Functionality Paradox

Unfortunately, our attempt to remain neutral when describing this mainboard and its features cannot really deliver all the most exciting details that you certainly experience when working with it in person. The reader and potential buyer may be misled by the erroneous opinion that the product in question has tons of great advantages and very insignificant drawbacks. Therefore, I would like to allow myself to share with you a little bit more personal impressions and thoughts about one of the most puzzling products that I have ever worked with that at times - Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6.

Let’s start with the smallest and not very significant things. All these “quads” that are listed as the mainboards major distinguishing features are not really quads. They are either not quads at all, or not really advantages, but more likely common things, and sometimes may be regarded even as drawbacks.

Let’s take a closer look at all those “quads”. Quad Core Optimized. What does it really mean? Is this mainboard not optimized for work with single-core and dual-core processors at all? In this case it is a serious drawback, I would say.

Quad BIOS. This is actually not four copies of BIOS on one board: there are only two implemented in the very well-families DualBIOS technology. So where does the Quad come from then? The third copy is available on the CD disk and the fourth may be stored in a hidden HDD partition. As for the floppy or USB-flash where the BIOS may also be stored, they didn’t count it. Because it won’t be a quad any more.

Quad e-SATA2. Let’s count the number of power connectors and special cables on the included rear panel brackets. There are two of each. So, how many common SATA hard disk drives can we actually connect? Four? No, only two.

Quad DDR2 Slots. This is about four DIMM slots for DDR2 memory modules. Does it make the board unique in any way? I don’t think so. Turning an everyday thing like that into a special feature is actually a marketing masterpiece. I can actually compare it only with one of the Elitegroup mainboards, where rounded PCB edges were called “technology”.

Quad Triple Phase. This refers to 12-phase processor voltage regulator circuitry design. If you divide 12 by 3, you will get another “quad". It is smart, but not very far-fetching. Why Quad, why stick to number 4? I would think that sticking with number 1 makes more sense: everyone wants to be number 1, to be the winner…

How many PCI slots are there? – Two. How many PS/2 connectors? – One for the keyboard and one for the mouse. How many USB slots are there on the mainboard rear panel? – Four. Although there could be additional six supported by the chipset if there had been any rear panel brackets with USB ports included with the board.

Now we have come to Quad Cooling. I don’t know what can be the reference to quad and number 4 here, but it is not really that important in this case. The unique Crazy Cool cooling system attached to the bottom of the PCB makes you question if you should really purchase Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard, because you will not be able to install any high-end processor coolers using backplate on this board.

Even before we started testing the mainboard in the lab I faced a very difficult challenge: to find a cooler that would fit onto this board. Tuniq Tower 120, Zalman 9500 as well as Zalman 9700 won’t do. I also had Scythe Mine that requires no backplate, but its sole was too wide and it was hitting against the capacitors. Scythe Katana 775 also didn’t fit for the same reason: the capacitors were too close to the socket…

Surprisingly, I managed tore solve my problem with the Gigabyte’s own cooling solution. A few years ago we tested Gigabyte G-Power Pro cooler and I still had it in the lab at the time Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 was being tested. As you may remember this is the first well-designed efficient cooler using heat-pipe technology. However, even back in the days it was too loud even at its minimal fan rotation speed. The today’s noise requirements have definitely become much more aggressive, not to mention the efficiency levels needed, but unfortunately, I didn’t have much to choose from.