Should I buy GA-P35-DS3R?

khrall · 5 Mar 2008 at 23:14

I'm currently looking at building a new system, which I posted in the General Hardware section

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17849496

Now, having checked the Motherboards section, I'm feeling kinda put off by this board. A 21 page thread on memory problems and several other threads on topics relating to failing boards. I'm thinking that the board isn't a solid purchase.

Are there any other boards that are worth considering instead or am I just being paranoid?

BUFF · 5 Mar 2008 at 23:21

if you need the Intel RAID then the abit IP35 & MSI P35 Neo2-FR are worth looking at.

To a certain extent you are being paranoid as:
a) there is no perfect board
2) it's a very popular board so you expect more posts
3) it covers it from initial, immature status where again you expect more problems to be thrown up

jbloggs · 6 Mar 2008 at 10:06

khrall said:
I'm currently looking at building a new system, which I posted in the General Hardware section

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17849496

Now, having checked the Motherboards section, I'm feeling kinda put off by this board. A 21 page thread on memory problems and several other threads on topics relating to failing boards. I'm thinking that the board isn't a solid purchase.

Are there any other boards that are worth considering instead or am I just being paranoid?

The memory problems were mostly with the "C" (DDR2/DDR3) version of this board, and not so much with the DDR2 version.

Also have a look at the Gigabyte GA P35 DS3P (with RAID and some nice other features) or the OcUK Value IP35 Pro (without RAID)...

anikilator1980 · 6 Mar 2008 at 16:06

I wouldnt buy one, my brother has that mobo and it died last week. It has some kind of problem with rebooting. The board starts to reboot itself in an endless loop.

If you google "p35 ds3r reboot cycle" or "p35 ds3r constant reboot" you´ll find some interesting threads in other forums with people with this same problem.

I´ve also heard that x38 ds4 boards are affected by this...

My X38 DS5 works ok for now...

Rroff · 6 Mar 2008 at 19:42

Is your brothers the P35 DS3R or the P35C DS3R?

I have had a version 1.0 board for quite awhile now without problem - but some of the newer version boards don't seem to be as good.

bledd · 12 Mar 2008 at 12:04

i've got the v2.1 of this, it's a lot smaller than my old 939 board, great board

the 2.1 gets rid of serial & parallel ports, and instead has 8x usb2 ports on the back

nice

working fine with q6600 @ 3ghz, (not had time to mess much), and 8gb ocz ram

slowrunner · 12 Mar 2008 at 14:36

I've just got the GA-P35-DS3L R2.0, appears to be going well so far for me.

Faffer · 13 Mar 2008 at 10:04

I have this board and am very happy with it. It runs pretty cool too, allowing me to achieve higher clocks than on previous boards I've used. I don't use RAID so can't comment on that.

Jonnygrunge · 13 Mar 2008 at 13:47

I have the P35 DS4 and it is rock solid!
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-084-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913
Great mobo for overclocking also through BIOS updates supports all new Intel processors.
Overclocking a Q6600 G0 to 3GHz easy!, at stock Volts!
Never had any bother with RAM I have 4GB of PC8000 (1GHz) OCZ @ 5-5-4-15 2V1, had 2GB OCZ PC8500 in before.
8800 GTX OC2 at 630MHz core 1520MHz shaders and 2000MHz RAM
The mobo is awash with SATA II (2x Gigabyte and 6x Intel) you can also hotplug SATA via the back ports and ACHI, great for backup.
Never had any BSOD or restarts, prime95 solid for 24Hrs.
Best mobo I've ever owned and I've had one or two!

Can't recommend it enough!