More Stable? Abit IP35 or Gigabyte DS3L?

I

iqwertyi

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
167
Hi,

Since my motherboard died, I'm in need of a new one.
And while at it, I'm upgrading my CPU and RAM as well.
I already settled on the CPU and pretty much nailed down the ram as well, now just down to motherboard.

CPU: E6750
Ram: Gskill 4 Gig's 800

Currently I'm not looking to overclock. But may dabble a bit later.
I'd much rather have a stable computer.

With that, I've narrowed it down to these two budget motherboards.
Abit IP35
Gigabyte DS3L

I seem to read a lot about the dual boot issue on the Abit. Not really sure if it's a "problem" or a feature. Is there anything that would lean you towards one vs. the other.

I'd greatly appreciate your insights.

Thanks,
 
iqwertyi said:
Hi,

Since my motherboard died, I'm in need of a new one.
And while at it, I'm upgrading my CPU and RAM as well.
I already settled on the CPU and pretty much nailed down the ram as well, now just down to motherboard.

CPU: E6750
Ram: Gskill 4 Gig's 800

Currently I'm not looking to overclock. But may dabble a bit later.
I'd much rather have a stable computer.

With that, I've narrowed it down to these two budget motherboards.
Abit IP35
Gigabyte DS3L

I seem to read a lot about the dual boot issue on the Abit. Not really sure if it's a "problem" or a feature. Is there anything that would lean you towards one vs. the other.

I'd greatly appreciate your insights.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Abit had the dual boot issue as well recently they fixed it in one of the BIOS so I'm guessing Gigabyte will as well. I think either way both are good mobos, Abits a bit more picky on ram though
 
The Abit dual boot issue is pretty common but the Gigabyte DS3L has a uncommon cold boot issue. It acts like the Abit dual boot issue but it doesn't always boot the 2nd time. And most of the time it will reset your CMOS settings, which is highly annoying especially if your overclocking.
 
KamelRed said:
The Abit dual boot issue is pretty common but the Gigabyte DS3L has a uncommon cold boot issue. It acts like the Abit dual boot issue but it doesn't always boot the 2nd time. And most of the time it will reset your CMOS settings, which is highly annoying especially if your overclocking.
Click to expand...

Oh wow. I didn't know Gigabyte also had this issue.
Man, I can't believe it's so difficult to choose a board.
I'd like to place the order today. Any other advice out there (even if it's going with a completely different brand and model at roughly the same price)?
 
I just built a budget build with an IP35-E and it went very smoothly. No problems at all with a 6550. That being said, I'm writing from a Gigabyte board now. I don't think you can go wrong with either one at stock settings.
 
No problems what so ever with my Abit IP35-E aside from the double boot. Too lazy to update my bios at the moment. :D
 
Just to be perfectly clear, the double boot issue is that when you boot up the computer, it starts to boot then stops, then starts again, and continues into Windows. All of which (the first boot) takes about 3 seconds or so. This is what I've read about it. Is this accurate?
 
iqwertyi said:
Just to be perfectly clear, the double boot issue is that when you boot up the computer, it starts to boot then stops, then starts again, and continues into Windows. All of which (the first boot) takes about 3 seconds or so. This is what I've read about it. Is this accurate?
Click to expand...

Yip, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. I'm biased as I own the abit IP35-E, so I obviously favour that but in truth pick the P35 based chipset board you want based on features, as there's not a cigarettes papers' difference between most of them.

I've read about the issue KamelRed mentioned about the Gigabyte DS3L but I don't know how common it is.
 
Thanks for your input.

Honestly, I feel like it's a real toss up between these two (or other basic P35 boards). I'm leaning just slightly more to the DS3L simply because I can think of one hardware I have that still uses the serial port. I don't know (nor have I looked at) if serial to usb adapters would work with it.
 
I love my DS3L and haven't experienced any boot issues. It does have a handy recovery feature in that if you overclock and it doesn't like the settings it will reject them and boot at default. Much nicer than resetting the CMOS manually every time.

I basically built an identical system to the OP.

E6750, P35-DS3L, 2GB of G.Skill DDR2 800 @5-5-5 w/ an 8800GT.

It's awesome. Currently running the cpu at 3.4GHz with stock (auto) volts and the RAM at 850@5-5-5-15 timings. The card runs at 700/1775/2000 and pushing it a tad higher I managed to break 13k 3DMarks.

Couldn't be happier. :D
 
Ok,
So, I did the most scientific thing I know to do in a situation like this. I flipped a coin!
Heads Gigabyte, Tails Abit
And it landed....
Heads. So, there you have it. Gigabyte it is.
(seriously, I did flip a coin to make the decision :))

Thanks again for all your help and insights.
 
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