IP35-E or DS3L or Neo2-FR? Which is best?

2

2k2_zx2

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
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I need a board to finish my build. I've got an e2180 and a 2x2gb A-Data DDR2 kit but cant decide on a board. (New to Intel, have had AMD for my last 3 builds.)

I'm looking at the IP35-E ($65AR), DS3L ($90) and Neo2-FR ($105AR) and cant decide on which is the better (more stable) of the 3.

I'm aiming for 3.0 on the cpu and will be using an XP-90 for cooling. I'm leaning toward the DS3L but the Neo2 looks like it has more features for only $15 more.

Any suggestions on which of the 3 I should order?
 
I just got the IP35-E.

I think it is a great Board for the price...

I think it is a pretty popular one around here..
 
I haven't had problems with my IP35-E since I got it. Except for flashing in Windows using their Flashmenu utility which borked my BIOS chip, which forced me to get a new one and for the first time ever, hot flash so I have two working chips (quite an experience). Mine overclocks well enough. Got my E2180 to ~3.5GHz although unstable because I wasn't willing to add more volts. 3GHz-3.2GHz was safe enough but running ram 1:1 forced me to up the MCH volts a bit. Other than that, its a great board. If you get it, make sure you have a more recent BIOS version so you don't deal with the "issue" of dual-booting when turning it on.

You can't really go wrong with any of those, though. If one board has the features you want and are going to use, that might justify the price you are going to pay. Otherwise, the IP35-E is basically a run of the mill, no frills, great overclocking, stable, board.
 
Whats the "dual-booting" issue?

I only have 1 drive so RAID isnt needed, doubt I'll need eSata anytime soon.

I think the IP35-E would be all I need, plus it wouuld make for a great budget build. Retail e2180 $62, 2x2gb A-Data $76, IP35-E $65AR and re-using my 7800GT.

Thanks for the info, cant wait to get everything put together.
 
The dual -boot is an Intel chipset characteristic where it starts stops & starts again as it sets the chipset strap.
On early IP35 BIOS it did it on every boot from cold but on later BIOS it only does it on a cold boot if the mobo has previously had all power (incl. standby) removed - if you leave standby power applied it won't.
This is consistent with other P35 mobos' behaviour.

The IP35-E & the P35-DS3L are extremely similar mobos in features & performance so given that the Gigabyte is 40% dearer ...
The Neo2-FR by all accounts is a good mobo but has features that you don't seem to need & again is 60% dearer than the IP35-E ...
 
skizzled said:
I haven't had problems with my IP35-E since I got it. Except for flashing in Windows using their Flashmenu utility which borked my BIOS chip, which forced me to get a new one and for the first time ever, hot flash so I have two working chips (quite an experience). Mine overclocks well enough. Got my E2180 to ~3.5GHz although unstable because I wasn't willing to add more volts. 3GHz-3.2GHz was safe enough but running ram 1:1 forced me to up the MCH volts a bit. Other than that, its a great board. If you get it, make sure you have a more recent BIOS version so you don't deal with the "issue" of dual-booting when turning it on.

You can't really go wrong with any of those, though. If one board has the features you want and are going to use, that might justify the price you are going to pay. Otherwise, the IP35-E is basically a run of the mill, no frills, great overclocking, stable, board.
Click to expand...

what issues did you experience after you flashed in windows using flashmenu? i just flashed mine to beta 16 in windows and now i can't boot into windows. it just freezes at the windows loading screen. i've cleared cmos and everything and still nothing.

i've even tried reinstalling windows but even that won't start. :(

is it safe to say my board is dead, well half dead.
 
Of those three the MSI is the least overpriced and the most feature-rich, so I'd recommend it.

If you can get the IP35-E or DS3L for under $70 AR they're both good options -- at $90 they're both a joke. Just make sure you don't need anything they don't offer.
 
aiya said:
what issues did you experience after you flashed in windows using flashmenu? i just flashed mine to beta 16 in windows and now i can't boot into windows. it just freezes at the windows loading screen. i've cleared cmos and everything and still nothing.

i've even tried reinstalling windows but even that won't start. :(

is it safe to say my board is dead, well half dead.
Click to expand...
Basically, I botched the BIOS pretty badly to the point where it just would refuse to POST no matter what I did. Clearing the CMOS did not help at all so I had to eventually order another chip from Abit. You should be extremely careful about flashing in Windows as its not recommended at all. Since you are getting that far, I think your board is perfectly fine. All you have to do is flash to an older version through a bootdisk or using a usb flash drive. I use the latter and it works fine every single time I flash now. Just make sure you set it up in the BIOS to where it boots from it in the Boot Priority menu.
 
skizzled said:
. You should be extremely careful about flashing in Windows as its not recommended at all
Click to expand...
it's inherently riskier than doing it in DOS from a floppy or an USB memory stick but not that much.
Perfectly usable as long as you take a few common sense precautions (no overclock, minimum processes running, update from file rather than over the internet etc.).
 
I agree, for the needs you listed, the IP35-E for $60AR is your best choice, unless you didn't list all of your needs. The DS3L is good if you need legacy ports, but it used to be $75 without rebates. :( The Neo2-FR is good if you need to reach high FSB speeds (because of its heatpipe cooling for the chipset/mosfets), but with your chip, you won't need to go that high; so don't consider it unless you plan on upgrading the CPU any time in the future; oh, and it used to be $95 without rebates. :(
 
skizzled said:
Basically, I botched the BIOS pretty badly to the point where it just would refuse to POST no matter what I did. Clearing the CMOS did not help at all so I had to eventually order another chip from Abit. You should be extremely careful about flashing in Windows as its not recommended at all. Since you are getting that far, I think your board is perfectly fine. All you have to do is flash to an older version through a bootdisk or using a usb flash drive. I use the latter and it works fine every single time I flash now. Just make sure you set it up in the BIOS to where it boots from it in the Boot Priority menu.
Click to expand...

i did try to reflash it to the bios 15 official and it still does the same thing, POST but freezes during windows loading screen.
 
With the experience I have had with my Gigabyte P35-DS3L and my Q6600 I can't recommend this board for overclocking at this time.

I got this board for a friend's build and with my old E6400 on it, it overclocks just fine. Based on this and the DS3R in my main system I purchased a DS3L for a third quad core system I was building. Anytime I try to manually set the FSB, even if I just set it to the stock 266, the board will double boot and disable my overclock settings. The only time this happens is when I try to manually set the FSB. I've tried underclocking, keeping it at stock and overclocking via FSB and it does this every time. The board came with the F7 BIOS and I flashed from F5 up to F8a and nothing helped. I have done some researching since and found others have had this problem as well. I do not know if it's a bad board, a problem with quads or what. It will run just fine at stock speeds. It's been putting along at stock 2.4Ghz speed for a Q6600 under full load for close to a week now with no trouble.

Due to that experience, I can't recommend the DS3L. I have an Abit IP35-e which should arrive tomorrow to replace it. Since the board runs fine at stock speeds, I'm selling it to a guy that doesn't overclock so it should work out fine for him.

I know a guy with the IP35-pro and he loves the board. Before he had a 680i which would barely get his Q6600 to 3Ghz and now he has the same CPU running 3.52Ghz on the IP35-pro. As the -e model is stripped down version (featurewise mostly), I would expect it to perform similarly. Then again, the DS3L is a stripped down version of the DS3R and should perform the same. However, I have not heard of weird overclocking problems with the Abit like I have the Gigabyte.

I don't have any dual core Intel CPUs anymore so it's a bit tough to test with a dual core CPU to see if it's just a problem with quads although that really shouldn't make a difference. After swapping out motherboards, I might take the board over to my friend's and test it with my old E6400 to see if it will overclock or not with that CPU.

For a little more info on what some of us have gone through with the DS3L, there is a thread in the overclocking subforum about it.

 
BUFF said:
it's inherently riskier than doing it in DOS from a floppy or an USB memory stick but not that much.
Perfectly usable as long as you take a few common sense precautions (no overclock, minimum processes running, update from file rather than over the internet etc.).
Click to expand...
You would think that but Flashmenu doesn't exactly play well with Vista x64 and I didn't find that out until after it locked up during the flashing process. I did do the "common sense precautions" and it happened, so...

aiya
I didn't really have that great of an experience with bios15 at all. It's weird that it locks up when it does. Are you running completely stock with all the memory timings correctly set up? Also, after you flash they say to go into the BIOS and set Optimized Defaults before doing anything else.
 
Nope, dont plan on OC'ing over 3.0 on the e2180, dont plan on buying a new chip any time soon. Computer is hooked up to a UPS so its only unplugged fully if I need to remove something or take it out for a cleaning. Looks like the IP35-e is about to get ordered.
 
skizzled said:
aiya
I didn't really have that great of an experience with bios15 at all. It's weird that it locks up when it does. Are you running completely stock with all the memory timings correctly set up? Also, after you flash they say to go into the BIOS and set Optimized Defaults before doing anything else.
Click to expand...

i've tried bios14 as well with no success. i ran it completely stock when i flashed it and stock now. also did the Load Optimized Settings in bios, no go.

i've already ordered a DFI DK P35 and i should get it tomorrow to replace/test. such a pity really that this happened, i really liked this board too and was gonna give it to a buddy of mine to replace his old P4 setup. now he's gonna have to buy a new board too.
 
Got the IP35-E ordered from Newegg, has free shipping now.

My e2180 and 4gb A-Data DDR2 800 showed up today. Hope to have the board by Friday for a weekend build!!
 
I've had this board for some time now and everything about this one is just awesome.
It is stable, overclocks like anything, and is cheap for the features it offers.
I have my E2140 @ 3.6 Ghz, Ram @ 4-4-4-4-12 @ 2.2 V, runs fine no lag whatsoever.
Dual boot is not a major concern and one gets used to it. BIOS 12 IS BEST PERIOD!
Even BIOS 16 has FSB Resets and Clearing CMOS can be a pain everytime you switch on PC.
Cheers.
 
You really can't go wrong with either. Theyre all good boards, using the great p35 chipset.

If it were me, i'd get the DS3L because it has all solid state capacitors, which last longer. I don't upgrade very often.
 
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