Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3P

geff_r · 12 Mar 2007 at 04:20

Anyone got one of these new ds3's yet what are they like
worth getting over the normal ds3?
Does the tuniq short the board like on the ds3?

Servo · 12 Mar 2007 at 08:16

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=2017813

that guy seems to be using one mate.

BigJim(UK) · 13 Mar 2007 at 20:43

geff_r said:
Anyone got one of these new ds3's yet what are they like
worth getting over the normal ds3?
Does the tuniq short the board like on the ds3?

I dont have a Tuniq, but i can say that i have just build a system with this board and have clocked my 6300 to 3.25ghz so far without any trouble at all. All i can say is that this board is awesome.

banja · 13 Mar 2007 at 22:37

geff_r said:
Does the tuniq short the board like on the ds3?

Eh? Expand?

geff_r · 13 Mar 2007 at 23:29

The backplate i hear on the tuniq i hear can cause all the
ds3 ds4 to short and you need to use masking tape or similar
to stop said happening.

banja · 14 Mar 2007 at 15:57

Oh dear. I've been building a spec in my head based on the least amount of hassle / compatibility problems, and each time I think I've sorted it, I hear something like this.

Note: DS3 / Tuniq may cause problems . . .

pastymuncher · 14 Mar 2007 at 17:09

Mine will be here tomorrow.

I have ordered one to replace my awful Abit 650i which was returned due to being unusable. It will be teamed up with my 4300 and 2gb Geil Ultra PC2-6400 CL4. Good price too at just under £81 delivered. Most places have it listed at £10-20 more expensive than the standard DS3.

After my miserable experience with the Abit i am hoping for good things from this board.

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 11:10

cheapest ive seen it anywhere is £91 minus the delivery!

Ice Tea · 15 Mar 2007 at 11:55

In Idiot terms whats the difference between a DS3 and a DS3P ?

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 12:03

The p
crossfire and better heatsinks the ds3 doesnt have a heatsink on the south bridge

Ice Tea · 15 Mar 2007 at 12:05

Thanks

Would it be a bad idea to buy a crossfire board and use it with a single Nvidia card ?

stoofa · 15 Mar 2007 at 12:59

Ice Tea said:
Thanks

Would it be a bad idea to buy a crossfire board and use it with a single Nvidia card ?

Not really - it's Crossfire compatible, not crossfire requirement.

I'm using a single 8800GTS in my DS4 which is crossfire compatible.

pastymuncher · 15 Mar 2007 at 13:23

geff_r said:
cheapest ive seen it anywhere is £91 minus the delivery!

Then you are not looking hard enough.

I am sure they mispriced it though.

Just checked and it's still priced at what i paid although it's now out of stock.

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 14:26

Getting it.

Servo · 15 Mar 2007 at 14:30

And firewire, plus the newer soundchip, and sata controller chip. I've had the DS3 and the DS3p is a much better board with 1333 support.

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 14:33

Right sod it at £75 i'm buying it i think they made a mistake may aswell take advantage before they ammend the price just ordered it with crucial ballistix 6400 ram mmm nice.

zo1d · 15 Mar 2007 at 15:02

I've just set up my DS3P, fairly pleased with it, was a straight forward build as I've had no issues with it. However my main concern is how hot the northbridge runs, the southbridge is luke warm to the touch, but the northbridge heatsink is very hot.

Is the this the same for all boards using the Intel 965P chipset, as I thought this chipset had a fairly low power consumption?

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 15:04

order canceled ! just as i suspected sub standard nbridge cooling grrr ah well.
I still await a board that can keep the nbridge cool.

zo1d · 15 Mar 2007 at 15:24

geff_r said:
order canceled ! just as i suspected sub standard nbridge cooling grrr ah well.
I still await a board that can keep the nbridge cool.

I don't think it's a issue with the heatsink as such, after all I've not had any stability issues, it's either a generic issue with the chipset using allot of energy and therefore producing allot of heat (which would be the same on all 965 boards), or it's a Gigabyte specific problem, which I think is unlikely.

Strange though as cpu's are running cooler and requiring lower voltages, I would have thought the same would be true for the chipsets, I guess it's why most of the boards are using heatpipes...

Edit. looks like the 965 has the lowest power consumption of all the core2duo chipset, link to the review here

geff_r · 15 Mar 2007 at 15:34

No it's not i'm afaraid it's the heatsink that's why people are glueing small fans etc on them and or looking for aftermarket nbridge heatsinks the problem is its so close
to the cpu socket that it makes life difficult if using a big cpu cooler such as the tuniq tower.Just google ds3 northbridge temp too high.
And you'll see what i mean some guys just about fitted the noctua one and it's gone from 69c to 46 c.But forget it if you have a 120mm fan cooler just will not fit.