by Doors4ever
04/23/2007 | 03:07 PM
Intel Core 2 Duo processors boast very attractive set of features: they are fast, relatively economical, support various power-saving technologies, and offer good overclocking potential. No wonder that mainboards supporting these processors get so much attention. At this time, Intel P965 Express based mainboards are indisputable favorites, although Nvidia nForce 650i based solutions that have started coming out lately may become worthy competitors to them.
<%BANNER[article]%>As for the manufacturers, Asustek and Gigabyte are among the leaders these days. They didn’t introduce just one or two mainboard models: they launched the entire families of mainboards based on Intel P965 Express chipset that boast different feature sets, accessories bundles and have their own points of attraction. We have already reviewed the simplest and least expensive mainboard from Gigabyte’s Intel P965 Express based mainboard series called GA-965P-S3 (for details see our article called Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Mainboard: Budget Leader for Core 2 Duo Overclocking). It made a very favorable impression. Gigabyte Company, however, didn’t stop there and by now there are three mainboard revisions released already. Today we are going to look at the top solution in the product family that belongs to Revision 2.
Please meet Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6.
I have to say that Gigabyte has joined the manufacturers who pay special attention to the packaging and accessories bundle for their solutions. Of course, it has to do only with the expensive solutions, which is natural. The colorful carton box with a lot of additional information on it contains the internal transparent plastic casing with the mainboard itself and a separate smaller box with accessories. Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 is accompanied with standard and not very rich set of accessories:
However, besides that there is also something very unique included with the bundle. It is Quad e-SATA2. The board comes with two additional brackets each featuring two e-SATA connectors and a power supply port.
In order to connect external SATA hard disk drives to the board you have to use two e-SATA cables and two power cables.
The model name is very easy to figure out and actually speaks for itself. It describes the peculiarities of the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard very well. 965P stands clearly for the chipset name used as a basis for this solution. D stands for durable indicating high stability and reliability of this product. The mainboard was manufactured using only solid-state capacitors that boast a few times higher lifetime and reliability than traditional electrolytic capacitors.
However, the importance of new type of capacitors is somewhat exaggerated. It is really hard to claim that the resulting increase of the mainboard price is an indisputable advantage. Solid-state capacitors are surely more lasting, however now that the computer industry is developing in really high tempo, the standards change very rapidly and the requirements to long life-time of electronic components are not that crucial any more. It is the CPU, video card, expansion card or peripheral devices upgrade that very often forces you to replace the mainboard, and not the failure of old electronic components. Moreover, traditional capacitors may also last you for years if they are of premium quality.
As for the Q6 abbreviation, it stands for 6 Quad. Gigabyte singled out six peculiar mainboard characteristics that the number 4 can refer to and thus reflected them in the model name of the product. Among them are:
The scheme below gives you a better idea of the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard layout. It is almost flawless as far as the location of all electronic components is concerned.
The only thing we could probably point out is the availability of only two PCI slots, because there are two PCI Express x16 slots onboard, allowing to use two graphics cards in CrossFire mode. The memory slot clips are very close to the first graphics cards, although they are not too close. Three fan connectors seem to be too few for the top-of-the line mainboard, especially with the passive chipset cooling system installed. And these seem to be all the drawbacks we could think of in reference to the PCB layout of Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6.
As for the Silent-Pipe chipset cooling system, the South Bridge is equipped not with a heatsink but with a heat conductor. The heat from heat conductor is transferred via the heatpipe to the larger North Bridge heatsink with a thick massive sole.
Then heatpipes transfer the heat to two heatsinks located above the MOSFET transistors of the 12-phase processor voltage regulator. The heatsinks and capacitors are placed very close to the processor socket, which may cause some difficulties during certain CPU cooler models installation.
The heatsinks are of very high-quality, the plates are not just stringed onto the heatpipes but are soldered to them. As a result, even the farthest heatsink stays warm, i.e. it really works and not just serves the decorative purpose.
However, what we see is just one part of Quad Cooling system of Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard. If you look at the bottom of the board PCB you will see the additional system called Crazy Cool.
It includes copper heatsink covering the area beneath the processor socket and chipset North Bridge.
The South Bridge wasn’t forgotten either: there is a small heatsink right beneath it as well.
The mainboard connector panel looks almost ideal. Besides the traditional PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors, LPT, COM, four USB and RJ45 ports, there is also room for six audio jacks, coaxial and optical SPDIF and IEEE1394.
This is the overall specification list for Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 rev.2.0 mainboard. Take a look:
If we discuss the differences between the mainboard versions, then it is important to say that the first revision featured a different network controller – Marvell 8053. Revision 3.3 differs from the second one only by the official support of FSB 1333MHz.
The BIOS of the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 is based on Award code. It has all the features typical of other Gigabyte mainboards that we have already discussed in our reviews, however, there are also a few innovations, which I would like to talk about here.
For instance, many mainboard makers introduced the option for saving the BIOS settings profiles and Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 is no exception. By pressing F1 key you can save one of eight profiles and by pressing F12 – load the one of your choice.
Major features dealing with CPU and memory overclocking are gathered in the MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) section.
The FSB frequency may vary from 100MHz to 700MHz and it is very convenient that you can simply type in the desired frequency value using the keyboard.
In all other cases you can select the desired value from the drop-down list, like the memory frequency, for instance. It can be set using a broad range of coefficients.
And you will not get confused, because the resulting frequency value in MHz is displayed in the Memory Frequency information line.
You can adjust memory timings in the same section, however, you have to press Ctrl+F1 combination on entering the BIOS.
It is very convenient that each parameter can be adjusted independently of the rest and you also get the nominal SPD readings at the same time.
Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard offers very rich options for voltages adjustment. Among them are:
We tested all these features in our lab. Knowing the abilities of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor that we had at our disposal, we managed to easily overclock it to 490MHz FSB by raising the processor Vcore, Vmem and Vchipset.
Gigabyte mainboards have always been pretty brief when it came to status reports in PC Health Status section. However, I have to stress that they know to control the fan rotation speed of the processor cooler with three- and four-pin power connector, unlike the mainboards from many other manufacturers, which have been recently supporting mostly the coolers with four-pin connectors.
In conclusion I would like to say that Q-Flash utility built into the mainboard BIOS allows to easily save, update and reflash the BIOS.
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.
Although the cooler did fit, the installation wasn’t an easy one. First I had to move the retention bracket by 90º so that the cooler wouldn’t hit against the capacitors. Then I had to rotate the cooler itself by 180º for the same reason. Just thing about it: although the retention holes around LGA775 are symmetrical, the cooler can only be installed in one certain position. I had tons of coolers, but none of them fit right…
The use of warnings has long become an indisputable part of our life. Some of them are useful – when the coffee cup from McDonald’s warns you that the contents is hot. Some of them are funny – when the pack of roasted peanuts you get on the plane warns you that it may contain nuts. Why didn’t Gigabyte marketing guys warn the users that their solution was incompatible with many CPU coolers?
I am sure that the first thing that you thought of – just like I did – was to remove the Crazy Cool backplates. However, it turned out that the chipset North Bridge heatsink is fastened to one of these plates and if you remove the plate, you will also have to replace the North Bridge heatsink. And since there is a heatpipe coming from the chipset North Bridge heatsink to the South Bridge heat conductor, you will have to remove the entire chipset cooling system and buy something different. But why install something like that to begin with, why pay for something you will not actually need?
It looks like we have just revealed an evident contradiction: Crazy Cool cooling system that should help achieve better overclocking results is actually hindering overclocking if performed with CPU aircooling. Maybe Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 can work just fine with the default boxed cooler, but how will you achieve maximum overclocking result then? That is why I said before that this mainboard strikes me as puzzling: it harms itself.
The funny thing is that a lot of respected media awarded Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 with different titles such as Editor’s Choice, or Overclocker’s Choice. I still cannot understand why the mainboard that implies the use of boxed cooling solutions deserves such titles? Here I would like to remind you of some other issues that we often come across on Gigabyte products. Why don’t they show the voltage values in the BIOS? There are ways to get this data with different utilities, but I think it would be much simpler and better for everyone if this data was available to us right away.
Why do we have to press Ctrl+F1 to get access to all BIOS Setup settings? What is so dangerous for the inexperienced users that is being hidden from them? Commencing overclockers have been asking for help in different forums for a few years now: please help us find memory timing settings in the Gigabyte mainboard BIOS. How was it determined that memory timings adjustment is dangerous and the opportunity to send 2.375V to the CPU is harmless?
Why are we seeing higher nominal FSB frequency values? 700MHz for Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6: has anyone ever tried to set it this way? Back in the days when the CPUs could hardly hit 200MHz FSB, Gigabyte’s mainboards read 355MHz, and it looked cool. But now that the situation is changing, and overclocking on Gigabyte mainboards improves dramatically, why use such unreal numbers?
The sad thing is that if we forget about all the marketing load of “Quads”, if we remove the notorious Crazy Cool backplates from the bottom of the PCB, we will get a very good mainboard. How come Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 never appeared in a much more affordable and functionally perfect form?
Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 mainboard is the top Gigabyte solution on Intel P965 Express chipset. Unfortunately, we can’t call it the best one yet. If you are looking for Gigabyte mainboard with similar features list, we would strongly recommend taking a look at GA-965P-DS4. It features the same noiseless Silent-Pipe cooling system, 6-phase processor voltage regulator, which is actually more than enough, has not Quad e-SATA2 and no Crazy Cool heatsinks on the reverse side of the PCB. The latter is actually an advantage. Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 is priced at $180+, while Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 costs at least $210. Don’t you think that $30 is quite a lot for Quad e-SATA2, additional 6 phases of the CPU voltage regulator and Crazy Cool system that will need to be removed for successful overclocking?
If you don’t need Silent-Pipe cooling system, you can also go with an even less expensive GA-965P-DS3P or even GA-965P-S3, because most users may be satisfied with only one PCI Express x16 slot. Although the latter also has limited compatibility with the processor coolers using backplate, because there are electronic contacts hanging beneath the processor socket.
So let’s sum up the advantages and drawbacks of the Gigabyte mainboard we have reviewed today:
Highs:
Lows:
