965 DS3P cancelled, need a last minute re-think. Help!

Gefafwisp · 20 Jun 2007 at 19:38

For one reason or another, I left the motherboard till last, and the 965 DS3P seems to suddenly be out of stock and // or expensive everywhere. I placed an order (elsewhere), but they've been unable to supply, and I'm all psyched up for my first build, but alas, I cannot build with no mobo

My budget was about £80, and the two obvious things I can do are:
a) Get the P5N-E, which was my original second choice
b) Get the P35 DS3P (a touch more expensive @£90ish, but never mind)
c) Listen to the brilliant advice of Overclockers forum members

The most important thing is that it works with all the other components I've already bought. So too late for "shouldn't have gone for this // that", it's already done. Here's what I have:

E4300 (will try to get that to 3ghz or so)
2x1gb PC2-5300 Crucial Ballistix (and hopefully that'll go faster too)
8800gts 640mb Inno3D GPU
Corsair HX 520w PSU
Lian Li PC-7B Plus
Seagate 500gb HD (I forget the exact model)
Sony NEC DVD-RW (ditto)

So, which motherboard makes good sense? I really want to order this before the weekend so I can get building next week. All help & advice is so so much appreciated

Topitoff · 20 Jun 2007 at 20:55

The smart money will say get option b), but if you want to save £20 and don't need firewire then the P35 S3 is another option. I have just bought one for my E4400 and am installing XP on it as I type this; then to the clocking

Gefafwisp · 20 Jun 2007 at 22:25

Topitoff said:
The smart money will say get option b), but if you want to save £20 and don't need firewire then the P35 S3 is another option. I have just bought one for my E4400 and am installing XP on it as I type this; then to the clocking

Is the P35 chipset looking like at least an equal to the 965 in terms of performance & overclocking? When it first came out there seemed to be big issues with memory latency and it totally scared me back to 965. Thoughts?

gunner · 20 Jun 2007 at 23:14

Just had a stinker of a time on a 965 DS3P & E4300 - cold boots, not holding settings on a restart... nearly drove me mad. Just installed a Asus P5B deluxe what a breath of fresh air. Works a treat. forget Gigabyte I have had NOTHING but greif from their products. No joke.

Asus P5B deluxe E4300 @ 3.2Ghz Orthos stable 1066 Crucial Ballistix no probs.

Gefafwisp · 20 Jun 2007 at 23:25

gunner said:
Just had a stinker of a time on a 965 DS3P & E4300 - cold boots, not holding settings on a restart... nearly drove me mad. Just installed a Asus P5B deluxe what a breath of fresh air. Works a treat. forget Gigabyte I have had NOTHING but greif from their products. No joke.

Asus P5B deluxe E4300 @ 3.2Ghz Orthos stable 1066 Crucial Ballistix no probs.

Hmm, that's a bit of a stinking review. I think I ruled out the Asus P5B Deluxe due to lack of support for 1333FSB, and also it being a bit on the pricey side. Maybe I should go for the P5N-E though? But on the other hand, P35 would future-proof me against Penryns....... I can feel a headache on the way...... owch..... owch

stoofa · 21 Jun 2007 at 02:25

I actually upgraded from I965 to P35 and found that memory performance was actually better.
I run with 4GB of RAM under Vista64.
Now I know that this is far from a good test.
However with the I965 as soon as I filled all four memory channels my memory score from Vista dropped to 5.2
With the P35 (I went for the Gigabyte P35-DQ6 from my 965-DS4) the same memory set with the same ratios etc scored 5.9
Just seems that the P35 copes better with the 4 sticks of RAM.

pastymuncher · 21 Jun 2007 at 11:30

gunner said:
Just had a stinker of a time on a 965 DS3P & E4300 - cold boots, not holding settings on a restart... nearly drove me mad. Just installed a Asus P5B deluxe what a breath of fresh air. Works a treat. forget Gigabyte I have had NOTHING but greif from their products. No joke.

Asus P5B deluxe E4300 @ 3.2Ghz Orthos stable 1066 Crucial Ballistix no probs.

You must have been doing something wrong or something was faulty. The DS3P and a 4300 is a very good combination and easily the best and easiest clocking rig i have ever had.

For the OP, P35 would be a safe bet as it has support for the upcoming cpu's and some support DDR2 and 3 as well.

Teaf · 21 Jun 2007 at 11:32

pastymuncher said:
P35 would be a safe bet as it has support for the upcoming cpu's and some support DDR2 and 3 as well.

Does the P35 support 45nm Intels? I remember hearing that it didn't and we'd have to wait for X38's for that.

easyrider · 21 Jun 2007 at 11:32

Anyone buying a new mobo now should get a p35 period.

pastymuncher · 21 Jun 2007 at 11:50

flibby said:
Does the P35 support 45nm Intels? I remember hearing that it didn't and we'd have to wait for X38's for that.

According to the spec on OCUK's website at least the Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R does.

Gefafwisp · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:17

easyrider said:
Anyone buying a new mobo now should get a p35 period.

The guide I read to building a PC that got me interested in a DIY build said you should give most components six months on the market before buying so that bios' can mature, support & reviews will be readily available, etc etc. That's one of the main reasons I wasn't feeling too P35-y, it's very new and therefore a touch scary for me.....

But these comments (thanks so much btw), are tipping me back towards the P35 DS3P after going to sleep last night pretty set on the P5N-E. Any more thoughts? Maybe from a P5N-E fan?

easyrider · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:19

Gefafwisp said:
The guide I read to building a PC that got me interested in a DIY build said you should give most components six months on the market before buying so that bios' can mature, support & reviews will be readily available, etc etc. That's one of the main reasons I wasn't feeling too P35-y, it's very new and therefore a touch scary for me.....

But these comments (thanks so much btw), are tipping me back towards the P35 DS3P after going to sleep last night pretty set on the P5N-E. Any more thoughts? Maybe from a P5N-E fan?

P35 is a refined 965 so is stable highly overclockable and a nice platform for C2D.

You can't go wrong.

Gefafwisp · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:35

easyrider said:
P35 is a refined 965 so is stable highly overclockable and a nice platform for C2D.

You can't go wrong.

Now I'm reeeeeeeeeeeeally tipping towards the P35

I've tried as far as possible to future proof with this build, and not overspend on stuff (like the E4300 for instance, thought I'd get a cheap one now rather than spend £140+ on an E6600 only to watch the price nosedive when the next wave of C2Ds hit the shops) where possible, so maybe cancelling my P965 mobo was a blessing in disguise?

Any more thoughts?

easyrider · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:43

Gefafwisp said:
Now I'm reeeeeeeeeeeeally tipping towards the P35 I've tried as far as possible to future proof with this build, and not overspend on stuff (like the E4300 for instance, thought I'd get a cheap one now rather than spend £140+ on an E6600 only to watch the price nosedive when the next wave of C2Ds hit the shops) where possible, so maybe cancelling my P965 mobo was a blessing in disguise?

Any more thoughts?

Don't get a 4300.

Get a 2140 @ 50 quid overclock it to 3ghz+ and then get a quad for around 180 in a month

stickroad · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:46

easyrider said:
Don't get a 4300.

Get a 2140 @ 50 quid overclock it to 3ghz+ and then get a quad for around 180 in a month

Gefafwisp what do you actually use your pc for?

As for the Motherboard, get one of the P35 series, they are extremely good boards and would get one over a 965p chipset anyday.

Gefafwisp · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:51

easyrider said:
Don't get a 4300.

Get a 2140 @ 50 quid overclock it to 3ghz+ and then get a quad for around 180 in a month

Already have the 4300 (plus all other components), so lets just pretend that I made a wise choice and not mention the 2140 again ok?

Gefafwisp · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:57

stickroad said:
Gefafwisp what do you actually use your pc for?

As for the Motherboard, get one of the P35 series, they are extremely good boards and would get one over a 965p chipset anyday.

Heaviest uses are internet browsing, Football Manager 07, some basic html & javascript (which wil hopefully lead to more advanced coding), and although I don't play many games at the moment, it's mostly because my ancient computer simply can't cope

This new computer though will be seeing a lot more action, namely FEAR, possibly some Counter Strike, stuff like that, and I also have been hanging out to play some of the Total War games for as along as I can remember.

The motherboards I've mentioned seemed to be pretty good for me, did a lot of reading, but I am a total & utter beginner, so really appreciate the advice & help of the experts

stickroad · 21 Jun 2007 at 13:59

Gefafwisp said:
Heaviest uses are internet browsing, Football Manager 07, some basic html & javascript (which wil hopefully lead to more advanced coding), and although I don't play many games at the moment, it's mostly because my ancient computer simply can't cope This new computer though will be seeing a lot more action, namely FEAR, possibly some Counter Strike, stuff like that, and I also have been hanging out to play some of the Total War games for as along as I can remember.

The motherboards I've mentioned seemed to be pretty good for me, did a lot of reading, but I am a total & utter beginner, so really appreciate the advice & help of the experts

In that case, no need for a Quad.

This Motherboard will do you very nicely:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

Gefafwisp · 21 Jun 2007 at 14:06

stickroad said:
In that case, no need for a Quad.

This Motherboard will do you very nicely:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

What's the difference between the DS3R & DS3P? Is it just the crossfire & firewire?