GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 vs. ASUS P5B-E

The DS3. Its more tried-and-true than the Asus mobo. And that P5B isn't the same P5B that people have been getting 500FSB on, that's the P5B-Deluxe/Wifi-something one, and it costs $200+. Basically, just go with the DS3, as its has an excellent track record and people have been hitting 450+ FSB with it. We don't have nearly as much experience with the P5B though.
 
I have the DS3 and an e6300 and I would get the Asus... Spend the $40 more and get the P5B-Deluxe... It's the best 965 board out right now.

The DS3 doesn't have firewire and it has issues with Micron D9 memory that can't be fixed. A resistor has to be changed...

Since you are going to want to squeeze the most out of that e6300... after a few tweaks you are going to wish you had the P5B-Deluxe.
 
xFlankerx said:
The DS3. Its more tried-and-true than the Asus mobo. And that P5B isn't the same P5B that people have been getting 500FSB on, that's the P5B-Deluxe/Wifi-something one, and it costs $200+. Basically, just go with the DS3, as its has an excellent track record and people have been hitting 450+ FSB with it. We don't have nearly as much experience with the P5B though.
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INCORRECT, that is the good one. The P5B-E is a GOOD CHOICE.

There are 3 versions

P5B-Deluxe - many people have hit 500 FSB with it, top of line for 965 motherboards $200+

P5B-E (new) - this is the newer reworked P5B, its the one everyone is raving about b/c its a cheaper no frills version, but still has been reaching 500Mhz FSB pretty reliably. It has a few different onboard components to make it cheaper, but still works great.

P5B (standard) - less bios options, probably won't hit 500 FSB
(this is the one that you were thinking is the "crappy one".)

I also, like my DS3. I don't have any complaints with it. I just wish I had a better chip. Mine doesn't seem to want to go above 3Ghz with out a jiggawatt of juice.
 
xFlankerx said:
The DS3. Its more tried-and-true than the Asus mobo. And that P5B isn't the same P5B that people have been getting 500FSB on, that's the P5B-Deluxe/Wifi-something one, and it costs $200+. Basically, just go with the DS3, as its has an excellent track record and people have been hitting 450+ FSB with it. We don't have nearly as much experience with the P5B though.
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You couldnt be more wrong. My buddy went with the S3 and cannot break 450 Mhz. I went with the P5B-E and hit 520+, 515 prime stable.

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chrisf6969 said:
P5B-E (new) - this is the newer reworked P5B, its the one everyone is raving about b/c its a cheaper no frills version, but still has been reaching 500Mhz FSB pretty reliably. It has a few different onboard components to make it cheaper, but still works great.

P5B (standard) - less bios options, probably won't hit 500 FSB
(this is the one that you were thinking is the "crappy one".)
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My bad. :) Learn something new everyday.

dnottis said:
You couldnt be more wrong. My buddy went with the S3 and cannot break 450 Mhz.
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DS3 has a better record than the S3. I wouldn't expect to break 450Mhz with the S3 either.
 
I was just faced with the same choice for my e6400.

I went with the P5B-E as a lot of people have been getting DOA DS3 boards and I have seen lots of DOA Gigabyte in the past. Plus my luck I would end up with the one doa out of 1000 anyways :p


The P5B-E is rock solid and runs great. I have my e6400 at 3.2GHZ (FSB 401 currently), but I have not tried higher, probably could still go much higher.
 
The best RAM out there right now for OCing is D9 chips stuff.

Amongst other bugs, the DS3 presently has a bug with D9s, which prevents it from getting any further than the 450.

The DS3 has been a bugfest since it came out, & even now, it prevents you from OCing worth anything with good RAM.

The P5B-E wins this hands down, without me even needing to argue the benefits of it.
 
While I wouldn't agree that the DS3 is a "bugfest." I would probably go with the P5B-E myself since it's newer. The DS3 is decent with at least the F7 bios or later. The D9 problem might never be fixed, but there is other memory you can use if you want the DS3.
 
Dammit I got a P5B before they released the E. Im at 380 but I dunno if its the board or the chip. :(
 
9mmx19 said:
Dammit I got a P5B before they released the E. Im at 380 but I dunno if its the board or the chip. :(
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Same here. I can hit 405 FSB but the CPU needs a lot of vCore to get it stable. Before I upgrade to Vista I think I'm going to swap it out for something better.
 
For reasons that have already been mentioned above (and the better southbridge), I would recommend the P5B-E as well.
 
P5B-E has the 1.02G revision. P5B-E Plus is only being sold outside the U.S. It comes with the extra BIOS features that are on the P5B-E 1.02G revision board.
 
dark_reign said:
P5B-E has the 1.02G revision. P5B-E Plus is only being sold outside the U.S. It comes with the extra BIOS features that are on the P5B-E 1.02G revision board.
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[Noobie question]
could u plz help me out on how to pick the P5B-E 1.02G revision without opening box and installing mobo
 
WickedWeasel said:
Which one is easier to OC? DS3 or P5B-E?
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Both should be similar. You go into your bios and move the FSB number from 266 to whatever you want it to be. It's not hard to find on either board. I've owned the DS3 and the P5W (similar to P5B). With the DS3, you have to press CTRL-F1 to access the memory timings, but other than than, it's not too hard to use. The CPU configuration on Asus boards is under the "Jumperfree Configuration." Personally, I thought the DS3 was a "little" easier because it was easier to figure out where to OC, but it's relative compared to what you're used to.
 
I'm using a Dell computer and I have never used a Gigabyte or Asus board. The P5B-E looks like a good deal, but I am worried by the comments at newegg.com about the onboard sound causing cracking sounds and other problems. Anandtech says the ADI 1988A is better than the Realtek ALC-883 for EAX2. I don't want to buy an audio card.
 
[Noobie question]
could any one plz help me out on how to pick the P5B-E 1.02G revision without opening box and installing mobo :(
 
I really like the DS3. I think it's quite solid. Basically when I got it I put it at 400fsb and forgot about it. It was easy.

For those of you wanting to use micron D9 chips a beta bios has been leaked out that has shown a pretty huge improvement in the OC capability of them. Still not to their full potential, but they have noted that there is a problem with the actual motherboard that is holding them back. It sounds like they should get very close to the full potential, despite this hardware problem.
 
Cdawg9999 said:
[Noobie question]
could any one plz help me out on how to pick the P5B-E 1.02G revision without opening box and installing mobo :(
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it's stamped on the motherboard underneath where it says 'P5B-E', so you'll at least have to open the box, or ask someone from where you're buying it from to check for you
 
feek said:
I really like the DS3. I think it's quite solid. Basically when I got it I put it at 400fsb and forgot about it. It was easy.

For those of you wanting to use micron D9 chips a beta bios has been leaked out that has shown a pretty huge improvement in the OC capability of them. Still not to their full potential, but they have noted that there is a problem with the actual motherboard that is holding them back. It sounds like they should get very close to the full potential, despite this hardware problem.
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There is a capacitor you can switch out if you know how. Probably not that hard if you're handy with a soldering iron and have access to the capacitor you need :).
 
The P5B-E and P5B deluxe are basically the same correct?
How much of a difference does the heatpipe on the p5b deluxe come into affect when overclocking vs the p5be standard heatsinks?
 
dtos01 said:
I have the DS3 and an e6300 and I would get the Asus... Spend the $40 more and get the P5B-Deluxe... It's the best 965 board out right now.

The DS3 doesn't have firewire and it has issues with Micron D9 memory that can't be fixed. A resistor has to be changed...

Since you are going to want to squeeze the most out of that e6300... after a few tweaks you are going to wish you had the P5B-Deluxe.
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$40? It's almost $80 more at Newegg.
 
I should also mention that the OC on the rig in my sig is with default voltage setting and it's rock solid. I think a 50% OC is pretty spiffy.
 
MentallyNormal said:
The P5B-E and P5B deluxe are basically the same correct?
How much of a difference does the heatpipe on the p5b deluxe come into affect when overclocking vs the p5be standard heatsinks?
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Yes the P5B Deluxe and the P5B-E are similar in overclocking potential. Supposedly with the newer design of the P5B-E being slightly better. (more likely to hit 500FSB)

But the P5B-E is cheaper, and made with slightly different components. like VIA sound & ethernet I believe.

Don't confuse either of them with the P5B regular version though! Its not a very good overclocker, many have complained of not being able to reach even 400 FSB!
 
The new DS3 bios can go over 500 on the FSB and fixes some of the problems, plus it looks better in blue and has a better PCI layout.
 
The price is dropping on the DS3. It's around $130 or so. The P5B-E is $150, but it has the ICH8R instead of the ICH8. So basically, if you're running RAID, you'd want the P5B-E, but if you want to save $20, you can get the DS3. Either one is a good board. I've used the DS3 and it was very simple to use and stable. I wouldn't hesitate getting another one. I'm using the P5W DH now and that's good too, so I wouldn't hesitate getting the P5B-E either.
 
I couldn't be much happier with my DS3, my only complaint is that the NB heatsink got really hot when highly overclocked. That said, I've been running my E6300 @ 3.15 (450fsb) for a few months now without issues.

I can't speak for the P5B-E, but the DS3 is a breeze to overclock. I haven't yet had to clear CMOS because of a bad overclock; (is there even a clear CMOS jumper?) when the system is unable to post due to too high of an overclock, it recycles and attempts to post again using default FSB. You can then go back and change only that setting instead of all the various bios settings, thus saving a lot of time.

Personally, I like the look of the DS3, and I'm sure all of the "solid capacitor" yadda yadda doesn't hurt anything. ;)
 
The only problem I had with the DS3 is that if you do have to use the clear CMOS, you have to get a jumper into a small location near the video card. If you have a large video card (I had a X1900XT), it is a pain to get in to clear the CMOS. Like the guy above me said, it usually clears itself, but if you do have to clear it it's a pain. Not really a big knock against the board. I liked it and it does OC well.
 
kirbyrj said:
The only problem I had with the DS3 is that if you do have to use the clear CMOS, you have to get a jumper into a small location near the video card. If you have a large video card (I had a X1900XT), it is a pain to get in to clear the CMOS. Like the guy above me said, it usually clears itself, but if you do have to clear it it's a pain. Not really a big knock against the board. I liked it and it does OC well.
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Yeah its in a bad spot.

I used a paper clip (modified - bent) to reach underneath the videocard and short the 2 pins out, to clear the CMOS.
 
While I have a DS3 and I like the overclocking features, something it is really missing is the firewire port. I think that is the biggest omission especially now that motherboards have only 3 pci slots. I have to use one of my precious pci slots because I want firewire.
 
Yeah, I guess if you need firewire, the P5B-E is the way to go.

Also, the price of the DS3 went back up to $144 with $6 shipping :(. At that price, the P5B-E is a better value.
 
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