Express : Core 2 Duo and P965 vs i975x

Express : Core 2 Duo and P965 vs i975x - BeHardware
>> Motherboards

Written by Marc Prieur

Published on July 14, 2006

URL: http://www.behardware.com/art/lire/633/

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P965, ICH8, ASUSTeK P5B Deluxe

With the upcoming release of the Core 2 Duo in stores, we are beginning to see the first motherboards based on P965 Express chipsets. The MCH supports a 1066 MHz FSB bus that is required for the Core 2 Duo. There is only one PCI Express x16 link (no CrossFire) and a DDR2 memory controller that officially support DDR2-533, 667 and 800 modes. The latter includes several small improvements called "Fast Memory Access", which is supposed to increase performances compared to previous controllers.

It’s the 8th version of the ICH that has been chosen. The main differences compared to the ICH7 is on the network level, with the integration of a 10/100/1000 Mbits /s controller and in terms of SATA. The R version that supports RAID now has 6 ports. However, this is at the expense of the Parallel ATA that is simply abandoned.
ASUSTeK P5B Deluxe
In order to bypass this problem some manufacturers like ASUSTeK use additional solutions. On the P5B Deluxe used for this test, there is a JMicron JMB363 PCI Express chip that supports 1 PATA as well as 2 additional SATA including one external (8 in total). The PATA port supports two peripherals and we were able to connect two older ATAPI DVD players like the Pioneer DVD-114.

ASUSTeK decided to focus on the network and included two Gigabit chips, a Marvell 88E8001 for PCI and a Marvell 88E8056 for PCI Express. We note the choice not to use the network management solution integrated to the ICH8. The card also includes a WiFi 802.11a/b/g Realtek RTL8187L chip that uses the USB hub. HD audio is entrusted to the Analog Device SoundMAX AD1988B chip and FireWire to a Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A chip. It is interesting to point out that the motherboard has two PCI Express ports that are physically of the x16 type. Only the first one however is wired as such to the MCH, the second is connected to the ICH via a x4 link. Even by hacking the driver to allow the activation of SLI and/or CrossFire, with such a configuration performances won´t be very high.

The first thing that surprised us in the bios of the P5B was that Asus returned to their bad habit of displaying ratios in the form of a fixed DDR speed. So with a 1066 MHz FSB, if you select DDR2-533, you will have a FSB:DDR ratio of 1:1. However, if you choose a FSB of 333 MHz and select DDR2-533, you will end up with the same 1:1 ratio. Memory will run at 333MHz, which is the same as standard DDR2-666 in practice. We prefer the bios of the P5W DH Deluxe (i975X Intel) which doesn´t simply display DDR2-533, but the real memory speed.

We first want to point out that for now, the bios doesn´t allow you to select a FSB:DRAM ratio inferior to 1:1. You can´t run at a lower frequency than the FSB´s, which isn’t very handy for those who like to overclock their computer and have a modest memory. We, however, hope that the bios limitation comes from Asus and not the chipset. A second observation is that we were unable to boot with a FSB clocked at 400 MHz or "1600 MHz FSB". This is certainly a bios problem rather than a chipset limitation since the Gigabyte 965P-DS3 couldn´t reach over 380 MHz FSB with the F1 bios but reached 480 MHz with the second F2. Our last remark regarding the bios is that we obtained very strange results with DDR2 and timings of 3-3-3-8. Performances were much inferior to those obtained in 4-4-4-12.

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Performances, conclusion
What about performances ?
If motherboards are starting to be available in stores, it seems that the bios could deserve some improvement. That of the i975X, however, is already functional as the chipset is available since the end of 2005. What about performances beside these problematic points? Here are the performances obtained with the P5B Deluxe compared to the P5W DH Deluxe. We’ve included those of memory, bandwidth, latency, compression under WinRAR and the game Far Cry. In 1066 MHz FSB with the 975X, the HyperPath function in the Asus bios was activated and deactivated in 1370 MHz FSB because of the impossibility to boot with its activation.

As you can see, the relatively lesser figures of the i975X are obtained when the FSB and DDR work synchronously. It is mainly in latency that the biggest gaps are measured. With applicative tests, under WinRAR in the worst case the 975X is 5.4% faster and 2.5% in the best case. Under Far Cry, the 975x is 0.1% to 2.4% faster.
Conclusion ...
For now, the P965 Express, as it is implemented on the ASUSTeK motherboard at least, is a little slower than the 975X with a Core 2 Duo.

Of course, performances aren´t frozen and a future bios will maybe bring them closer. Anyway, the performance gap between the two chipsets and the P965 isn´t huge and the P965 has a slightly more functional ICH8. However, manufacturers could also combine i975x and ICH8. Also, unlike the 975x which is condemned to be restricted to very high end motherboards from 200 – 250 €, the P965 Express is intended for compromises between 150 – 200 €, or even 100 – 150 € for the least functional.

The performance gap, if it isn´t filled, could however be in NVIDIA´s interest, who has SLI support as a selling point. Indeed, unlike Intel, there won´t be performance gaps between the high end chipset memory controller, the nForce 590 SLI, and the middle line the nForce 570 SLI. The only problem is that chipsets are delayed for now and the nForce 4 will be initially released on Core 2 Duo motherboards. The nForce 5 Intel version will hit stores before September.