Difference in Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Revisions?

[meh]

Is there an actual physical difference between the different revision boards for the DS3? Or is it due to a newer BIOS version?

 

[senor_bob]

Is there an actual physical difference between the different revision boards for the DS3? Or is it due to a newer BIOS version?

Yes there are physical differences. I looked at the Rev 1.0 picture on Newegg and compared it to my rev 3.3. At a glance, I found:
The rev 1.0 has toroidal inductors, the rev 3.3 has some sort of enclosed inductors (the things labeled R40 in the pic).
The rev 3.3 has more capacitors around the CPU socket.
Different northbridge heatsink.
Miscellaneous parts moving around slightly.

Here's the rev 3.3: My that board looks lonely waiting on the Intel price drops to get the CPU and AMD/ATI to cough up the R600/HD2900 series vid cards.

I'm not going to risk to Newegg's pictures directly, just look at them through the main product page I linked above.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

3.3 has solid capacitors ... supposedly, more durable/higher quality. And support for intel's 1333 mhz FSB chips when they are released (e6x50, I think).

 

[meh]

My that board looks lonely waiting on the Intel price drops to get the CPU and AMD/ATI to cough up the R600/HD2900 series vid cards.

Heh.. you're doing the exact same thing I'm doing. Waiting for price drop on the CPU's and for 2950 XTX.

And thanks for the info guys, appreciate it. I saw some earlier revisions online for cheaper and now I won't be buying it. Saved me big disappointment!

 

[orangegator]

3.3 has solid state capacitors ... supposedly, more durable/higher quality. And support for intel's 1333 mhz FSB chips when they are released (e6x50, I think).

Don't all DS3's have solid state capacitors? Hence the D? And 1.3 also says is supports 1333Mhz FSB.

 

[senor_bob]

3.3 has solid state capacitors ... supposedly, more durable/higher quality. And support for intel's 1333 mhz FSB chips when they are released (e6x50, I think).

The solid (not solid state, solid state = semiconductor) capacitors are the distinguishing difference between the GA-965P-S3 and the -DS3 model (D for 'Durability' according to GB). The 3.3's claim the 1333 FSB support officially, although all revs could achieve that. I also think they added quad-core support in either rev 2 or rev 3.3.

 

[senor_bob]

My that board looks lonely waiting on the Intel price drops to get the CPU and AMD/ATI to cough up the R600/HD2900 series vid cards.

Heh.. you're doing the exact same thing I'm doing. Waiting for price drop on the CPU's and for 2950 XTX.

And thanks for the info guys, appreciate it. I saw some earlier revisions online for cheaper and now I won't be buying it. Saved me big disappointment!
Yeah I went ahead and ordered the motherboard two weeks ago when they put it on sale for 113.99 for two days. I was worried that on price drop day I might find a CPU but have key supporting parts sold out (like the 'DQ6 is currently). I'm actually considering using this ancient PCI (not PCIe) graphics card I have to get the system up and running while waiting for ATI.

 

[meh]

Yeah I went ahead and ordered the motherboard two weeks ago when they put it on sale for 113.99 for two days. I was worried that on price drop day I might find a CPU but have key supporting parts sold out (like the 'DQ6 is currently). I'm actually considering using this ancient PCI (not PCIe) graphics card I have to get the system up and running while waiting for ATI.

Oh really? Where was the price drop at? And I did a similar thing for RAM off eBay. Saved myself about $50 for the OCZ Platinum XTC RAM I got. Of course now I have 2GB of good RAM just sitting in a drawer with nothing to use it with. lol

 

[skyguy]

Successive revisions (ie 1.0 >2.0) have a few minor physical changes....one of which is an extra fan header, for example.

And the 3.3 rev will take a 1333 quad core, not just a 1066 quad......for upcoming releases Q4 or early next year.

 

[Canuck1]

I read about some problems with the newer rev. 3.3 boards. Can anyyone who knows explain the issue and clarify how bad it is.

Check:
NCIX.COM site and go to 'forum messages' under "still a good choice?"

Apparently, there are bios problems among other issues. I'm curious about this and perhaps, it's just one customer having problems. I am not sure but I was considering this board so I wanted to be aware of any issues. I'm currently comparing the board to the Asus and Biostar boards. The Biostar, in particular has dropped significantly in price and so has the Gigabyte.

 

[theonejrs]

Hi,
The first thing I noticed is that both use the identical physical board, part #D33006 located just below the heat sink looking from front to back. Both have 6 phase power regulation but the VRMs are heavier in the 3.3. The only other difference that I can find is in the Audio chip 888 (8 channel) for the 3.3 and 883 (6 channel) for the 1.33 I have. If you look at the specs on new egg, they are reversed between the plain DS3 and th 1.33. the plain jane one is the correct specs for the 1.33. It has all the goodies except the sound chip including the 1333 bus for Quad support. It will still be a week or so before I can put it all together.

I just got done doing an Asus P5N-E/E4300 for a friend and it was a nightmare. It took 3 motherboards before we got a good one. Asus was fantastic about it though

I've installed the E4300 and the Freezer 7 Pro, but I have to wait for some money owed me so I can get the memory (Geil DDR26400 cas4) and the video card. Then I'll be set to go. Got the DS3 on a deal from ChiefValue for $99 with a free AMD 512MB memory stick. The memory from them is $129 for 2x1GB. Don't much like the Orange but Geil is good memory.

Stay Tuned!
theone

 

[orangegator]

Both have 6 phase power regulation? That's good to know. How did you know this? I read someone thought that the 1.3 had only 3 phase power. Besides the audio, the 1.3 has a different Lan controller (older?). I ordered a rev 1.3 and it, along with all the other parts for my build, should arrive tomorrow. I'll post what I think of it and my results after I finish my build and OC it.

 

[skyguy]

Ya I coulda swore I read that the 1.x rev(s) had 3 phase.....I could be wrong though. Either way, 6 phase with the 3.3 is good.

 

[theonejrs]

OrangeGator,
Somehow, and I'm not sure how, I wound up finding the specs on GigaByte's web site. My efforts to find it again have proved futile! I also called them and they confirmed the 6 phase power regulation. The VRMs are not as heavy duty so if you are planning heavy duty games the 3.3 might better suit your needs. Neweggs specs are all screwed up so don't go by them!

theone

 

[orangegator]

OrangeGator,
Somehow, and I'm not sure how, I wound up finding the specs on GigaByte's web site. My efforts to find it again have proved futile! I also called them and they confirmed the 6 phase power regulation. The VRMs are not as heavy duty so if you are planning heavy duty games the 3.3 might better suit your needs. Neweggs specs are all screwed up so don't go by them!

theone

Here's the specs link to the specs for rev 1.3
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2510
I'd seen it before, but never saw anything listed about power regulation. Good to know you've confirmed 6 phase. I'm building this for a friend who doesn't game much so the VRM's shouldn't be a problem. I've been using the rev 1.3 for a couple days with an E4300 OC @3GHz with no problems.

 

[theonejrs]

OrangeGator,
I just put mine together today. I have it running at 3.0GHz on a 1334 FSB with the memory at 1:1. The memory bandwidth is nice and fat at 6100+ MB/s. It does 32K+ in MIPS with Sandra 2007 and the MM is over 184K.

Temps were a problem until the Arctic Silver I put on it cooked in a little. I saw 52C encoding with DVD Shrink. about half way through it, the temp started falling and now doesn't hit 48C encoding with DVDRB/CCE. This is an awsome MB and I highly recommend it to anyone building or upgrading to a C2D.

Sincerely,
theonejrs

 

[Twisted_Sister]

Yo, just got the DS3 Rev. 3.3

so far, so good!

A tip, if you want the Rev 3.3 from new egg, buy the one that doesn't list a version #. It will be about $30 more... this is Rev 3.3