Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3P

Servo · 16 Mar 2007 at 10:38

WJA96, nice one mate, you have said what everyone else was thinking.

Servo · 16 Mar 2007 at 10:39

geff_r said:
Ok i shall take my business elsewhere too.
Everyone just recommends the items ocuk makes the most profit on anyway.
ds3 is a tacky pos board.

There you go again!!! you ain't even owned one, so how can you make that comment?

Ice Tea · 16 Mar 2007 at 10:46

Sinse when did a NorthBridge heatsink run cold ?

zo1d · 16 Mar 2007 at 12:45

Lower Power/Cooler Motherboard

I’m quite disappointed with just how hot the P965 is, the heat sink on my DS3P is burning to the touch, while in contrast the boxed retail cooler for my E6600 Core2Duo is just luke warm. I’m not overclocking, in actual fact I’m underclocking using only a x7 multiplier with a core voltage of 1volt, and with all other voltages set to their lowest/default levels. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the northbridge was using more power and producing more heat than the cpu at it’s current levels, and I was under the impression that the Intel P965 was a fairly low powered chipset.

Couple of questions as I'm considering sending back this board and getting another one, not because it's unstable, because it isn't, but because I'm not happy with these heat levels regardless of the cooling solution:

1. Will all P965 based boards be using similar amounts of power, and producing similar levels of heat?

2. What board/chipset should I be looking for a lower power consuming Core2Duo setup?

Combat squirrel · 16 Mar 2007 at 12:49

zo1d said:
I’m quite disappointed with just how hot the P965 is, the heat sink on my DS3P is burning to the touch, while in contrast the boxed retail cooler for my E6600 Core2Duo is just luke warm. I’m not overclocking, in actual fact I’m underclocking using only a x7 multiplier with a core voltage of 1volt, and with all other voltages set to their lowest/default levels. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the northbridge was using more power and producing more heat than the cpu at it’s current levels, and I was under the impression that the Intel P965 was a fairly low powered chipset.

Couple of questions as I'm considering sending back this board and getting another one, not because it's unstable, because it isn't, but because I'm not happy with these heat levels regardless of the cooling solution:

1. Will all P965 based boards be using similar amounts of power, and producing similar levels of heat?

2. What board/chipset should I be looking for a lower power consuming Core2Duo setup?

Bit of an odd reason to send it back in all honesty, if its stable, where is the prob ? If your that worried and using stock heatsinks anyways, stick on the Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Northbridge Cooler and your chipset temps will drop a lot

zo1d · 16 Mar 2007 at 13:05

Combat squirrel said:
Bit of an odd reason to send it back in all honesty, if its stable, where is the prob ? If your that worried and using stock heatsinks anyways, stick on the Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Northbridge Cooler and your chipset temps will drop a lot

That's my whole point, I don't want a board that needs additional cooling, if that be an after market cooling solution or from the motherboard manufacturer. I want a board/chipset that doesn't get too hot from the start, Intel have obviously made great progress with the cpu, what about the chipset?

Combat squirrel · 16 Mar 2007 at 13:10

zo1d said:
That's my whole point, I don't want a board that needs additional cooling, if that be an after market cooling solution or from the motherboard manufacturer. I want a board/chipset that doesn't get too hot from the start, Intel have obviously made great progress with the cpu, what about the chipset?

Well yeah BUT if the board is outstanding in what it does, a lump of metal is not exactly a design flaw, im thinking of it has it has 1333 fsb and 8 sata - far more important than the cooling, it was gigabites choice anyways what they put on it ! all intel boards have way better cooling stock anyways! :eek:

Im getting it and then putting my own cooling solution on there.....abit of a challenge ill admit with a T Tower heatsink im planning on using........a Noctua NC-U6 Dual wont fit on with T Tower I dont think, possibly though with some modding ? who knows? anyone ? lol

WJA96 · 16 Mar 2007 at 13:16

zo1d said:
I’m quite disappointed with just how hot the P965 is, the heat sink on my DS3P is burning to the touch, while in contrast the boxed retail cooler for my E6600 Core2Duo is just luke warm.

What you say is true, the Northbridge cooler probably is burning hot (60C+) and the cooler is quite cool, but the CPU cooler has a fan on it, no? Turn the fan off and it'll warm up very quickly.

Gigabyte (and most of the other motherboard manufacturers) have responded to customer's demands for quiet and they have designed these passive coolers that do run very, very hot. That's what they do. If you put a fan on them, you'll find the heat dissipates very quickly, but it's not necessary.

zo1d said:
I’m not overclocking, in actual fact I’m underclocking using only a x7 multiplier with a core voltage of 1volt, and with all other voltages set to their lowest/default levels. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the northbridge was using more power and producing more heat than the cpu at it’s current levels, and I was under the impression that the Intel P965 was a fairly low powered chipset.

If you are still using the 266/1066 FSB/QFSB then the motherboard Northbridge is doing just as much work. If you kept the 9x multiplier and ran the FSB at 200 then I think you would see drop in Northbridge temperatures.

zo1d said:
1. Will all P965 based boards be using similar amounts of power, and producing similar levels of heat?

Yes, they will all produce the same amount of heat, motherboards with better (possibly active) cooling would just allow it to dissipate faster, so it would appear to run cooler.

zo1d said:
2. What board/chipset should I be looking for a lower power consuming Core2Duo setup?

That's a very good question, but it's one that I can't properly answer. Hopefully someone else has a wider range of boards than I do and will be able to tell you. What I do know is that the NVidia C55 Northbridge used in the 650i and 680i chipset boards runs even hotter than the P965. I do have a board (ASRock 775i65) that runs the Intel 865G chipset and that runs cool to the touch with the E4300 200FSB but it's barely touchable with the E6600 266FSB processors installed. It's a DDR/AGP board though (not DDR2/PCIe).

Before you send it back, please try the alternative 200x9 clock rather than the 266x7 (if that's what you're running) as, based on my i865 experience I would think it will run the Northbridge a little bit cooler. Hopefully enough to make you feel a bit happier about the board.

zo1d · 16 Mar 2007 at 14:29

WJA96 said:
Before you send it back, please try the alternative 200x9 clock rather than the 266x7 (if that's what you're running) as, based on my i865 experience I would think it will run the Northbridge a little bit cooler. Hopefully enough to make you feel a bit happier about the board.

Thanks for the advice, been running for about the last hour at a 200fsb x 7, the northbridge temp has dropped, but by only a small amount, only enough to be able to touch the heat sink for around 1 second before it starts to burn the skin off my fingers!!

As you can see from the screen shot, the cpu is running at 1.4Mhz and 1volt, now it barely gets warm, in fact with the smart fan technology, the fan is even struggling to start, in other words it's almost now passively cooled, and that's with all the heat soak coming off the northbridge!

Are all P965 boards with a non-heatpipe passive cooled northbridge going to be similarly hot, or is it just the Gigabyte board?

I'm not interested in a massive over-clock (just a moderate overclock later on) and I'm not going to cross-fire or sli, how about the Intel 945 chipset, surely this can't be as hot?

WJA96 · 16 Mar 2007 at 14:46

Hmmm - you should be aware of the smart-fan technology reading the socket temperature - what temperature does TAT (Intel Thermal Analysis Tool) read?

I honestly wouldn't worry about any of this. It's fine.

pastymuncher · 16 Mar 2007 at 19:02

Just got mine up and running. It actually works, stable, at stock!! Something my Abit 650i would'nt do. Anyway there are a couple of things i do not like about this board and they are both to do with the graphics card slot (primary).

1. The graphics card when installed is right up against the memory retaining catches. That means i can't use my OCZ XTC memory cooler. Not a big deal i suppose but as it can be angled it would have been able to cool the memory and give the NB a bit of extra airflow. It also means you have to remove the gfx card to change memory slots if you need to.

2. The graphics card is far too close to the NB. My MP-1 WC block has it's mounting screws actually inside the NB heatsink. It's not touching it but it made installation of the gfx card a bit awkward. This could be interesting when i get my 8800 and it's EK block.

Just about to update the bios and install the new (today) drivers from Gigabytes website. I will let you know how i get on with some clocking.

Hat's off to WJA96 for telling the truth about geff_r. The guy has been opening loads of threads asking what's this like? what's that like? It get's tedious after a while. There is a search facility you know.

Participant · 17 Mar 2007 at 10:37

Geff - hot NB does not = poor motherboard. I hear what your saying about people pimping OcUK's products on this forum but from evidence on the web i.e. good reviews on competitor sites, I don't think it is the case that people are unreasonably bigging this board up.

You may be right about inadequate cooling on the DS3 NB but reference to an earlier point you made with a 6300 at 3.4GHz, that's an excellent overclock on any MB, and at that point I doubt the NB temp is the limiting factor.

Scoobie Dave · 17 Mar 2007 at 13:54

Combat squirrel said:
stick on the Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Northbridge Cooler and your chipset temps will drop a lot

Thats not a bad idea, I wonder if it would make much difference. . . looks nice anyway.

My DS3 is already happy @480fsb and im sure there is more in it.

Dont understand these negative comments about the DS3, its a great mobo.

easyrider · 17 Mar 2007 at 14:08

Scoobie Dave said:
Thats not a bad idea, I wonder if it would make much difference. . . looks nice anyway.

My DS3 is already happy @480fsb and im sure there is more in it.

Dont understand these negative comments about the DS3, its a great mobo.

Yup its a fine mobo

I have a DS3 rev 3.3 and cant fault it

PhillyDee · 17 Mar 2007 at 14:26

easyrider said:
Yup its a fine mobo

I have a DS3 rev 3.3 and cant fault it

Me too. Its stable and happy. What more can you ask for.

BTW: The NB temp reads 64 Deg C with my IR thermometer.

pastymuncher · 17 Mar 2007 at 15:36

I love this board, aside from the couple of issues i mentioned above. I am now at 3.2ghz and perfectly stable at 1.4v with my 4300. Temps are 34 degrees C on both cores after an hour of Orthos. I will leave it running for 8 hours just to be sure but it has already passed what it would do with the Abit 650i that i briefly had. That would fail Orthos after just 12 mins on core 1. It was fully stable after 8 hours @3ghz and if it passes @3.2 i will be going for 3.4 and maybe more. Have'nt a clue what temp the NB is at as i can't make out any obvious reading for it. I can touch it and leave my fingers on it without leaving flesh behind. I also don't have a fan over it!! Gigabyte Easytune 5, Core temp and speedfan all list the cpu cores at 34 degrees each. Sytem temp is 27 degrees and hard drive is at 28 degrees. I know that's spot on as i have a temp probe on it as well. I can probably tweak the voltages downwards after i find my optimal clock but i am already very pleased with this board.

danoliver1 · 17 Mar 2007 at 16:13

My ds3 is running my c2d at 3.2 ghz no problems at all

pastymuncher · 17 Mar 2007 at 16:21

But yours is a 6600. Mine is a lowly little 4300. I must admit i only got the 4300 as a stopgap until the price drops and new cores were released. Something to play with to get used to using an Intel rig if you see what i mean. I am begining to think there is no need to buy anything else, at least for the time being as this little beauty is a flyer. Not bad for £99 for the cpu and £75.95 for the mobo.

Certainly miles faster than any of my AMD rigs were and a hell of a lot easier to clock too.

WJA96 · 17 Mar 2007 at 19:34

Robbie G said:
I hear what your saying about people pimping OcUK's products on this forum

I would have to disagree with that statement, and the original one by geff_r.

If you check out the original ASUS P5N-E SLi threads you will see that none of the 'early adopters' got their boards from OcUK, because they didn't stock them, and when they did stock them they were £15 more expensive than the competition.

I have called Gibbo out on at least three occasions about statements he's made on the Abit IN-9SLi, GeIL PC6400 Ultra and Crucial Anniversary products, and none of them earned me any brownie points from the OcUK store. I am very lucky in that as part of my work I am able to buy components on a trial basis and test them, then return them if I don't think they are suitable for the purposes I need to put them to. That means I get to see a lot of kit and I'll only recommend stuff I've actually tried and tested.

I utterly despise the fantasists who say "buy product X because I've read the review in Custom PC" or whatever. The people I trust for recommendations on here are the people I've been posting with for the last 2 years. People who actually have this kit and know what it's like. Check out posts by people like Easyrider, Webbo, James32, Starfall, Messiah Khan, Smids, MinsterDave, Pegasus1, OC_A64, Big.Wayne and now Mishima for a bunch of people who tell the truth about their kit (good and bad) and regularly recommend stuff you can't buy at OcUK.

The last thing most of us are, is in Spie's pocket

Participant · 17 Mar 2007 at 23:53

^ Fair enough. I was actually trying to say (albeit not very clearly

) that I wouldn't be surprised if this was an occasional occurrence rather than saying I actually agreed with geff's claim on an evidential basis. I also said after that that I had seen no evidence to support his claims that the DS3 was unfairly pimped on this forum.