Gigabyte DS4 intel P35-mini review

[steelballzz]

Hey guys
I just received the Gigabyte DS4 P35 motherboard and i went testing right away
I was curious about this new chipsets from intel and especially the new products from gigabyte
Already prepared to 1333 cpus and with much more ram dividers it promises very good performance at a reasonable cost…
Would it deliver…?
For now lets see some generic and bios pics

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013070.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013071.jpg

The board prepared to mount the waterblock

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013049.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013052.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013036.jpg


The bios is very easy…..too easy for my taste……the drawback is that you need to CTRL-F1 every time you want to access advanced options


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013073.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013074.jpg


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013057.jpg


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013058.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013060.jpg

Much more ram divisors allowing more flexibility and giving the chance to run high ram speed with low fsb


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013061.jpg


Concerning voltage options, Gigabyte was very generous offering 2,3 V vcore and 2,9 V vdimm, enough even for the most extreme overclocker

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013066.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013065.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013064.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013075.jpg



The 2nd setback in this bios was the page where you can see the voltages and temperatures…(hardware monitor).instead of a nominal value it only say vcore (ok) or (fail) wich is very little information



http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013059.jpg

I also got a pair of thermalright HR-07 to go with my D9 ram

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pics%20varias/R0013027.jpg


1st impression is very good….all worked out of the box….and i even used my former 965 OS


I already have XP and VISTA with a clean install and a set of mushkin 2x2048 to run more tests
For now this is what I have

Test bed



X6800 (cooled by apogee WB & 2 x 240 BIX)
Gigabyte DS4 intel P35
2 x 1024 teamgroup 5300 D9GMH (cooled by HR-07)
Twintech 8600 gts (158.18 nvidia driver)
Lc-power 850w
Xp sp2


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/3600%20pi%201m.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pi%2032.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/2k6%203600.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/2k5.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/2k3%203600.jpg

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/2k1%203600.jpg



I know that everybody is waiting for Max fsb on this board but the Max with this cpu was 500
It’s the 2nd board where I get stuck at 500…so I assume it’s the cpu fsb wall
I have a 6600 arriving that o know can do 540 fsb no problems


On the other hand i went for Max benchable speed with my ram using this board and the HR-07 solution

And I was pretty happy with it
Only a couple of hours running this board and everything comes so easy


http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/pi%201m%20600%204-4-4.jpg

The board is very easy to tune
Excelent voltage options
Everything seems so natural

[steelballzz]

small update while i prepare the comparison between XP and VISTA

498 was the max fsb i was able to squeeze from it.....since its the 2 nd diferent board that stops at this freq i assume i have found the fsb wall from this x6800cpu
but 490 1:1 was so easy to achieve



http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/GIGABYTE_GA-P35-DS4/490%20fsb%202k3.jpg





you can take this board with your eyes closed

been working on it for 4 or 5 days and i didnt do a clear cmos yet......
simple...easy to handle


i am bored....lol......:D

regards

[steelballzz]

the comparative between XP and VISTA and also ram timings

http://www.zedobench.com/projectos/overclocking/Mushkin_HP2-6400_2X2GB/parte1/graficos.jpg

[Eldonko]

Wow thats a big diff between XP and Vista.

GJ on the review, few questions:
1) You have any issues with reboot cycles at all?
2) Is there coil humming like the other giga boards?
3) How is the power reg, vdroop, etc
4) Max vdimm?

[steelballzz]

Wow thats a big diff between XP and Vista.

GJ on the review, few questions:
1) You have any issues with reboot cycles at all?
2) Is there coil humming like the other giga boards?
3) How is the power reg, vdroop, etc
4) Max vdimm?

1) only when i screw up...:D it reboots 3 times then it puts fsb at 266 and ram at 400......and it boots fine
2)my rig is silent.......no humming....nothing
3)i didnt measure it yet....but from software its like 0,02.....from 1,51 in bios to 1,49 in windows
4)lol.....3,35 or so....:ocx25:

[Sam]

nice board and review :ocx44:

[Eldonko]

Cool thanks. Watch your DMM in reboot cycles, the spikes are bad for your mem.

[M3kk]

How about vdrop?