915 Motherboard Roundup: Socket 775 for the Rest of Us
by Wesley Fink on December 7, 2004 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte 8GPNXP Duo: Features and Layout
| Gigabyte 8GNXP Duo Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 775 Pentium 4 (Prescott) |
| Chipset | Intel 915P/ICH6R |
| BUS Speeds | 100MHz to 600MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| DDR2 Speeds | Auto, 1.66, 2.00, 2.66 |
| PCI Express Speeds | Asynch, Synch |
| vCore Voltage | 0.8375V to 1.60V in 0.0125V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | Normal, +.1, +.2, +.3 |
| PCI Express Voltage | Normal, +.1, +.2, +.3 |
| Memory Slots | Two 240-pin DDR2 Slots Plus four 184-pin DDR400 Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered Memory to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 PCIe x16 Slot 3 PCIe x1 slot 2 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 4 SATA 150 drives by ICH6R Can be combined in RAID 0, 1, Intel Matrix |
| Onboard IDE/RAID | One Standard ATA100/66 (2 drives) Plus 4 drives by ITE 8212 (RAID 0, 1, 0+1) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports 3 IEEE 1394b FireWire Ports by TSB81BA3 |
| CIA2 Motherboard Accelerator | Disabled, Cruise, Sports, Racing, Turbo, FullThrust |
| Onboard LAN | PCIe Gigabit LAN by Broadcom PLUS 5751Gigabit PCI Ethernet by Marvel 8001 |
| Onboard Audio | C-Media ALC880 (HD Audio) 8-Channel with SPDIF in/out |
| Wireless LAN | WiFi 802.11g Included |
| Tested BIOS | F5 Award |
The Gigabyte 8GPNXP-Duo, like the DFI LANParty UT 915P-T12, is designed to make the upgrade path to Socket 775 as easy and flexible as possible. Both boards will work with DDR2 or DDR memory. The Gigabyte adds a further twist by providing 4 DIMM slots for regular DDR memory. Gigabyte includes their trademark Dual-Power module to provide 8-phase power to the 8GPNXP-D. Gigabyte has redesigned the Dual-Power module for their latest Intel Socket T boards. It is lower profile and is located between the ports and the CPU where it will not interfere with airflow to/from the CPU. More than any other manufacturer, Gigabyte tends to load their top motherboards with every feature but the kitchen sink, and in this regard, the 8GNXP-Duo is a loaded motherboard even though it is based on the mainstream 915P.
We first tested the 8GPNXP-Duo in our launch review of the 915/925X chipset, where it was very useful to have a board supporting both DDR and DDR2 for our testing. In this 915 roundup, we have tested both dual memory motherboards with DDR2 memory, since we have found DDR2-533 running at more aggressive 3-3-3-10 timings to be a small amount faster than DDR.
Features of the 8GPNXP-Duo are very similar to the Gigabyte 8ANXP-D motherboard tested in the 925X roundup. This includes Dual Gigabit LAN connections with the Broadcom attached to the faster PCI Express bus and the Marvel attached to the PCI bus. Gigabyte provides 4 SATA ports with RAID capabilities supported by ICH6R. 4 more IDE ports are added to the ICH6R 2 ports (total 6) with the added ITE 8212 controller. Since many have complained about just 2 IDE ports on the 915/925X chipset, buyers of the Gigabyte will appreciate the additional ports for IDE (PATA) devices.
Gigabyte was the first manufacturer to support on-board fast Firewire "b" ports and 3 1394B ports are included on the 8GNXP-Duo. Gigabyte also fully supports the Realtek ALC880 high-definition audio codec, which interfaces with the Intel HD audio (Azalia).
A wide range of overclocking options is available in BIOS with useful ranges for the typical overclocker. Memory voltage can be adjusted to 2.1V from 1.8V, a wider range than Gigabyte usually provides for memory. The FSB, CPU voltage, and PCI Express voltage also have ranges that are useful for overclockers. Gigabyte does not provide any BIOS options for PCI Express clocks, so you have to depend on the board to make adjustments for you to get past the 10% overclock roadblock.
Layout of the Gigabyte generally works well, and we do like the pull release for the PCIe x16 slot. All you have to do is mount and unmount a 2-slot nVidia 6800 Ultra to learn to hate the push-lever design used on most motherboards. There are a couple of things that could definitely be improved upon on the layout of the Gigabyte, however, and they are the same complaints voiced in the Gigabyte 8ANXP-D The IDE and floppy connectors are at the end of the PCIe video slot - a terrible location. What makes it worse is a long card (like the nVidia 6 series) falls right between the floppy and IDE connector, making cable routing to mount and unmount the video card to be a real pain. The 24-pin power connector is fine at the upper right edge, but the 4-pin 12 volt sits almost in the center left of the board. That makes snaking the 12V cable around the CPU difficult in most case designs. The 4-pin 12V connector would be better located at the board edge where it would not interfere with the heatsink/fan on the CPU. You can work around these two issues, but they can definitely be improved upon. Otherwise, the layout works fine in most cases.
Foxconn 915A01: Overclocking and Stress Testing
Gigabyte 8GPNXP Duo: Overclocking and Stress Testing
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Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Sorry Didn't see your reply before I posted Wesley.Sure there is some value to be had but not "outstanding". I still don't agree with you but I guess my mind is made up. Intel needs to come out with something new before I go back.
As a roundup it was very good reading tough. I can't wait for the next AMD roundup to hit AnandTech.
Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#12"The P5GD2 is an expensive motherboard, at about $240 on the web, but you can get almost all the same features in the P5GD2 Deluxe for about $50 less."
Thats expensive to me. Compare that to the 134.99 for the 939 Gold Editors Choice winner "MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum"
But thats not the point. If the 915P was substantially cheaper then a 939 system you might call it value for money but is it not. Mind you a 939 board is generally not cheap either but at least it delivers in comparison.
The CPU used in the review that hardly beat the much cheaper 3500+ had a max overclock of 14% and I bet you would find it hard to reach that high without the CPU overheating and start throttling http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=2345...
LGA775 CPUs does not offer great overclocking headroom compared to the much cheaper earlier Intel platforms or AMD for that matter. Sure they still overclock but nothing that we haven't seen before at higher cost and temperature. Again not what I would call outstanding.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#11 - We just ran the 3500+ benchmarks in the same configuration this morning, and we do agree that the 3500+ is a particularly good value in performance for the dollar. However, the larger picture of prices of AMD CPUs compared to Intel show the Intel processors are a good, if not outstanding, value.Our conclusion was based on Anand's value analysis in the 3.46EE/1066 launch review at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?... There he compared the 3800+ at over $600 to a Intel 560 3.6GHz at about $450 and found the 3800+ the winner but probably not a big enough winner to justify the price premium for the 3800+. At that time, there was no 570 (3.8GHz) and the 3.6 was the fastest Intel CPU unless you considered the $1000+ Xeon-based EE processors. Price changes continue, and with them the value relationships do change.
A quick check of prices today shows
Intel 520(2.8GHz)- $160 AMD 2800+(754) - $128
Intel 530(3.0GHz)- $180 AMD A64 3000+ - $152
Intel 540(3.2GHz)- $220 AMD A64 3200+ - $194
Intel 550(3.4GHz)- $282 AMD A64 3400+ - $269
Intel 560(3.6GHz)- $455 AMD A64 3500+ - $270
Intel 570(3.8GHz)- $795 AMD A64 3800+ - $630
AMD A64 4000+ - $716
AMD A64 FX55 - $812
With current prices we would have to agree that there is really no great value advantage to Intel any more. But there is good value in the Intel processors from 2.8GHz (520) to 3.6GHz (560). Certainly the 4000+, at $80 less than the 570 and faster performance, and the FX55 at about the same price as 570 and significantly faster in most benchmarks, are better value at the top. But we still stand by Intel being good value in the middle.
deathwalker - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
"outstanding value and performance for your buying dollar" ?????????? at $240 for a Mobo?..I guess I need to retake Economics 101...Bah...Intel just continues to shot themselves in the foot. A side note not related to this review..Dell must be deep inside of Intel's pocketbook with there contiued refusal to market AMD based products.danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#11 - 915P motherboards are not expensive. They are equal or cheaper in price than socket 939 A64 motherboards.LGA775 CPUs offer great overclocking headroom if paired with the right board. Intel CPUs have traditionally have had more OCing headroom than AMD chips. That still holds true, for the most part, today. Especially when talking about the low-end chips, like the 2.8GHz.
Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
I'm sorry but I don't see the "outstanding value and performance for your buying dollar"Expensive Motherboards and CPUs with little overclocking headroom compared to the Athlon 64 competition. How does that translate to excellent value and performance? even the much cheaper 3500 comes out on top on most benchmarks.
Sure there are niche markets where the Intel platform excels but for the big majority of us AMD is where its at right now.
I don't think this review is in sync with your conclusion so either list some valid arguments for your point (Since its not there in the benchmarks) or edit the conclusion.
danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wesley, thanks for including tests from a more comparable AMD CPU. Listening to your readers is always appreciated.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#4,#5,#6 - The Athlon 64 results with the FX55 were included for Reference, and not direct comparison. However you do make a good point.The closest A64 we had in the lab to a 3.6GHz 560 was the 3500+ based on the 90nm process. This should provide an advantage to the Intel 560. Since there are complaints here the FX55 is too high end, these new tests tilted toward Intel should balance the playing field. The 3500+ costs about $265 and the Intel 560 (3.6GHz) is about $455, so the 560 is about 70% more expensive than the 3500+.
The added 3500+ benchmarks were also an opportunity to test with the SAME ATI X800XT PCIe we used in benchmarking the 915 boards. Enjoy!
Color codes have been updated and there are now 3500+ results on the Gigabyte nForce4 with the ATI X800XT PCIe in all benchmarks.
Original plans were to include the Intel 570 in this roundup, but much of the testing was already done when the Intel 3.8GHz CPU was launched. This Intel 3.8 is priced at around $800, which is very close to the FX55. You can see how it compares to the FX55 in performance in Anand's launch article at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
CrystalBay - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
It's a pity that all these 4 dimm slot, dual channelMB's have such a rough time doing it. Imagine trying
to run 4 1GB dimms in DC, this goes for ddr1 as well 2.
Glassmaster - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Now that Northwood and 865/875 are on the way out, only a fool would buy Intel.Glassmaster.