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Overclocking

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4:20 AM - 08/25/2008 by Thomas Soderstrom

Gigabyte wins the FSB contest when all motherboards use the same settings. We’ve seen claims by another company to FSB clocks exceeding 700 MHz, but those records were set by professional overclockers using extreme cooling, and might have even required hardware modification.

Since every motherboard in today’s comparison was capable of pushing a higher FSB clock than our processor could withstand at its highest multiplier, CPU clock speed is instead restricted by other factors such as VRM stability. You’d expect the highest stable CPU clock to be reached using the 16-phase power regulator of Asus or Gigabyte, but instead we find MSI’s 6-phase products taking first and second place with our dual-core processor. We might have had a different winner had we used a Core 2 Quad, or perhaps not.

The MSI P45D3 Platinum was the only “true” DDR3 motherboard in today’s comparison, and it pushed our DDR3-1600 CAS 8 memory to very respectable CAS 7 speeds. The dual-compatibility motherboards couldn’t even reach the rated speed of these modules.

Asus leads the way among DDR2 motherboards, but Gigabyte, Jetway, and MSI aren’t far behind. The two Asus motherboards were also the only ones we’d trust to run four DDR2-1066 modules, although it’s better stay with a single pair whenever possible.

Talkback
nickchalk 08/25/2008 11:19 AM
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Where are the lower price P45 M/B ?
Asus P5Q pro is out for €110 and P5Q deluxe for €165 the price difference is about 70$ in Greece.

nihility 08/25/2008 1:41 PM
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51 pages... You won't be upset if I read just the last 3 pages right?

Proximon 08/25/2008 2:18 PM
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I suppose I can get some good from having read this. Did you get paid by the word? Maybe next time you could just put together a complete features chart so that we can have some convenient comparison? You know, so someone could go to a chart and see at a glance which boards had eSATA or firewire, or 8 USB.

JPForums 08/25/2008 2:31 PM
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I'd rather have the overabundance of information than a lack of information. Presentation could use a little refining (I.E. comparison charts and the likes), but having the relevant information available at least is a good thing.

Anonymous 08/25/2008 2:55 PM
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the introduction and specifics are nice, the comparision isn't. so, why don't you test with an 8500 or qx9650? 6850 are outdated... and a mobo handling a c2d doesn't mean it can handle a quad too, see P5K for example (it stinks when it comes to a q6600).

Crashman 08/25/2008 3:57 PM
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proci :
the introduction and specifics are nice, the comparision isn't. so, why don't you test with an 8500 or qx9650? 6850 are outdated... and a mobo handling a c2d doesn't mean it can handle a quad too, see P5K for example (it stinks when it comes to a q6600).



Tom's Hardware wants the performance of current articles to reflect that of recent articles, so a "standard test platform" was chosen a while ago. It will get updated, but probably not before the new socket becomes widely available.

zenmaster 08/25/2008 5:23 PM
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I would have liked to see something such as a P35 and an X48 as controls to help analyze the P45 Performance.

In otherwords, What is the P45 Gaining me over the older P35.
What would I gain by going to the X48. (Or Lose)

Crashman 08/25/2008 5:26 PM
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zenmaster :
I would have liked to see something such as a P35 and an X48 as controls to help analyze the P45 Performance.In otherwords, What is the P45 Gaining me over the older P35.What would I gain by going to the X48. (Or Lose)


http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1961.html

johnbilicki 08/25/2008 5:47 PM
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dobby 08/25/2008 5:59 PM
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nickchalk :
Where are the lower price P45 M/B ?Asus P5Q pro is out for €110 and P5Q deluxe for €165 the price difference is about 70$ in Greece.



the p5q PRo is a p43 board, i should know i have one

dobby 08/25/2008 6:03 PM
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johnbilicki :
The first 17 pages were filled with nothing but junk from ASUS. Do us a favor: don't even bother featuring or *MENTIONING* anything for any reason from a company that refuses to RMA 200-400 dollar brand new motherboards with anything other then used and usually broken junk. It destroyed my enthusiasm for the article.



if you RMA through your Vendor then you get a new one, which BTW most big vendors dont even check to see whether the part is broken.

also this article is good, way better than other recent articles especially mac orinated ones) what would be good though is a big summary table. also if the charts where updated.

Anonymous 08/25/2008 6:33 PM
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"the p5q PRo is a p43 board, i should know i have one"

Funny, so do i and it's a p45.

Shadow703793 08/25/2008 6:48 PM
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You forgot the EP45-DS3L. :( . Also why include cr@ppy brands (ie JetWay) any ways?

Crashman 08/25/2008 7:22 PM
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johnbilicki :
The first 17 pages were filled with nothing but junk from ASUS. Do us a favor: don't even bother featuring or *MENTIONING* anything for any reason from a company that refuses to RMA 200-400 dollar brand new motherboards with anything other then used and usually broken junk. It destroyed my enthusiasm for the article.



Lies. The first two motherboards were from ASRock. The two companies are not the same, regardless of any ties they may have.

Crashman 08/25/2008 7:23 PM
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nickchalk :
Where are the lower price P45 M/B ?Asus P5Q pro is out for €110 and P5Q deluxe for €165 the price difference is about 70$ in Greece.



There are low-priced P45's in there. The ECS only cost $110 US, which, given the weakness of US currency, is cheap.

Crashman 08/25/2008 7:25 PM
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Shadow703793 :
You forgot the EP45-DS3L. . Also why include cr@ppy brands (ie JetWay) any ways?



NO motherboards were "Forgotten". Everyone got a chance to submit up to two motherboards, Gigabyte sent one. Jetway send one. Any of the other brands you disliked that were in the review, were there because everyone got an equal shot.

jerreece 08/25/2008 8:42 PM
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johnbilicki :
The first 17 pages were filled with nothing but junk from ASUS. Do us a favor: don't even bother featuring or *MENTIONING* anything for any reason from a company that refuses to RMA 200-400 dollar brand new motherboards with anything other then used and usually broken junk. It destroyed my enthusiasm for the article.



At least you have a completely unbiased view of this...

I haven't read through the entire article. I actually skipped to the Conclusion first to see what board was rated as best (frankly that's important to me). Unfortunately, I see the second best, third best, but I'm having a hard time identifiying what Tom's calls the 1st best. It is not clearly stated.

cruiseoveride 08/25/2008 9:02 PM
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that msi rocks ass. my next board.

johnbilicki 08/25/2008 9:21 PM
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ASRock is a subsidiary of ASUS hence their RMA policies are likely to emulate that of ASUS.

Don't give me a thumbs down for sticking up for consumer rights. Thumb my comments down if you LIKE getting used and often broken replacements for your $200+ brand new though malfunctioning/broken boards.

Another problem ASUS seems to create is that it is usually the only company that builds motherboards for the GOOD AMD socket chipsets leaving us to wait for only a very select few (1~3 780A and nForce 4 true 16X SLI are examples) motherboard choices. This is *NO* different then how Dell used to use proprietary parts to lock you in. I LIKE choice and I expect ANY part regardless of it's price to have a NEW replacement for a RMA so long as it's covered under warranty.

So long as they play politics this way and try to sucker people I will speak up for the less informed enthusiasts. Let's not forget Gigabyte busting ASUS *AND* having a couple articles featured on this very site about it earlier this year.

My favorite is the Gigabyte board based on features. The article was interesting though what is with the inconsistencies? For example some motherboards have images of the IO panel while others do not. Still it was a good read.

jimmysmitty 08/25/2008 9:52 PM
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^I will agree with you on that part but when it comes to good quality, performance and extra features I have never had a problem with Asus. I of course have been lucky enough to never have one break one me.


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