5 P35 mainboards tested - Asus with high power consumption

jojo4u · Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 805 Location: Germany

Recent issue (14/07) of the german printed magazine c't tested the following P35 mainboards:

Asus P5K Deluxe/WIFI-AP: automatic fan control down to 50 %
Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WIFI-AP: like P5K
Gigabyte P35-DS4: automatic fan control down to 25 %, 3/4-pin compatible
Foxconn P35A: automatic fan control down to 50 %
MSI P35 Neo: automatic fan control down to 50 %, no automatic case fan control

system:
Core 2 Duo E6700
Seagate ST3250620AS
2x1 GiByte RAM
Geforce 7600 GT
PSU not specified, but presumably Sharkoon Silentstorm SHA480-9A as in recent tests

[F]bernZ · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 162

Don't forget the ASUS ones are both equipped with wireless which undoubtedly adds at least SOME power consumption to the figures.
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Corsair XMS2 5400C4 @ 600 4-4-4-12
Abit IP35Pro
WD 2500AAKS
Pioneer 111-DVR
eVGA 7800GT w/ Accelero S1
Corsair 520HX
Lian Li A05B

Fans:
900RPM rear intake
900RPM front exhaust
600RPM CPU HS

Temperatures:
@1.8 (300*6) idle ~28-34
@3.0 (300*10)load ~54-62

pputer · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 155

Gigabyte has a wide series of motherboards. Would the power consumption be similar (within a few watts) among them?

There is DS4, DS3P, DS3R and more. I assume they should all be within only a few watts of each other. That's good as I've been considering the DS3R.

kakazza · Joined: 23 Feb 2007 Posts: 32

Yeah, I am very interested in the DS3R since it can run both, DDR2 and DDR3.

Not planning to wait for 45nm CPUs, cause with the DS3R I can still upgrade to them later~

PaulG · Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 6

http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/productdb/bGRkZZiTmJnK/viewproduct/Gigabyte_P35DS3R/

I've never heard of this site before, but I started googling these things when the P35s were released and it's one of the first sites I found that dealed with wattage.

If you look in the top right of the page, you can compare the specs to other models. All the P35 boards are being tested with identical setups. Wattage figure is on the bottom.

That Gigabyte board is also the one I'm eying. Was gonna build a cheap e4300/P65 board last month. Then I said, "It's so close, I'll wait for the P35s in case I wanna later upgrade to quad core Penryn." Then these boards were released and I saw articles stating the G0 cores in the new 6x50 models (July 22) run at lower voltage/temperatures. So I'm waiting again.

I'm beginning to build my wacky case, however, and it's either gonna be brilliant or a disaster.

jojo4u · Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 805 Location: Germany

One more example for the high power consumption. This case is settled for me by now.

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/mainboards/2007/test_asus_p5k3_deluxe/12/#abschnitt_leistungsaufnahme

Leistungsaufnahme = power draw
Last = load
Hinweis = information
mit = with

merlin

HueyCobra · Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 217 Location: Australia

josephclemente · Joined: 11 Aug 2002 Posts: 501 Location: USA (Phoenix, AZ)

As an Asus P5K-E owner, these discussions got me thinking about replacing my P5K-E with a Gigabyte DS3R for a free drop in power consumption.

So I returned the P5K-E and got a DS3R. In idle, the DS3R is 25 watts lower.

But as I started to use the thing, some issues came up.

First, the audio is horribly noisy, especially with headphones. Hard drive access makes it worse. I have read about this issue on other Gigabyte P35 motherboards, but was hoping I'd get lucky with this model. Of course now I see a Newegg reviewer agrees too, but excuses it as typical motherboard audio.

Then I discovered with my combination of hardware and a clean install of Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit, the system won't recover from hibernation correctly, even with the newest BIOS installed. I did some Google searching and saw a few others with the same problem, but no solution.

A few other things bothered me about the Gigabyte board, but the audio issue alone was enough to make me hate the board and I didn't want to buy a sound card just because they couldn't get it right.

I briefly looked into Abit's board until I discovered it had PCI Gigabit instead of PCI Express.

So I'm back with the P5K-E and I think the extra 25 watts usage is worth it.

EDIT: After playing with the Gigabyte some more, I found my hibernation issues were caused by having the USB cable connected to my Dell 2407WFP monitor, which contains a hub and flash readers. Shutdown issues were resolved by disabling the Gigabyte SATA feature (non-Intel SATA). I found I still have a sound card handy, so I may give the Gigabyte another chance...
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Max Slowik · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

jojo4u · Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 805 Location: Germany

lplatypus · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 21 Location: Sydney, Australia

nick705 · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 1135 Location: UK

jojo4u · Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 805 Location: Germany

Burst speed isn't the problem. There might be problems when another device wants to transfer over the PCI bus. E.g. sound card, tv-tuner. It's just not a clear, performant solution.

pputer · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 155

Okay, the Gigabyte board was one I was really considering but the issues sound pretty bad. Although, I am interested in adding music (cubase, sound creating programs, amps, digital recording etc.) and a sound card, the issues still create concern.

Could someone help me here? I was hoping someone could help me decide on a board.

I have a few articles and reviews featuring P35 boards. If you could do a quick read and then give me your opinion for what you would choose, that would be very helpful.

I think the motherboard choice is the hardest because I am trying to budget no more than $200 and there are few of the good boards for that price. I'm not considering the Asus boards because of the high power consumption and high prices (and don't want the vanilla boards when there are other alternatives which consume less power/have lower wattage). Imho, the last link is especially good for comparisons. I'm looking at the Abit and MSI boards in particular but the Gigabyte board might be sufficient. Maybe, I can make do and just buy a sound card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/19/eight_p35-ddr2_motherboards_compared/

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q2/p35-mobos/index.x?pg=1

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?p=3900661

http://www.hardware.info/

Max Slowik · Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks all. Sometimes my brain doesn't work without the little diagram of features.
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HueyCobra · Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 217 Location: Australia

DriverHeaven.net has posted a P35 Motherboard Roundup comparing the Gigabyte P35-DQ6, Abit IP35 Pro Off Limits, Asus P5K Deluxe and MSI P35 Platinum.

florinp3 · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 39 Location: Bucharest, RO

Regarding IP35 Pro, I just received confirmation from Abit that it doesn't support undervolting "due to the limitation of hardware". Sad

So I guess I'm stuck with Gigabyte...

pputer · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 155

What about the MSI Platinum? The only thing that looks problematic on it is the Marvell controller. It isn't up to par compared to the Gigabyte but it's cheaper and doesn't produce as much heat (or runs at a much lower wattage anyway).

Are the Gigabytes below the DQ6 (DS3R etc.) produce similar benchmarks and offer sufficiently similar features? It appears the wattage and noise levels are slightly lower than the DQ6 but not by much. It's quite cheaper, though, $100 less.

HueyCobra · Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 217 Location: Australia

pputer · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 155

How do all these guys do their tests? I think 'Hardware.Info' and TechReport have a wide difference in their totals. The only consistent score that I can see is that the Abit and Gigabyte produce the least amount of heat/wattage.

I don't know which board to favour now. The Gigabyte DS3R is reported to produce more wattage at load than those three (add in the Asus) according to hardware.info.

What does it mean that the Abit IP35 doesn't support undervolting? Is that a big deal. I think the Abit falls short in a lot of benchmarks but if the price is right, it is a poor man's Gigabyte DQ6 and is sufficient if you don't need all the bells and whistles?

Arvo · Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Posts: 293 Location: Estonia, EU :)

Looking at some benchmarks, I think that Abit has BIOS problems (again) - their memory speed is abnormally low.

Remembering their previous fiasco (AB9 BIOS woes) I'd not buy another Abit Intel board - at least not before I have seen massive positive feedback on internet.

lm · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:34 am Post subject:

merlin · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject:

josephclemente · Joined: 11 Aug 2002 Posts: 501 Location: USA (Phoenix, AZ)

merlin · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:49 am Post subject:

jimmyzaas · Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 137 Location: Toronto, CANADA

I read the Techreport comparison. I see that they also claim P5K uses more power. Another thing I noticed is the Analog Devices integrated sound which they claimed to be better. Is this true?

Also, some P5K users have been having problems with using all 6 Sata ports. Anyone have similar problems?