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Anyone looking at building a new desktop system should not look any further than Intel Core 2 processors, and when time comes to pick a platform you should have Intel's own P35 chipset in mind as it officially offers 1333MHz FSB support and will be compatible with upcoming 45nm processors. This translates in a fairly 'future-proof' platform, with some models currently available supporting DDR3 memory already. But as new as this chipset is, deciding that you want a P35-based motherboard is not enough. Most major manufacturers have already launched several different models powered by the chipset, to give an example, ASUS currently offers a dozen motherboards models all based on the Intel P35.

We have rounded up some of the better examples available for one big article where we shall compare them side by side. Although we have nine motherboards to compare, they come from just four different manufacturers: Abit, ASUS, ECS and Gigabyte. These boards range from $90, all the way up to $230.

http://www.techspot.com/article/61-i...board-roundup/

Please leave your feedback here. Thanks!

Just a quick request - is there any chance of some performance testing of the onboard RAID controller, especially in RAID5 mode?

I've been looking around on the web for some time trying to find RAID5 performance/CPU usage figures for the ICH9R chipset, but haven't had any luck.

Other than that, a very nice roundup, thanks!

I'd wait for the X38.

1 obvious error
"This means they also retain Crossfire support via two PCI Express x16 slots (that work at x8)."
they don't they work at x16 + x4 (except on the Asus Blitz with Crosslinx chip).

Also, did you think why abit went to PCI LAN on the IP35 Pro whereas it uses PCI-E LAN on the cheaper board?
It's so that you still have another PCI-E slot active when you have both the x16 & x4 in use - other boards disable their other PCI-E slots in that configuration.
Depending upon your needs/point of view that's a good or bad design decision but it ought to have been mentioned.

Oh, & you can get the IP35-E for $70 after rebate rather than the $120 quoted

I have a p5k3 board, I love it. Well done on the review, was very helpful.

Now ABIT IP35-E is around $90 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127031 ), the same price of Gigabyte P35-S3L. What is the best buy?

If you want to know the best buy why dont you compare reviews. Just compare the things you know you need now and you may need later.

Talk around Anantech forums says the Abit IP35-E works very well.

The Abit IP35-E goes 550 FSB?

From what I read I'm sure it could if you had the right cpu and really really good cooling.

Whats the difference between Abit IP35-E, Abit IP35 and Abit IP35 Pro ?

I'd like to know why these reviews/tests do not include information on how well each board deals with it's system resources?

Hi this is my first post here, so hello everyone.
I'm trying to choose a new mobo as I've had enough of the rather quirky and over featured 680i SLI and the P35 chipset looks rather more well tempered.
I just notice in your fantastic Intel P35 motherboard round-up the for the Asus P5K-E it said "...running two GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards in SLI mode", but dosen't it only run ATI's crossfire? It would be good to know that you did have SLI working.
Also, you mentioned "...ASUS is not really concerned with cooling the MOSFET chips on this motherboard as they shouldn’t get very hot" so I'm wondering that if I Liquid Cooled the CPU and NB could I get away with no heatsink on either mosfet bank, and could I leave the SB passively cooled (it would save a bundle on cooling blocks), assuming I still had good airflow onto the mobo?
Any help would be much apreciated, thanks

Did you read the review? We compared two of those boards!!!

Not sure I understand what you mean there?

Sorry that is a little confusing about the SLI thing. The boards were never tested in SLI, when looking at the board design I stuck two GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards on the boards that I could to see how much room there was. This was done because at the time the 8800 GTX’s were the biggest graphics cards I had available at the time. For the review I should have just said Crossfire Radeon HD 2900XT cards but it slipped my mind sorry. We will fix this ASAP so thank you for pointing it out.

Finally if you have sufficient air-flow over the board cooling will not be an issue.

Originally Posted by xxxxxxxx
I'd like to know why these reviews/tests do not include information on how well each board deals with it's system resources?

I'm talking about how IRQs are handled....I've built several systems recently based on the intel P35 chipset using a few different mainboard manufacturers and all were horrible at doing this.....why?

Note: No matter how many times(more than I can recall) I reload the OS on my dated NF3 socket 939 board, each device gets assigned it's own IRQ.....this has not been the case with the boards I have used in newer builds so far.

IRQs, huh?
I personally haven't had to deal with those for years

Really?.....I find IRQ sharing to be very problematic on Audio/Video workstations. I also find that it decreases performance and can cause stabilty issues on gaming systems that allow for IRQ sharing of the GPU among other devices.

Really can’t say I have either! I have to say that it does seem like a very odd request. Can you point us at one other review/article on the net that includes such tests?