Shootout at the Core 2 Corral: Seven P965 Motherboards Compared

[stolennomenclature]

is it me or did a MOBO with neither eSATA nor FireWire just got elected to be "Editors Choice" ?!

All things the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe can offer are demeaned by the lack of these connections. Its like buying a MOBO with USB 1.1 or no USB at all...

.

I was under the impression that Firewire was dead or at least dying, with nearly everything these day s being USB-2. Surely even Apple are pulling the plug on Firewire (lol!).

eSata sounds like the much more useful thing to have. But I think the idea they use on one of the Gigabyte boards sounds best, whereby they provide a card bracket with external Sata ports that connects to the internal Sata ports on the MOBO. This is more fliexble.

One thing I wish was that the MOBO manufacturers would get rid of these stupid legacy ports, e.g. serial, parallel, keyboard and mouse. Odd that PATA is dissappearing even though its still very much in use by optical drives, but who the hell still uses a parallel printer or a PS/2 mouse?

 

[BUFF]

One thing I wish was that the MOBO manufacturers would get rid of these stupid legacy ports, e.g. serial, parallel, keyboard and mouse. Odd that PATA is dissappearing even though its still very much in use by optical drives, but who the hell still uses a parallel printer or a PS/2 mouse?

I don't know about parallel printers but a lot of people still use pS/2 keyboards & mice.
I still do because I have a professional PS/2 KVM that would cost an arm & leg to replace with an equivalent USB model.
There are also times when it's easier to troubleshoot a system with a PS/2 kb & mouse - that's why people like abit still include PS/2 ports on boards where they have done away with other legacy ports.
Also, a lot of industrial equipment still relies on serial COM ports for diagnosis/programming.

 

[stolennomenclature]

One thing I wish was that the MOBO manufacturers would get rid of these stupid legacy ports, e.g. serial, parallel, keyboard and mouse. Odd that PATA is dissappearing even though its still very much in use by optical drives, but who the hell still uses a parallel printer or a PS/2 mouse?

I don't know about parallel printers but a lot of people still use pS/2 keyboards & mice.
I still do because I have a professional PS/2 KVM that would cost an arm & leg to replace with an equivalent USB model.
There are also times when it's easier to troubleshoot a system with a PS/2 kb & mouse - that's why people like abit still include PS/2 ports on boards where they have done away with other legacy ports.
Also, a lot of industrial equipment still relies on serial COM ports for diagnosis/programming.

I stand corrected.

Thanks for the info.

 

[clue69less]

If Steroids isn't overclocking, why would he buy an aftermarket CPU cooler?

Stock coolers have no sex apeal. A great CPU deserves at last an AC cooler.

 

[magreen]

Stock coolers have no sex apeal. A great CPU deserves at last an AC cooler.

Now here's something that men have to learn:
sex appeal is something the opposite sex finds appealing. 😀

 

[rwaritsdario]

Stock coolers have no sex apeal. A great CPU deserves at last an AC cooler.

Now here's something that men have to learn:
sex appeal is something the opposite sex finds appealing. 😀
If only more peeps would look at it this way across this forumz...

 

[clue69less]

Stock coolers have no sex apeal. A great CPU deserves at last an AC cooler.

Now here's something that men have to learn:
sex appeal is something the opposite sex finds appealing. 😀

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout. No, you cannot come over and play with my gamer-chick harem.

 

[shmish]

is it me or did a MOBO with neither eSATA nor FireWire just got elected to be "Editors Choice" ?!

All things the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe can offer are demeaned by the lack of these connections. Its like buying a MOBO with USB 1.1 or no USB at all...

.

I was under the impression that Firewire was dead or at least dying, with nearly everything these day s being USB-2. Surely even Apple are pulling the plug on Firewire (lol!).


No way, firewire is not dead as far as I can tell. It is still very much preferred for multimedia purposes such as audio interfaces, harddrives, video... I have 3 firewire devices at home, and I just do audio stuff as a hobby.

So really, what is a good motherboard for mild overclock of a 6400? I'll be damned if I can find many P965 mb available where I am. Would a P965 Neo do the trick, or is the Platinum version needed?

Personally, I found the article to be fairly helpful and informative, along with the overclock article in the cpu section. That's where they overclocked a 6400 and showed that a moderate overclock (3.1GHz?) produced good results with the stock cooler. That's what I'm interested in....

s.

 

[ComicDom1]

I have to agree here. I think this subject needs to be revisited. The Asus P5B Wifi overclocks very well and gives great performance. In fact Asus took great pride in this motherboard and its overclocking ablity when it was released. While I am not particulary an Asus fan, you really need to give credit where credit is due.

I will suggest to anyone that has a P5B series motherboard, that they might resetting the heat sinks on the North and South Bridges. I suggest using Artic Sliver 5 when resetting those heat sinks. Also the use of a Zalman 9500 or 9700 will assist in cooling not only the CPU but the north bridge because it blows air directly over the heat pipe fins. Keeping the temps down on the CPU and North bridge are esential when considering overclocking this Motherboard.

I really wonder when the research and testing was done for this article. I have to say I am very disappointed in what I read compared to what I am accustomed to expect from Toms Hardware. Certainly Annand Tech tells a different story. Also I think you will find a different story on the Extreme forum as well.

Jason

 

[taotoon]

99.9% don't know AHCI/NCQ have only in ICH*R.


But I don't know NCQ is needed in RAID 0/1 ???

 

[taotoon]

1 point of benchmark software is equal to 1% ?

maybe the different 50 points = 0.01% higher/lower performance.

 

[pbruno]

I´m just writing to inform that Tom´s hardware Editors Choice, the p965 MSI platinum MB is a crappy MB that has severe issues regarding overclock specialy with the 4300 Intel core 2 duo. If you don´t believe me just look at the MSI forum.

Yes I have the correct BIOS, the proper memory.


Bought this board because of this article, sugest you buy any other board.

 

[stolennomenclature]

I´m just writing to inform that Tom´s hardware Editors Choice, the p965 MSI platinum MB is a crappy MB that has severe issues regarding overclock specialy with the 4300 Intel core 2 duo. If you don´t believe me just look at the MSI forum.

Yes I have the correct BIOS, the proper memory.


Bought this board because of this article, sugest you buy any other board.

Makes me wonder how review sites get their hardware. I suppose they might be supplied by the manufacturers perhaps? In which case they would likely be specialy selected samples. Just a thought.