Today, we'll update comparative testing of motherboards for Intel Core 2 Duo,
which was first published six months ago. What has changed since then?
First of all, Intel has released a
Third series of chipsets, which includes 7 new products
(Integrated G31, G33, G35, mainstream P35, high-end X38 chipset, and business-Q33 and Q35).
Of these the most interesting are the P35 and X38, but the first products based on X38 will
only to the competitive year, and P35 in combination with ICH9 (R) is the stage of evolution rather than revolution.
Judge for yourself: the first tests of P35 with DDR-3 memory demonstrate the absence of
jump in performance compared to the P965 DDR-2, and indeed the DDR-3 memory is
Space money. About the support for 1333 MHz system bus can be said
it's a small step forward. Some commentators have questioned the
performance of these processors. We do nothing concrete to say we can not, as yet conducted the appropriate tests. But in any case, the processors with 1333 MHz system bus is supported by many of the high-end motherboards at P965!
All this leads to the following conclusion: the relevance of motherboards based on chipsets
975X and P965 remains quite high, and the products will be demanded at least until the end of 2007.
A few words about the production of chipsets NVIDIA. Issue nForce 6xx series has allowed
manufacturers to produce the corresponding motherboards, which by their
characteristics is not inferior to boards based on chipsets Intel. Prior to this series,
NVIDIA chipsets, and so enjoyed high popularity, that's just broken up
they were with great difficulty. The nForce 6xx series is no such problem – many boards,
as expensive (680i SLI), and on the cheap (650i SLI) chipsets can easily take the FSB = 500 MHz.
In addition, NVIDIA chipsets have two advantages: they tend to support the
1 ParallelATA more than competing products. And secondly, they support
technology SLI. And if NVIDIA does not include the drivers to support SLI chipset Intel X38,
the nForce 6xx series will have no competitors in this regard!
Couple tips on how to read this review. The text is long (30 motherboards)
therefore, the most important information is located in the table of technical characteristics and
in the conclusions. Note that the table all the new fees are in bold, and at the end of pages describing
each of the boards there is a link to the full and detailed review of this board.
As we have said, virtually every new survey begins by noting
Intel Core 2 Duo. And it is quite understandable, since the output of the new Intel architecture is
a mini-revolution that brings the CPU to a new level of performance and power consumption.
These characteristics have led to the fact that almost all computer enthusiasts
anyway, consider switching to a new platform (or have already done so).
Therefore, an important issue of choosing a motherboard for Core 2 Duo.
It should be noted that all of the previous generation of cards are not compatible with the new processors
(Although they have the CPU socket LGA775). And in this situation do not blame the developers and chipsets, but the fact that
boards were designed to obtain the specifications Core 2 Duo. Accordingly, the power supply of these cards
prevents the use of processors Conroe (plugin required satisfying the specifications of the VRM 11).
In other words, all of the previous board chipset i975X and NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition,
no matter how good they were not sent to the dustbin of computer history. And we (the users)
begin to choose a new board.
Thus, at present there are motherboards with support for Core 2 Duo, based
on the Intel 975X and P965, as well as the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI IE, nForce 570/590 SLI IE and nForce 680i SLI/650i SLI.
In addition it should be noted that some manufacturers have released motherboards based on outdated
i945P chipset series with the power supply module VRM11. However, these boards are focused exclusively
for the budget sector of the market, ie where dominated by AMD Athlon 64 processors.
And, from the perspective of enthusiasts, they are unattractive. Although, with the release of low-cost Intel E2160 and E2140 with the architecture of Core, we can not talk about the dominance of AMD in the public sector.
Chipsets
Let's talk a little more about the chipset P965, 975X chipset and NVIDIA nForce4 Intel Edition,
nForce 570/590 SLI, as well as a new series of nForce 6xx.
Let's start with a comparative table of characteristics.
46
48
18
18
20
September 20
11
4
3
n / a
n / a 16, 16, 8, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
16, 16, 8, 1, 1, 1.1, 1, 1, 1, 1
8, 8, 1, 1
or
16, 1, 1
16, 1, 1
8,8,1,1,1,1
16,1,1,1,1 Number of channels of SATA / PATA
6/1
6/1
4/2
4/2
4/1
6/0 RAID Support
0, 1, 0, 1, 5
0, 1, 0, 1, 5
0, 1, 0, 1, 5
0, 1, 0, 1, 5
0, 1, 0, 1, MatrixRAID
0, 1, 0, 1, MatrixRAID Built-in Gigabit Ethernet
2
2
A
A
A
1 USB support
10
10
8
8
8
10 PCI
5
5
5
5
5
5 Sound
HDA (Azalia)
HDA (Azalia)
HDA (Azalia)
HDA (Azalia)
HDA
HDA
As we can see from the table, the expansion 680i SLI chipset are on the same level
and the possibility that the 590 SLI. The same can be said for functionality: a set of
NVIDIA's proprietary exactly the same.
In particular, all nForce 6xx series chipsets support MediaShield technology
(Including RAID Morphing and Cross-Controller RAID), FirstPacket, LinkBoost and SLI-Ready Memory,
and utility nTune Utility.
In addition, the nForce 680i SLI chipset supports DualNet (TCP / IP Acceleration).
For more information on these technologies, you can read in
review of the chipset series nForce 5xx.
This table needs to be some comments that will highlight the main differences
chipsets. First, despite the formal specification of the frequency of memory, motherboard manufacturers
Boards have implemented (with the help of technical tricks) in its products a complete set of factors of memory.
As a result, boards i975X/P965 provide a very wide range of factors (including support for memory
DDR2-1066):
If we started talking about memory, we emphasize an important point: the chipset i975X support
lowering the multiplier (DDR2-400) for the frequency of FSB = 266 MHz. That is, = 3:4 memory frequency from the frequency FSB,
which allows seriously overclock the Core 2 Duo and at the same time keep the memory frequency within reasonable limits.
Example: at FSB = 533 MHz, the memory frequency will be equal to 400 MHz, which corresponds to DDR2-800.
I do not accidentally have such a high frequency. The fact that the Core 2 Duo processors running
at relatively low frequencies (the frequency of one of the youngest models E6300 = 1,86 GHz), and the system
bus high – 266 MHz (1066QPB). Accordingly, the factors of Conroe and Allendale processors are
in the range of 7 to 10 and, given the technological limit for 65nm Core 2 Duo 3.5 GHz equal, workers
frequency of the system will be overclocked from 400 to 500 MHz (E6300: 500MHz x 7 = 3500 MHz).
P965 chipset has no multiplier lowering the memory frequency. That is, In this regard, it loses
i975X. However, the differences in design and process technology (P965 runs on the "finer" process)
led to the fact that the overclocking potential of P965 up! Here we note that in order to achieve good results, the user must increase the voltage on the Northbridge (for P965, and for the 975X). However, it should be stressed that the P965 and 975X chipsets are not direct competitors, and
designed for different market segments. On P965 board made middle-end and high-end level
and the i975X – only high-end. A key difference between these chipsets is the support for ATI
Crossfire (or AMD / ATI Crossfire). In particular, 975X-based motherboards support it and when you install
two PCI Express x16 slots for them to release eight bus lines. In the P965 chipset this feature
not, however, some motherboards do have on board for 2 x PCI Express x16.
At the same time slot allocated to the first 16 lines, and a second 2 or 4.
In autumn 2006 the situation is radically changed: ATI was acquired by AMD,
and the latest authorized support Crossfire on P965. Appropriate changes were made
in the graphics driver Catalyst 6.9 (and subsequent). As a result, users of
P965-based motherboards with two PCI Express x16 slots can take advantage of the two
ATI cards in the mode of Crossfire. But it should be noted that the performance will be lower
than the same video card on the motherboard with a chipset i975X.
However, even if we do not take into account the Crossfire, there are two PCI Express x16 slots
allows you to connect four monitors to one system.
As for the technology SLI – Intel's chipsets do not support (although with
informal modified drivers as possible). Therefore, if the user
wants to combine two graphics cards in SLI, it requires a motherboard chipsets on any of the
nForce with support for SLI. By the way, overclocking on motherboards with chipset nForce 6xx series is very simple,
and is not accompanied by a simultaneous increase in the frequency of memory. The user simply records
memory speed, and further increases the FSB. The following fundamental distinction between 975X and P965 is
in different south bridges. The boards on the 975H uses ICH7 (R), a board with P965 – a new
ICH8 (R). However, the new – not always the best. And while on the south bridge ICH8 (R) increased the number of
x USB 2.0 (10) and the number of channels SerilalATA (6), but unfortunately, disappeared Support
ParallelATA. Accordingly, users of these hard drives will not be able to quickly and painlessly
upgrade the motherboard. A vast majority of users are using PATA drives
CD and DVD.
However, motherboard manufacturers have found a way out, and began to install
cheap add-on (even Intel on its boards does).
Accordingly, all those who need direct support ParallelATA should forget
of P965 and to choose between the boards on the 975X and nForce4.
A few words on the integrated chipset G965. This is a modification of the P965 chipset with integrated graphics
core X3000 (Intel GMA X3000).
Immediately dissuade you from buying cards based on this chipset: raw graphics drivers
cause of poor performance in 3D applications (somewhere between the i915G and i945G), and
the average quality of 2D tiring to the eyes.