Abit ab9 pro vs Asus p5w -dh... read on

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SoniCraze

Limp Gawd
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Jun 4, 2005
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I picked up a asus p5w -dh thinking i would go with 2 x1950xtx in crossfire. Ive decided to wait for the next gen nvidia card so i dont need sli or crossfire.

I found this board for 118$ at a local Frys open box, much cheeper than the 300$ i paid for the asus.

I dont need any of the extra options the asus comes with, the only thing i really liked was the dolby digital sound (headphones) but the abit seems to have this as well.

I know the 965 isnt as prefered as the 975 but with my system (see below) is this going to be a big deal? I plan on overclocking to around 3.4ghz with some Ocz 800.

Ive also read about a difference between older 965 chipsets and current 965's. Is there any way i can tell what this motherboard has?

So basically is the asus worth the xtra 180$ for o/c my current setup to around 3.4?

C2D e4600
OCZ800 plat.

Thanks guys, frys has the board on hold untill this evening.
 
The AB9 isn't the best overclocking 965 but it still gets into the 400+ (despite HardOCP's experience) which is where the 975s get as well.

I would say that chances are that the AB9 Pro that you've found is most probably a C1 version chipset - you would either have to remove the chipset heatsink or run the board & a utility to tell what rev chipset it has.
However, I think that it was Anandtech that tested both C1 & C2 revison 965 boards & basically found no performance difference between the 2.
 
Buff - I found that Anandtech review you were talkin about, seems to not be much of a difference.

So ive decided to save the money and get a 965 board.

Its down to this or the Gigabyte GA-965p DS3, its 30$ more.


Any big advantage in the gigabyte? solid caps dont really mean much to me as ill only have the board for a few years.

At this point im leaning twards the value of the abit, any comments?
 
I really like my Gigabyte DS3. Its really matured with the last F7 bios. And tons of people have them, so theres a lot of information out there on them. vs. very few people having Abit AB9's and it being newer.
 
I've used both the AB9 Pro and the DS3. For $118, I'd get the AB9 Pro. You just need to have a floppy to install "RAID" drivers or else you IDE CD-ROM won't work. other than that, it's a decend board as long as you have latest bios for it.

The DS3 is good also, although the northbridge does get very hot.
 
kirbyrj said:
You just need to have a floppy to install "RAID" drivers or else you IDE CD-ROM won't work.
Click to expand...
I may be wrong but I think that a BIOS update fixed that.

As for the abit or Gigabyte it depends which is more important to you - the $30 or the better overclocking.
 
for a budget build on a 965p chipset i like the gigabyte s-3 or the biostar t-force 965pt.

i've had two 975's one dfi-infinity and one intel 975xbx . there good MB's. ironically the xbx overclocked higher than the DFI. but my cheapo gigabyte s-3 had topped the 975's for me --

i would say as long as you need only one pci-16 slot--the 965p is the way to go and when the bios has the right straps--it overclocks better than most 975's.

the ole junkbyte is kicking out a 480fsb with a 6300--so how can you beat that for $116 brand new ?--LOL :cool:
 
Abit has been working hard to fix the Bios with the AB9 Pro, to date it is not a top overclocker but as stated in an earlier responds it is adequate and does well. If you follow the Abit forums there are problems with this and every board. My results are far better then HardOCPs. I have my 6400 2.13 up to 3.2 or 403 FSB. With some more tinkering I think I my get to 415. As far the only things not working at 415 are my optical drives on the JMicron controller.
snaphardocp2.jpg


snapcpzu.jpg
 
Deathspine said:
Abit has been working hard to fix the Bios with the AB9 Pro, to date it is not a top overclocker but as stated in an earlier responds it is adequate and does well. If you follow the Abit forums there are problems with this and every board. My results are far better then HardOCPs. I have my 6400 2.13 up to 3.2 or 403 FSB. With some more tinkering I think I my get to 415. As far the only things not working at 415 are my optical drives on the JMicron controller.
Click to expand...

Whats the FSB max, when you drop the multiplier to 6x ?

Its 473 for my DS3.
 
I wasn't looking for a barn-burner, just a solid 50% OC. I''ve worked though my AB9 Pro issues and right not I've had a totally stable system running my E6400 at a bus bpeed of 400 with the standard 8 multiplier giving me 3.2Ghz. I've pushed it a little higher, and could probably run at 410 reliably, but decided to lock it down at the 400 bus speed.

Running Vista Ultimate X64 with fast SATA and the ready boost option this is really flying. I backed off from puchasing a 8800 GTS graphics because of all the issues and decided the GeForce 7600 GT was a great performing vid card for the price. Then I can make a decision down the road on DX10 and either the 8800 or R600.
 
Since I only run one monitor at 1680X1050 I figured that the 320MB will work just fine. I didn't have much of a problem with the 7600GT I was using, so I figured I'm all set with this. As a plus I moved the 7600GT to the family PC to upgrade a 7600GS. That leaved the GS as a backup video card to keep on hand.

My V600 has enough airflow to keep the 8800 GTS fan fed with air and the WC for the E6400 keeps the internal temps down as well. I can feel a good rush of heat from the 8800's rear exhaust, but that's normal. Kicked up the FPS quite a bit, just like I thought it would.
 
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