Gigabyte P35-DS3R vs ABIT IP35 (Plain one, not Pro nor E)

H

Hecktec

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
197
Alright, I've pretty much narrowed it down to those 2 options since both are closely priced and within my range. I'd would've liked to get the ABIT IP35 Pro, but I really don't need the extra fancy options nor can afford paying an extra $50.

The Gigabyte one seems to have more features (1066 DDR2 support mainly) , but I'm hearing that it has quality issues and suffers from VDroop (Not sure what it is, how serious is it?). Not sure about the ABIT IP35 but many are praising the ABIT IP35 Pro, so I assume it's stripped down variant is as good?

Appreciate any opinions here!
 
If you like to "tweak" in the bios go abit.

If you just want to get it up and running go Gigabyte.

Both are excellent boards, disregard the quality and Vdroop "issues" 95% of people do not know what they are talking about in regard to those items.

Download the manuals for each board and read them, paying particular attention to bios settings. The Abits is more extensive but the Gigabyte has everything you need. Decide which suits you better. Check the warranties and how the RMA/support process works. Both are fairly well supported on the net with the tip going to Gigabyte as they are more mature products and the Gigabyte bios has basically been in use in the same format since the P965 boards and is well known.

If you intend to do heavy OCing, regardless of which board you buy, after you make sure it works properly, reworking the paste and mounting of any board mounted heatsinks and heatpipes is highly recommended if you are looking for maximum performance. The ease at which that can be done might influence your choice.


My advice is worth exactly what you paid for it. :p
 
The only thing that I can add is that Im using the P35-DS3R..and so far I love it.
 
Things I dont care for on the DS3R...

...the placement of the IDE connection at the (for me) bottom of the board, which meant i had to wind the ribbon behind the board up to the DVDs. But I have just bought an SATA DVD burner to rectify that.

...having to get into expert mode of the bios by CTRL- F1.

...heatsinks wobble a bit, they dont feel flimsy per se just too much movement I think.

Otherwise its a good solid board.
 
Hecktec said:
The Gigabyte one seems to have more features (1066 DDR2 support mainly)
Click to expand...
mmm, not really.
Intel don't claim that P35 supports DDR2 1066 so abit won't claim it for IP35 - in reality though it'll run upto ~DDR2 1200.
IP35 has firewire & better chipset cooling but no SATA ports on the JMicron (not much of a loss imo).
DS3R uses a narrow PCB so the rh edge of the board may be unsupported.

BillParrish said:
Both are fairly well supported on the net with the tip going to Gigabyte as they are more mature products and the Gigabyte bios has basically been in use in the same format since the P965 boards and is well known.
Click to expand...
On the other hand Gigabyte don't have an user forum like abit's & the abit P35 BIOS is very similar to their P965s' (tbh I would imagine that's true of most mobo mfrs).
 
Comparing the two boards, I like the Gigabyte better since it has more SATA ports, which is what I need on the system I have it on, and it can save BIOS profiles (for OC'ing). Since I don't use IDE, I don't care how the IDE port is oriented on the board. The board also came with a PCI bracket to convert 2 internal SATA ports into eSATA ports, so thats a plus. The thing that I hate most about the DS3R and other gigabyte boards is the PCB length, as BUFF mentioned. The edge of the board is unsupported unless you have a case that actually has standoffs for those weirdly placed holes.

I got the IP35 because it was nicely priced and I needed Firewire and RAID on this system. While it has better chipset cooling than the DS3R, it, however, lacks the ability to save BIOS profiles. It uses solid caps for the CPU circuitry, but not the rest of the board, which isn't really much of an issue, imo. The main reason I didn't use this board for my main system is because it has no legacy ports, which I need for my printer (parallel) and UPS (serial). I haven't pushed the IP35 yet, because I'm too lazy to right now, lol.

Both boards will support DDR2-1066, but you don't even need such high speed RAM unless your CPU multiplier is 8x or less. What CPU do you plan on getting?
 
I'll be putting an Intel Quad Core Q6600 in it.

Alright, both seems to be a equally good, but I've decided to go with the Abit IP35 since it has better cooling and seems to be a very good overclocker. I'll post my feedback when I get it, thanks for the replies. :)
 
BillParrish said:
If you like to "tweak" in the bios go abit.

If you just want to get it up and running go Gigabyte.

Both are excellent boards, disregard the quality and Vdroop "issues" 95% of people do not know what they are talking about in regard to those items.

Download the manuals for each board and read them, paying particular attention to bios settings. The Abits is more extensive but the Gigabyte has everything you need. Decide which suits you better. Check the warranties and how the RMA/support process works. Both are fairly well supported on the net with the tip going to Gigabyte as they are more mature products and the Gigabyte bios has basically been in use in the same format since the P965 boards and is well known.

If you intend to do heavy OCing, regardless of which board you buy, after you make sure it works properly, reworking the paste and mounting of any board mounted heatsinks and heatpipes is highly recommended if you are looking for maximum performance. The ease at which that can be done might influence your choice.


My advice is worth exactly what you paid for it. :p
Click to expand...


Disregard the Vdroop "issues"? How can you not know what your talking about with this? Its pretty well known in the abit forums and my board has this problem. I like the Abit IP35 PRO.. its only problems would be the Vdroop and the uGuru issues where the fans go full blast and a simple flipping of the power switch on the PSU can fix.
 
Copyright said:
Disregard the Vdroop "issues"? How can you not know what your talking about with this? Its pretty well known in the abit forums and my board has this problem.
Click to expand...
Vdroop is part of Intel's design spec.
There are ways around it if you must.
 
BUFF said:
Vdroop is part of Intel's design spec.
There are ways around it if you must.
Click to expand...

I agree Vdroop will be there but this is the worst ive ever had. I have built 4 or 5 Gigabyte systems lately that didnt get as much Vdroop as mine. Not that I wouldnt run this board again. I love all the options.
 
Copyright said:
I agree Vdroop will be there but this is the worst ive ever had.
Click to expand...
Oh, there are others that will be worse incl. some Gigabytes - but even within a series you will have individual variation between nominally exactly the same board.
 
BUFF said:
Oh, there are others that will be worse incl. some Gigabytes - but even within a series you will have individual variation between nominally exactly the same board.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Im not up for soldering on my board to adjust the vdroop so ill live with it.
 
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