the comeback trail and they’ll continue to improve if they continue producing motherboards like the QuadGT.

We have so far been provided three successful motherboards from them and one mediocre board, and surprisingly it was the nForce 680i. The big mother of them all that failed the QuadGT, AB9 Pro and the A8N 32X which were all smashing successes, proving ABIT can do it when it has to but they just skipped a couple of important beats with the IN9 32X-MAX Wi-Fi.

When we tested the AB9 Pro, we criticized it for its lack of Crossfire support and extra PCI Express x16 slot. Since the Intel P965 chip was given the Crossfire seal of approval, it seemed a big shame to not put that to use. Finally ABIT has really listened and started to put boards out that people want, not telling people what they want. The latest P965 motherboard from ABIT not only see dual graphics support but further additions such as an extra e.SATA port, better heat pipe cooling, better stability and durability through the use of solid state capacitors and digital PWM and the list goes on.

One thing we must really criticise if the placement of the FDD connector - I mean come on, how hard is it to place it behind the memory sockets, Gigabyte does it, ASUS does it, time to shape up on that one ABIT and get that fixed. Sure, rarely the aging floppy drive is used these days but it does add a slightly sour note to an overall very impressive motherboard.

Overall though the placement of the FDD connector didn’t overshadow the great performance, very impressive features and solid package and we’d be silly not to recommend the ABIT AB9 QuadGT in a very high regard. It’s up there as one of the best Intel P965 motherboards on the market and it’s also cheaper than the Gigabyte DQ6 in Australia by about 15 - 20%.

Source:abit AB9 QuadGT – Fully fledged P965 motherboard

Tech Link (Motherboard): CeBIT exclusive: DFI Infinity 965 board - overclocking party

While I don't like the website's theme, layout, and review style in general, I loved it-review's conclusion on DFI*'s upcoming Infinity board based on i965 chipset. They received a damaged board (missing capacitors) and yet this board still overclocks pretty well. And as per the author, this board is supposed to be a "LanParty" series (aka the expensive series) but to the delay to bring this out to market, it sunk down into an "Infinity" model. Anyway, expand to read their conclusion...

Though this board comes late in comparison to other manufacturers, we know where the extra time was spent. The board design and its performance justify the time spent, and its overclockability has pleasantly surprised us. We have a strong feeling this board was meant to be a part of Lan Party series because it has some features that don’t belong to Infinity series, but we guess it was introduced as Infinity because it arrived late. On the other hand, this is a Lan Party style board at Infinity price range, and that can only be good for end users. We believe there will be many enthusiasts that will go for this board, especially because it price performance ratio is high. Even damaged (3 capacitors were torn off), it still performed excellent, so with the 3 capacitors in place it can only get better. If you are in search of a good overclock platform and you don’t want to spend a huge amount of money, this is definitely the board for you. At the end of this article I would like to thank DFI for making this review happen. I would also like to thank King Car Food Ind. Co. Ltd. for their Mr. Brown Classic Coffee-Drink that kept our CeBIT IT-review Lab up and running all night. Yet again...

Source:CeBIT exclusive: DFI Infinity 965 board - overclocking party

Tech Link (Industry): CeBIT 2007: MSI motherboard roundup; nForce 680i with Creative X-Fi onboard; Intel 965 plus Crossfire;

Digitimes has a good coverage for the CEBIT2007. They posted a neat slew of motherboards from MSI*, with i965 and nForce chipset. Check it out...

The P6N Diamond combines some of the big names in enthusiast hardware; the nForce 680i – the current flagship chipset from Nvidia, and Creative's X-Fi Extreme Audio. This integrated version of the X-Fi series may lack some of the features that the add-in cards deliver, but for many the opportunity to have X-Fi onboard means lower costs and better performance than other integrated audio solutions. MSI mentioned that it has been working closely with Creative for over two years and the co-operation is working well for both parties.

Source:CeBIT 2007: MSI motherboard roundup; nForce 680i with Creative X-Fi onboard; Intel 965 plus Crossfire;

Tech Link (Chipset): Intel G965: mATX Performance Update

AMDTech has put the i965 chipset to some bench-loving test runs and came out with a decent findings. While I don't fully agree with their "Quick Take" kinda conclusion, it's still a decent read if you just want to see how mATX fairs against their ATX big brothers.

Quick Take

Our initial performance results indicate a toss up as to which solution is better. That was to be expected as we have two almost identical boards from a features and BIOS perspective that only differ in their use of chipsets and layout design. Even though the chipsets are different, they are based on the same core logic so any real performance differences would be derived from BIOS tuning, options, and the quality of board components.

While the G965 boards will never overclock as well as their P965 siblings, the base performance is almost identical if you have the ability to tune the board. This is a limitation of the chipset and not the mATX board design. On the AM2 side, we have already seen excellent overclocking results from the abit and DFI mATX boards and expect even better performance with their GeForce 7050 designs next month. Also, the performance differences between AM2 solutions in the mATX and ATX designs mirror our test results on the Intel platform for the most part.

We have a few mATX boards with the G965 chipset that have very limited BIOS options, but even so our initial performance tests only indicate up to a 2% difference in most test results due to the memory timings being the prime differentiator in the scores. In fact, probably the biggest difference we have witnessed in our game tests is 5% between a top tier P965 ATX board that has been tuned and a base level G965 mATX board from Intel utilizing auto settings. Our application tests vary from 1% to 3% in scores at stock CPU settings between the two boards with DDR2-800 memory.

In the end, we feel like your choice of a mATX or ATX solution should be dictated by the requirements of the system (price, features, layout, overclocking, warranty, etc.). The use of an integrated graphics chipset will not inherently reduce performance relative to a discrete graphics chipsets, provided you use identical components. It will be the other aspects - particularly overclocking if that's a concern - that will warrant the use of a discrete graphics chipset rather than an IGP solution.

Source:Intel G965: mATX Performance Update

Tech Link(Motherboard): EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI Mainboard Review

It seems like XBitLabs crew are un-impressed of the quality, make, and overclockability of this board. From the teaser alone, I can easily feel an ugly review of this board

EPoX Company used to be very popular for the overclocking friendly products. Unfortunately, the EPoX mainboard on Intel P965 chipset cannot prove that great reputation. Read our uncovering review for details!

Check out their conclusion...

Conclusion
EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI mainboard started selling pretty late. This is not a good thing, but not a dramatic thing either. In the end, there are different strategies; you can either rush a new “hot” but relatively raw product into the market right after the new chipset launch and then deal with the problems, or take your time and design a product close to being perfect before beginning to sell. DFI, for instance, doesn’t have any Intel P965 based mainboards in their product range yet, although some DFI Infinity P965 pictures have already surfaced in a few websites. So, the delayed launch of EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI is quite normal and understandable. Could be understandable if we saw a real mainboard instead of a prototype.

Our theoretical reasoning is refuted completely by Asus and Gigabyte, who managed to launch the entire family of Intel P965 based mainboards right after the chipset launch. At this time they are already preparing second and third mainboard revisions, absolutely new models, although even the very first mainboard revisions copes quite nicely with all the overclocking. So what were the guys at EPoX doing all this time? Because even the second BIOS version released in the end of last year didn’t solve the problems.

I hope that EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI will be able to run stably and reliably in nominal mode, that no other problems get uncovered during long-term operation. This poor overclocking result is comparable with what we would squeeze out of the new mainboard revisions of i945 based solutions. However, EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI cannot stand even this comparison, because all i945 based mainboards boast one great advantage: they cost half the price of EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI. So, it is really hard to recommend this mainboard even to those users who do not intend to perform any overclocking.

Frankly speaking, I do not want you to think that EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI is a complete failure. It is not true. Each product has issues and bugs in the PCB layout, BIOS features, even software. Thunder Probe monitoring utility is a significant step forward compared with the USDM (Unified System Diagnostic Manager) that used to come with EPoX mainboards back in the days. However, for some reason the developers paid more attention to the interface design rather than its flexibility and functionality. Besides, tools like that are primarily used for CPU temperature monitoring, however, the reports turned out to be lower than the actual temperatures and hence couldn’t be trusted. So, why would one need a beautiful but complex Thunder Probe tool, if we had to use CoreTemp during the test session?

First look is often deceiving. Having dwelled on the overclocking features of the EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI and uncovered a lot of issues all over the place we felt very anxious to put it aside as soon as possible. So, far not all the Intel P965 based mainboards are alike… However, I am sure you know it already. The only question that keeps bothering me is: aren’t EPoX ashamed of selling something like that?

Source:EPoX EP-5P965+ GLI Mainboard Review

Tech Link (Motherboard): MSI P965 Platinum Motherboard – Great OC without huge price

I took a look at TweakTown and notice their nice review. It's a mouthful, so ready your favorite snacks before reading the article. They are mighty impressed with the board, if price/performance is the factor. Check it out, it might also be the board you are looking to partner with your processor.

Final Thoughts
Intel’s P965 chipset has really shown us lately there is really no great point in getting a more expensive 975X chipset based motherboard but why? P965 has native DDR-2 800 memory support, its FSB overclocking potential is usually higher and it supports more peripherals on the ICH8 Southbridge. With Crossfire reorganisation from ATI, it has all the features of the 975X and more.

MSI’s second P965 motherboard they have sent us left a much sweeter taste in our mouths. The cheaper P965 Neo that was originally sent to us really should not have been considered, however, we can say that the P965 Platinum has some major pull here and it’s quite a capable product. And it’s really not that much more expensive than the Neo version.

One of the major benefits of the MSI P965 Platinum (around $195 AUD) over the Gigabyte DQ6 is its price. It’s pretty well close to half the price of the feature-packed and overclocking monster DQ6 (around $335 AUD) but with a couple PCI Express x16 slots to support Crossfire and some very decent FSB overclocking, this motherboard from MSI is definitely a very good motherboard for the price.

It lacks some of the kicks and thrills of the more expensive motherboards on the market at the moment but if you’re looking for a no fuss motherboard for your Core 2 processor that will provide very good overclocking and most of the features you will need without the huge price tag, MSI have answered your prayers.


- Pros
Price is very good – 40% cheaper than DQ6
Crossfire Ready
Good overclocking results
Quad Core support
Silent passive cooling
Plenty of room around the CPU for large heatsinks

- Cons
Placement of the onboard power connectors could reduce airflow

Source:MSI P965 Platinum Motherboard – Great OC without huge price

Tech Link (Motherboard): Intel P965: abit AB9 QuadGT

AMDTech got busy and gave their first impression experience with the new motherboard from Abit*. While the board seems to perform, AMDTech are still torn between giving it an uber board or just typical board. Check out their review...

First Impressions

abit has done a wonderful job in the design and inclusion of high quality components on the AB9 QuadGT when compared to the AB9 Pro. The layout, feature set, performance, and BIOS options obviously place this board at or near the top of the Intel P965 product offerings. We really like the board and were impressed with its overall performance. In fact, the board just seems to be light years ahead of the AB9 Pro, but an otherwise excellent design is ruined by an immature BIOS. The issues we discovered during testing make us wonder if the light is on at abit's quality assurance department. We have briefly described some of the problems we faced during testing but there are more.

In our USB testing we found if the BIOS was changed from USB Keyboard or Mouse support via OS to BIOS then Windows XP would refuse to load if it was installed or if we tried a new installation from the CD drive. Additional USB testing revealed that any USB drive attached that is not a bootable device will result in the same behavior with XP not loading.

During storage drive testing we noticed the board would not run our Optical drives in DMA mode and defaulted to PIO mode regardless of how the JMicron controller was setup when utilizing the latest firmware and driver updates on our test image. We had to complete a new XP SP2 install with the JMicron controller setup as a RAID device in the BIOS and load the driver set via the F6 command in order to get DMA support for the Optical drives.

We also noticed IDE support from the JMicron controller was not available if we were using a RAID setup on the Intel ICH8R controller. We have noticed this before on other motherboards utilizing the JMicron chipset. However, this issue has generally been solved so we expect abit to have a solution shortly. For now, we recommend purchasing a SATA DVD drive and turning off the JMicron controller altogether unless you need the e-SATA support.

The JMicron fiascoes have hit every board manufacturer at one time or another and if you want to blame somebody then start at the doorstep of Intel for shipping a chipset without native IDE support before the market was ready for it. Of course, the motherboard suppliers could have opted for the VIA IDE controller that Biostar uses without issue, but then e-SATA or additional SATA port availability would not be on the option list. Considering most people would rather have at least one solid IDE controller rather than a couple more SATA ports that they often won't use, Biostar's decision seems to make the most sense, even if it doesn't look as good on the feature table comparisons.

Our retail sample was also delivered with the incorrect I/O panel shield so it appears to us that somebody was sleeping or watching Oprah during the packaging operation. Besides the issues listed above and the ones mentioned during the article we have to say the worst offense committed by abit is the memory voltage setting issue with the µGuru utility. The inability of the current µGuru application to correctly read and display the memory voltages set in the BIOS could directly lead to product failure as in our example.

Normally, we test each option and software switch and then reboot to ensure the BIOS setting matches the application in use. Unfortunately, after using version three of this application for the past few weeks we trusted it would work correctly. Instead of checking each setting before starting our benchmarks we assumed our memory voltage settings were correct after increasing our voltage slightly during the overclocking stability tests. We will no longer assume that µGuru and the abit BIOS are working in tandem before we start our test sessions. Needless to say, frying memory that costs over twice as much as the motherboard being reviewed was not a pleasant experience.

Overall, our initial experiences with the AB9 QuadGT have led us into a love and hate relationship with the board. We love the layout, performance, stability, and overall quality of the motherboard. This motherboard has tremendous potential and is a board we want to own for a long time. We hate the obviously early release of the product and the issues encountered to date as they should not be occurring. Several of the issues discovered in our initial testing can be blamed on an immature BIOS release and should be solved quickly, but we have to wonder why these issues even exist. It seems as if part of abit did not learn from the AB9 Pro launch while others took those same issues to heart and solved them. This situation reminds us of an old saying, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." After spending a few days with this product we can attest this saying has never been truer.

Source:Intel P965: abit AB9 QuadGT

Press Release: abit introduces the AB9 QuadGT Motherboard

Seems like abit* is going against the big, bad, Asus* when it comes to releasing uber boards. Of course, nVidia* has their own, but nothing beats Intel on Intel! Check out the latest news from abit*.

The new board comes with a digital PWM, all-solid state capacitor, and external CMOS reset switch. I think when it comes to coolness, Asus*' Commando would have taken the crown easy. Besides, Asus* touted their OCability, abit* is yet to show theirs. But nonetheless, if it is a lot cheaper than Asus' version, I'll go with this board anytime. Expand for more....

January 2, 2007 - abit today announced their latest Intel® P965 chipset based motherboard for Core™2 Quad/Duo processors, the abit AB9 QuadGT. This motherboard has been specifically engineered for and around LGA775 quad-core CPUs with up to 1066 MHz FSB. It is equipped with abit's powerful µGuru™ technology for extensive hardware monitoring and control. The extreme tuning and overclocking capabilities of this exclusively abit engineered microchip stands unsurpassed in the industry. With the New Year, abit also ushers in an entirely new generation of extreme computing.

Cool, Stable, Efficient and Extreme
The AB9 QuadGT is geared towards extreme performance. Accompanying the native support for Intel's latest quad-core and Extreme Edition CPUs, abit took measures for an even higher performance potential to be explored by the users themselves. A 6-layer board layout equipped with 100% Japanese made solid state capacitors and ceramic digital PWMs warrant the best electrical characteristics under the most stable currents. abit's patented Silent OTES™ convection heat-pipe design keeps the Northbridge as well as the digital PWMs efficiently cool. These abit engineered features prolong your the life of your motherboard product and dramatically increase durability by protecting vital components from strenuous thermal and electrical stress.

Games, Multimedia and Full Action

The AB9 QuadGT motherboard does not only have extreme power under the hood, it is also ready for full on gaming and multimedia action. Two X16 PCIe slots offer a wide range of multiple graphics options. Despite one of the X16 PCIe slots only supporting PCIe X4 bandwidth, it still caters adequately to most of today's graphics needs, including CrossFire operation. Alternatively you can also use this slot for other PCIe cards such as LAN, RAID, TV or audio add-on cards. A simple and flexible solution that serves almost any high-speed expansion demands. The 3-pin HDMI header connects with HDMI ready graphics cards, offering crisp HD audio.

6 internal SATA 3Gb/s and 2 eSATA connectors for the fastest hard drives on the market form the basis for more than sufficient storage capacity, while the single Ultra DMA 133/100/66/33 IDE connector provides the option to keep your older optical drives and HDDs running.

Source:abit introduces the AB9 QuadGT Motherboard

Press Release: ASUS Commando Gaming Motherboard Enables System Bus Overclock up to 2,280MHz for Smooth Graphics Performance

Woah, this is going to be my next board from Asus. I have posted some early reviews and benchmarks of this board, and if you haven't seen it yet, better check it out and start saving up. Aside from the all-solid capacitor and on-board switches, the CPU socket area is free of capacitors! Way to go Asus!

Taipei, Taiwan, December 18, 2006 – ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), the worldwide leader of motherboards, today introduced the Commando, a new addition to its R.O.G (Republic of Gamers) family of gaming motherboards. The Commando provides extreme overclock ability for enhanced performance, and unique features to jazz up the gaming features and simplify the DIY process.

Overclock system bus up to 2,280MHz
Supporting the Intel® P965 Express Chipset, maximum 8GB dual-channel DDR2 architecture, PCI Express x16 graphics and multi-core CPU, the Commando is ready for the latest computing hardware and software specifications. With superior engineering, the Commando provides unmatched overclockability, taking FSB and memory up to 2,280MHz and 1,300MHz, respectively.

Extreme Tweaker – One stop performance tune-up
Extreme Tweaker is a one stop solution for fine-tuning system performance. Frequency adjustment, over-voltage options, memory settings etc. can all be tweaked with this feature, which is found exclusively in ASUS motherboards.

8-phase cap-less power – Reliable power supply and longer component life
The 8-phase cap-less power design demonstrates two hardcore commitments of R.O.G.: ultimate overclocking capability, and trustworthy stability. 8-phase cap-less power yields unparalleled superiority in the overclocking arena, while the EL cap-less design removes any worries of capacitor problems once and for all.

Onboard Switch – Turn system on/off, reset and clear CMOS with one push of a button
Overclockers and power users typically build systems outside of the case, and hence they need to short the front panel pins to power up or restart the system, switch jumpers, and pop the battery to clear CMOS. With the Commando, doing all that is now just a push of a button.

LCD Poster – Easy System Tweaking with Style
Most hardcore users and engineers install a debug card, which displays a two-digit code that enables them to recognize which part of the system is responsible for hanging the system during boot-up. LCD Poster, located at the back I/O, displays the names of each boot-process instead of using codes. When system hangs due to faulty connection or configuration, the LCD Poster will freeze on the displayed process name that caused the hang up, allowing users to know exactly what needs to be fixed.

For more information on the Commando and other R.O.G motherboards, please visit the company website at www.asus.com.

Specification summary
CPU: LGA 775 Core2Duo, Quad-Core CPU
DDR2: 800/667/533
FSB: 1066/800
Chipsets: Intel P965 + ICH8R
6 SATA II 3Gb/s
Supports ATI Crossfire Graphics
SupremeFX Featuring ADI 1988b
Extreme Tweaker
LCD Poster
8 phase capless power design
Onboard switches

Source:ASUS Commando Gaming Motherboard Enables System Bus Overclock up to 2,280MHz for Smooth Graphics Performance

Tech Link (Motherboard): MSI P965 Platinum

The folks over at [H] has placed an MSI i965-based board to the test bench. While it performs well and shows no sign of nagging problems, [H] doesn't give this board a big thumbs up. Check it out...

Dan's Thoughts:
Working with the MSI P965 Platinum was a pleasant experience, but not a perfect one. For starters, the motherboard always changes the boot sequence whenever any drives are added, or if the drive configuration changes in anyway. This lead to a situation where the system wouldn’t boot, and I’d have to go back into the BIOS and change the boot sequence again. This is not an issue that is specific to MSI as many motherboards do this, but there has been a change started in the industry to correct this. Otherwise, I also had several issues with stability until I raised the ram voltage to 2.1v. The memory defaults to 1.8v, which was totally unstable. (Editor's Note: In my testing with different Corsair RAM we showed not voltage issues whatsoever.) I had another issue once the OS was loaded originally. When I went to install the .NET framework, and the Catalyst 6.9 drivers for my test X1800XT Crossfire setup, the OS blue screened, and I was forced to re-install it. This was an isolated incident, and I have no explanation why this happened.

Stability at stock speeds, while running my drive benchmarks and network tests was exemplary. For 48 hours, the system ran flawlessly, and gave me no issues. During the stress test I ran Orthos and ran SuperPi along side it just to be extra abusive. The system performed flawlessly under these conditions. Overall the MSI board was easy to work with and the problems I did encounter were easy to solve or work around entirely.

Essentially, the P965 is a great motherboard, especially at stock speeds, but unremarkable. Overclocking is mediocre, but not horrible. The layout is excellent, and the board has a solid feature set, and isn’t over burdened with an excessive amount of features that most users will likely never touch. Some issues I experienced were annoying, but should easily be fixed with BIOS and driver updates. All in all the P965 Platinum merits some consideration and I would recommend it for use in non-overclocked or mildly overclocked systems, but for the hardware enthusiast, I think there are better choices out there.

The Bottom Line
MSI has presented us with a very stable motherboard in the P965 Platinum. It ran like a champ under very heavy usage models at stock settings. When it comes to enthusiasts looking for overclocking motherboards for new Core 2 Duo processors, there are better choices available.

Source:MSI P965 Platinum

Tech Link (Motherboard): Commando Results by Tony and Andre

AndreYang of XS has posted a lot of nice pictures. Try to check out the link, but make sure you have broadband since the images are huge and massive. It's a treat for the FanBoyz, check it out.

We know ASUS ROG mobos are different from other ASUS mobos because ROG has more voltage and Ram timming.

I went to ASUS main company last week and took this mobo.

I will share some pics and simple result to everyone.

ROG Commando pictures

Source:Commando Results by Tony and Andre

Tech Link (Motherboard): abit IL9 Pro Motherboard Review

If you are looking for an affordable motherboard, that supports the latest Conroe processor, and supports Crossfire, well, look no further because a nice board is available from Abit. Not the latest chipset, but this i945-based board makes it also cheaper than other boards that supports Conroe. If you are looking for one, motherboards.org reviews one and you may want to consider this board as your next board.

Intel generally releases two new motherboard chipsets a year, a high-end one and a mainstream one. In 2004, when Intel released the 925X high-end chipset, they also released the 915 mainstream. 2005 saw the release of the 975 chipset for the high-end and the 945 chipset for the mainstream. This year the 965 chipset was released but the 945P chipset remains for the mainstream inexpensive market. The board on the test bench today is the abit IL9 Pro board they recently announced.

Source:abit IL9 Pro Motherboard Review

Tech Link (Motherboard): Never mind Striker bring on Commando

Seems like Tony (of OCZ) have finally agreed that 680i isn't necessary = best performance. I'd only get this for "certified SLI" support for current and future high end video cards, I'll always go for Chipzilla chipsets for everything else aside from SLI. I really wish Chipzilla will finally close a deal with NVIDIA* so that i975 will have SLI support without the hacked drivers. It's just a matter of driver/chipset identification to enable SLI rather than technological limitation (yes, for the uber anal, chipset and driver is part of the technology, but duh).

In any case, over at TechRepository, Tony has posted some really neat screenshots of the BIOS and he seems to have lotsa fun testing. I went to XS and I also saw his post. His header is much cooler there than what is posted on their persnal Tech Blog, so that's why I used his "Never mind Striker bring on Commando" title. Enjoy!

All the excitement about DFI had me forgetting another board which i will be testing over the next few weeks. Asus have released what could possibly be the finest i965 board we will see. Codenamed commando the board is part of the ROG line of boards which also have crosshair and Strker extreme as members.

I have the board and can say I have not yet tested a board that overclocks DDR2 better than this one, if you want to run 1300+DDR this is the board for you

Voltage options are nothing short of stunning, i will post screen shots in the next 24hrs so sit tight. Tests to come in the nex week or so.

1 pic for your enjoyment, you may see others posted as Asus gave a sneek peek of the board here in taiwan at the 1st OCZ Overclocking summit.

Source:Never mind Striker bring on Commando

Tech Link (Motherboard): MSI P965 Platinum Review

Hmm, Blogger seems to be having a bit of a problem lately. Ever since I transition to their "beta" site, I have always been having quirks and fits and hiccups. Anyway, I found a review that is quite nice for stock or low overclock. The author seems to have issues pushing this motherboard higher than 366MHz. If you are not an overclocker and is figuring out what board to pair with your nice, and shiny conroe, give this review a look and decide for yourself. Expand for more...

Core 2 Duo has brought upon us a massive influx of motherboards all vying to hold together your fancy new Core 2 PC. Despite these many options however, there are only a handful of chipsets being employed by motherboard manufacturers in all Core 2 supporting motherboards. We've both P965 and 975X based boards and found them to be excellent products. We also looked at MSI's own 975X Platinum which was a fair contender against competitors. Today we are reviewing their more budget oriented P965 flavoured board for Core 2 Duo.

The MSI P965 Platinum, as you may imagine, uses the 965 chipset from Intel and has full support for Core 2 processors as well as a number of other important features. While 965 based chipsets don't feature full bandwidth Crossfire as their 975X counterparts do (we'll get into this on the next page), they are able to reach higher FSB speeds for overclocking chips with lower multipliers. Our full review will take a look at all the aspects of this board including its overclocking performance so keep reading!

Source:MSI P965 Platinum Review

Tech Link (Motherboard): Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup

It seems that AMDTech got out there and make a whooping review of different motherboard makers based on the i965 chipset. Well, all I can say is that they are learning when judging what motherboard to get. I have been saying this in the forums for such a long time: it's not all about performance; warranty and support must also be top notch.

For extreme hardcore enthusiasts, it's not much because most of the time, their warranty is void anyway. But for 99.999999999% of the population out there (yes, I am exaggerating) performace difference of 0.00000001+/- between manufacturers isn't much of a big deal. Oftentimes, users will end up having a nightmare of an experience RMAing their broken board. Anyway, if you woud like to read on their thoughts, expand this posting...

Final Words

After twenty five pages of information we can safely say that an Intel P965 is still an Intel P965 no matter which motherboard you place it in. This should come as no big surprise as the days of one motherboard manufacturer truly outperforming another one at stock clock speeds with the same chipset is over. The basis of competition is now on features, price, warranty, appearance, overclocking capability, accessories, availability, and reliability. If that sounds a lot like the motherboard being a commodity item, it is, as the consumer expects or demands a certain level of performance and support from all motherboards. They will pay extra for the features that are deemed important based upon their needs. One only has to look at the fallout and consolidation of the motherboard suppliers over the past couple of years to realize this simple fact.


While we believe performance is still extremely important, it is no longer the only reason to consider a particular motherboard supplier. In our opinion, the features, price, warranty, support, and reliability of the motherboard should be first on your list as base performance will generally be equal among all motherboards based on the same chipset. To a lesser degree even the performance amongst various chipsets for the same CPU family performs almost identically now. It comes back to features and support for making that final decision. We would love to make a final decision on the boards we tested today but we have another eight or so left to present to you. We can draw a few conclusions from the results and information we presented after testing these boards for past few weeks. Our first conclusion is that the P965 was released too early and the first motherboards while being very solid from a features and quality viewpoint had very immature BIOS releases.

The inability to boot many boards with most performance oriented memory modules was inexcusable. Do not get us wrong as it took two to tango this sorry dance. We blame the memory manufacturers also as they were just as guilty by having modules in the market with SPD settings that assumed the board would boot at 2.0V or higher. While the motherboard manufacturers will state they followed Intel's 1.8V requirement they are still guilty for not having the BIOS cycle properly to recognize the memory speed, voltage, or timings after the POST issue. The majority of these issues have been solved with the latest BIOS or SPD releases. We still cringe when installing a new memory module but now concentrate on how well it performs instead of crossing our fingers and calling the psychic hotline.

Other issues included incompatibilities with the new SATA/IDE controller chips resulting in PIO mode operation or failure to see the drive at all. This goes back to quality control and pushing an early release. It also brings up the point that Intel in their infinite wisdom decided to pull PATA support from this chipset when over 98% of optical drives are still based on PATA technology. They could have waited for the Bearlake chipset next year to do this. This change also increased the cost and complexity of the motherboards as you now introduce another chipset on each and every motherboard sold.

Overall, the BIOS releases have greatly matured and the amount of issues have declined sharply over the last two months. In this case we have to give credit to the motherboard and memory suppliers for acting quickly... but only after upsetting an untold number of customers. While there are still a few nagging issues here and there, like getting AHCI to work on the Intel ICH8R equipped boards without an engineering degree and a day off, we are seeing most of the issues being reduced now to what we have come to live with in an open PC hardware world. Those issues would be where a combination of parts that you would never expect to be used together creates an issue that is extremely difficult to fix or even diagnose. We still get mail on a fair share of those and will report our findings in the final article. We can safely say that with out list of components used in our test bed that our motherboards were virtually error free of issues that would cause instability or create a no POST situation.

Overall, the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 performed the best in our benchmarks when not overclocked. This is a very good accomplishment and shows a level of consistency and fine tuning that was not matched by the other suppliers. However, the total margin of victory over the other P965 motherboards is less than one percent. It took several hundred hours of benchmarking to come to this conclusion and without those benchmarks it would have been impossible to tell the difference between any of the P965 motherboards tested today.

The overclocking capability of ASUS motherboards continues to be impressive in their mid-range series. If you are looking to get the highest possible overclocking results with an E6300 or E6400 processor then we would recommend the ASUS P5B-E 1.02G at this time. Of course it is not available yet (it will be shortly) and unless you have expensive PC2-8000 RAM then chances of going over 500FSB are not that great with the ASUS P5B-E 1.01G board. However, it is hard to complain about the ASUS 1.01G board with 7x490FSB results using mid-range PC2-6400 memory. Gigabyte has not solved their Micron D9 1GB module issue yet so they are stuck in the 450FSB range with our test components. Biostar has a 500FSB level BIOS limit but more importantly you cannot find the board. That brings us to Abit and the AB9-Pro which has improved its overclocking capabilities a great deal since we first reviewed the board but apparently has reached its limits at this time. If you have an E6400 or E6600 then this board still has great overclocking potential for the majority of users.

When it comes to features we really liked the ASUS and Abit boards as they provided just about every possible option on a midrange/performance motherboard that one could want. While the Gigabyte and Biostar boards are also feature rich, they both lack Firewire support which should be a given on boards in this price range. We have to have to give Biostar a gold star for overall layout design although the location of the 24-pin and 4-pin ATX power connectors are a detraction. The ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards have fairly standard layouts that we could live with on a daily basis but we have to wonder what the layout design group at Abit was thinking when they placed the IDE and two SATA connectors between the PCI Express x1 and PCI slots. We will call it a creative design inspiration at this time to be nice as we still like the board's overall capabilities.

The Analog Devices AD1988A HD Audio Codec really put the screws to the Realtek ALC-88x series of HD Audio Codecs in our EAX 2 gaming tests. The EAX sounds were clear and concise unlike some of the warbling and muddy sound generated by the Realtek codecs in our Battlefield 2 test. While the audio quality of both codecs was almost equal in our standard game, DVD video, and audio tests we still think the ADI solution had the superior overall audio quality.

Wrapping up part one, there was not a real loser in this group. Each board has its strengths and weaknesses so it comes down to what the individual user wants in a board that will meet their needs. We received varying support from each supplier and not in a way you would think. Our direct support was excellent but we wanted to find out how well the manufacturers supported a retail customer so we acted like one. We logged on to their support forums if available and asked questions about our issues or those of other users. We purchased retail boards (when possible) and called technical support. We emailed, faxed, or otherwise bugged the hell out of some customer support personnel for the last six weeks. We will provide our results in the final article and these results will help determine our Editor's Choice awards. After all, it's not just about performance anymore.

Source:Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup

Tech Link (Processor): "another 100%....this time aircooled (e6300)"

The folks at XS has just shown to the world how overclockable this new baby is. This is not something very common in the modern days of CPU, that is, 100% overclock on air. Check it out and well, either be amazed or join me in my chant to say "Conroe FTW"! (If you are an AMDroid, you can always go sulk in the corner)

new e6300 allendale week 26

asus p5b deluxe wifi-ap
thermaltake big typhoon (no mount just standing on)
G.skill 2gbga c3

Source:another 100%....this time aircooled (e6300)

Tech Link (Motherboard): Core 2 Duo Platforms From Asus - A Top To Bottom Comparison

Wow, GamePC went crazy and tested a slew of Asus* boards supporting Conroe. It's a good review, it's a 17-pager article (if you can read all that, congratulations) that compares five(5) (judging from the image) boards based on i965 and i975. If you can drag yourself to read all through it, you might learn something new and I missed that chance, but still, maybe you can just zoom in on a motherboard that you like and see how it performs. Expand for more...

The Final Word
With so many motherboards being produced in such a small span of time by the same manufacturer with feature sets so similar, you would expect these boards to overlap themselves quite a bit. Well, they certainly do in a lot of ways, but each board still manages to have a unique feature or point of attraction, making none of the boards we’ve looked at today completely out-done by another board.
As our benchmarks have shown, there is very little raw performance difference between the available Core 2 Duo chipsets on the market, and almost zero difference between various motherboards using the same type of chipset. Our tests showed that Intel 975X motherboards tend to perform the best in most scenarios versus the Nvidia nForce4 and Intel P965 chipsets, likely due to the higher memory bandwidth and lower latencies, which affect all applications and benchmarks. However, these benchmarks only take into account if your system requires a single graphics card. If you require multiple graphics cards, your choices are narrowed down quite a bit.

If you require multi-GPU operation, you don’t have a ton of choice. If you want an SLI configuration, there are a scant few SLI-enabled motherboards on the market for the Core 2 Duo, including the P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe platform we’ve looked at today. However, our recommendation would be to wait for the upcoming nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition chipset which will be out shortly, which should outperform today’s boards in most every way. If you want Crossfire, you’ll have to go with an Intel 975X motherboard, which are plentiful on the market today. Crossfire still remains largely un-popular, so we doubt this feature will be of major importance to many potential buyers.

If money is no object, we would go ahead and purchase the P5WDG2-WS Professioanl or P5W DH boards. The P5WDG2-WS Professional is more expensive, but has PCI-X slots and high-end SATA-II/RAID abilities, whereas the P5W DH has Wi-Fi, a remote control, and lots of multi-media centric features. We would only choose one of these boards over the P5B Deluxe if you have a specific feature which you needed to have (like Crossfire or PCI-X expansion slots). Beyond these features, they will perform almost identically to P965 motherboards, but at a higher price. Both are great boards, but a bit over priced at this time. Hopefully prices will fall as the boards become more plentiful on the market.

The lowly P5B also puts up very solid numbers, and despite its lackluster feature set, the board remains an excellent value. There are cheaper Core 2 Duo solutions now hitting the market, but the P5B hits a good spot in terms of price/performance, and we think it’s a good (albeit somewhat boring) platform all around.

As a single graphics card user, I found that the feature set and price tag of the Asus P5B Deluxe was the most impressive of the bunch. It’s a bit less expensive compared to Intel 975X motherboards, but it does feature Intel’s new ICH8R Southbridge and consumes less power compared to the 975X as well. Performance wise, it will give 95-100% of the performance of the 975X. In my eyes, it’s got the best mix of price / performance / features / overclockability. It’s not the best board in any one of these categories, but it’s above average in all of them, which makes it a very solid platform overall. This is our pick.

Source:Core 2 Duo Platforms From Asus - A Top To Bottom Comparison

Tech Link (Motherboard): ASUS P5B: New BIOS Adds Unlocking & Improved Overclocking

Asus* has just done it again. They did it before on their Asus P4GD1, Asus P4C800-E Deluxe with an Intel® Pentium® M 700 (Dothan) series of processor coupled with an Asus CT-479 adapter. Now, your Intel® Core™ 2 Duo based processor can now be unlocked, and amazingly, both up and down! I have to give it to Asus* for finding a way to open it. AMDTech has the full scoop on it, expand for more.

So is there a catch? The answer is yes and no. The X6800, as stated, is unlocked up and down, allowing the flexibility to do anything you wish with the outstanding head room of the Core 2 Duo architecture. The rest of the Core 2 Duo chips are hard-locked up and down, which greatly limits the flexibility of the head room which often runs 1000MHz, 1500 MHz, or more - depending on the CPU and motherboard. You could only access this extra power at the stock multiplier. This is actually a big negative compared to AM2 processors, where all chips are at least unlocked down.

Source:ASUS P5B: New BIOS Adds Unlocking & Improved Overclocking

Tech Link (Motherboard): ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP

I have stopped visiting [H] quite a long time ago. Before, I am a loyal reader, not necessarily a fan, but a regular visitor to the site because I used to love their articles. However, as years passed by, their appeal seems to die down on me and they become more and more "commercialized" like AMDTech and THG. But hey, I am not blaming them, things change and I'm sure there's a reason why [H] also changed their format. Anyway, if you like to read the review, expand the news post and read more..

ASUS ASUS has been delivering quality motherboards for two decades. ASUS motherboards are some of the most stable, reliable, and well featured available today. ASUS is diversified in the market place offering notebooks, optical drives and other products. Still ASUS has been and always will likely be known best for their innovative motherboard features and designs. Today we are looking at the ASUS P5B which is based on Intel's P965 Chipset. This board is a mainstream part and while lacking in some high performance features such as SLI/Crossfire support, it does have everything else going for it in the feature department.

Source:ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP