Universal abit IP35 PRO Review

[shimmishim]

interesting!

i didn't realize the IDE performance was so bad on this motherboard!

hmm...

[Heidfirst]

I would imagine that all the mobos using the JMB363 have similar performance.
I would also think that most people if they are using it at all for IDE are using it for their optical(s) where it's not a big problem.

[C-N]

Hi Mr Bravo Sir nice review

I just picked up an IP35 Pro a few days ago to replace my 24/7 DFI 975X/G work board after being impressed with the performance of the P35 chipset on my ASUS P5K Deluxe I just got for my home rig.

I decided to give the Abit a go as one thing that really annoyed me on the ASUS was the crazy temperatures the board runs at. I have an E6600 overclocked to 3.7GHz on the ASUS & without 10 million fans blowing on the board I have measured 100oC on some of the capacitors around the CPU socket.

A few other things that annoy me about the ASUS that the Abit put right are the poor location of the IDE socket, inaccessible CMOS jumper with an 8800, no PS2 mouse socket, BIOS chip that cant be replaced, real bad crackly popping audio, SATA ports poor location with 8800 etc etc etc honestly the ASUS is quick but its quirky.

==========

Anyway to the point although I can reduce the multiplier on my E6700 in BIOS down from 10 to 9 or 8 somehow windows/CPU-Z etc still show 360fsb x 10 it appears the multiplier unlock does not work can anyone confirm this.

EDIT:

Me bad it was Windows causing the multiplier problem I must have bent it pushing the RAM too hard

[Kin Hell]

with catas 7.7 enabeling CF is possible, but still very buggy

Gah eh! - This sort of cr4p just shouldn't be happening. Not only have Intel shut out nVidia & their poor SLI, they appear to be doing the same with ATI now!

Bloody disgraceful tbh.

[C-N]

I got her nice & stable now & run some benchmarks & it all looks good.

This board runs real nice comaired to my ASUS P5K Deluxe to Abit.

==========

ABIT IP35 PRO (BIOS M629B11)

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6600 CONROE 2.4GHZ 4M L2 CACHE

OCZ PC2-8500 SLI 2GB (2 x 1GB) PN:OCZN1066SR2GK

INNO3D 8800GTS 320MB (162.18 DRIVERS) (OVERCLOCK 617 X 955)

MAXTOR DIAMOND MAX 10 SATA 200GB HDD (6B200M0)

SONY DUAL LAYER DVD RW (DRU-820A)

EZCOOL 600W PSU

WINDOWS XP PRO SP2

CPU COOLING: THERMALRIGHT ULTRA-120 EXTREME

OC GURU:

CPU OPERATING SPEED................ - USER DEFINE
EXTERNAL CLOCK..................... - 462MHz
MULTIPLIER FACTOR.................. - x 8
# ESTIMATED NEW CPU CLOCK.......... - 3696MHz
DRAM SPEED (CPU:DRAM) 1:1.20....... - DDR2-1108
PCI EXPRESS CLOCK.................. - 100MHz


VOLTAGE CONTROL:

CPU CORE VOLTAGE................... - 1.5500V
DDR2 VOLTAGE....................... - 2.350V
CPU VTT 1.2V VOLTAGE............... - 1.49V
MCH 1.25V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.52V
ICH 1.05V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.19V
ICHIO 1.5V VOLTAGE................. - 1.70V
DDR2 REFERENCE VOLTAGE............. - 0%
CPU GTLREF 0+2..................... - 67%
CPU GTLREF 1+4..................... - 67%


ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES:

DRAM TIMING SELECTABLE............. - MANUAL
CAS LATENCY TIME (TCL)............. - 5
RAS# TO CAS# DELAY (TRCD).......... - 5
RAS# PRECHARGE (TRP)............... - 5
PRECHARGE DELAY (TRAS)............. - 15
REFRESH CYCLE TIME (TRFC).......... - AUTO
WRITE RECOVERY TIME (TWR).......... - AUTO
WRITE TO READ DELAY (TWTR)......... - AUTO
ACT TO ACT TIME (TRRD)............. - AUTO
READ TO PRECHARGE (TRTP)........... - AUTO
COMMAND RATE....................... - 2T
PCIE COMPLIANCE MODE............... - V1.0A
PEG FORCE X1....................... - DISABLED
INIT DISPLAY FIRST................. - PCIEX


ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES / CPU FEATURES:

THERMAL CONTROL.................... - DISABLED
LIMIT CPUID MAXVAL................. - DISABLED
C1E FUNCTION....................... - DISABLED
EXECUTE DISABLE BIT................ - ENABLED
VIRTUALISATION TECHNOLOGY.......... - ENABLED
EIST FUNCTION...................... - DISABLED

ORTHOS (SP2004) + 3DMARK2001SE + 3x CPU-Z




3DMARK2003:




3DMARK2005:




3DMARK2006:




AQUAMARK 3:




Super PI 1M




Super PI 32M




SHORT DESCRIPTION:
462 x 8 = 3.7GHZ @ 1.5500v
5-5-5-15 2T @ 2.35V DDR 1109

[brinox]

yea im interested in a board that doesnt squeal - how is the noise on this board when you volt up a lot on the CPU?

my 680i is horrific above 1.5v

[The Ripe Punani]

Not bad. Personally I'm not a big fan of the weird heatsinks/heatpipes.

[C-N]

yea im interested in a board that doesnt squeal - how is the noise on this board when you volt up a lot on the CPU?

my 680i is horrific above 1.5v

It runs quiet for me @ 1.55v & the heat pipes work just fine.

[JargonGR]

It runs quiet for me @ 1.55v & the heat pipes work just fine.

Hmm I was considering the PK5 Deluxe for my HTPC but you got me worried when you said that it reaches very high temperatures. Would you recommend me the Abit IP35 Pro over the PK4 Deluxe? I am using a Zalman HD160XT case (with the LCD) so heat could be a concern and ofc I do not want noise in my HTPC so making patents to cool the M/B is out of question.

[C-N]

Hmm I was considering the PK5 Deluxe for my HTPC but you got me worried when you said that it reaches very high temperatures. Would you recommend me the Abit IP35 Pro over the PK4 Deluxe? I am using a Zalman HD160XT case (with the LCD) so heat could be a concern and ofc I do not want noise in my HTPC so making patents to cool the M/B is out of question.

For a HTPC I am sure the P5K would be fine but for me personally there were too many issues with it especially when you consider it is/was the most expensive P35 board on the market.

The P5K is actually a slightly faster board than the Abit if overclocking & benching is what you are into but the thing that really made me give up on the P5K apart from the crazy heat, really bad board layout & hissing/crackly popping on board sound was once I got a decent overclock stable & switched over to a RAID 0 array I kept getting RAID errors which I couldn't cure.

The P5K uses a hot running digital PWM & has lots of mosfets & capacitors around the CPU area that if used as it came out of the packet with the stock heatsink that don't sit flat on the mosfets either is the first area that will stop you overclocking as you will find the board simply reboots when it gets to 100oC ish.

Asus have apparently cured the heat issue by releasing the P5K Premium but the layout & RAID problems are still there.

The Abit although ever so slightly slower in most benchmarks (not that you could tell) runs an analogue PWM which only just hits 60oC running Orthos on the above overclock passively cooled. As an overclocker I have an 80mm fan on the NB & 2 x 70's cable tied together on the RAM just out of habit but in all honesty they are not needed even @ 3.7GHz as the board runs super cool.

I have since posting the above overclock tweaked the RAM a little & reduced the voltages considerably see below.

VOLTAGE CONTROL:

CPU CORE VOLTAGE................... - 1.5500V
DDR2 VOLTAGE....................... - 2.150V
CPU VTT 1.2V VOLTAGE............... - 1.20V
MCH 1.25V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.37V
ICH 1.05V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.12V
ICHIO 1.5V VOLTAGE................. - 1.50V
DDR2 REFERENCE VOLTAGE............. - 0%
CPU GTLREF 0+2..................... - 67%
CPU GTLREF 1+4..................... - 67%


ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES:

DRAM TIMING SELECTABLE............. - MANUAL
CAS LATENCY TIME (TCL)............. - 5
RAS# TO CAS# DELAY (TRCD).......... - 5
RAS# PRECHARGE (TRP)............... - 5
PRECHARGE DELAY (TRAS)............. - 15
REFRESH CYCLE TIME (TRFC).......... - 30
WRITE RECOVERY TIME (TWR).......... - 3
WRITE TO READ DELAY (TWTR)......... - 3
ACT TO ACT TIME (TRRD)............. - 3
READ TO PRECHARGE (TRTP)........... - 3
COMMAND RATE....................... - 2T
PCIE COMPLIANCE MODE............... - V1.0A
PEG FORCE X1....................... - DISABLED
INIT DISPLAY FIRST................. - PCIEX

I cant really tell you the ASUS is a pile of s**t as we all have different needs & want our boards to do different things however I have now sold my ASUS & am very very happy with my Abit which I have not had a single issue with & is currently thundering along rock solid stable 24/7.

CN

[JargonGR]

For a HTPC I am sure the P5K would be fine but for me personally there were too many issues with it especially when you consider it is/was the most expensive P35 board on the market.

The P5K is actually a slightly faster board than the Abit if overclocking & benching is what you are into but the thing that really made me give up on the P5K apart from the crazy heat, really bad board layout & hissing/crackly popping on board sound was once I got a decent overclock stable & switched over to a RAID 0 array I kept getting RAID errors which I couldn't cure.

The P5K uses a hot running digital PWM & has lots of mosfets & capacitors around the CPU area that if used as it came out of the packet with the stock heatsink that don't sit flat on the mosfets either is the first area that will stop you overclocking as you will find the board simply reboots when it gets to 100oC ish.

Asus have apparently cured the heat issue by releasing the P5K Premium but the layout & RAID problems are still there.

The Abit although ever so slightly slower in most benchmarks (not that you could tell) runs an analogue PWM which only just hits 60oC running Orthos on the above overclock passively cooled. As an overclocker I have an 80mm fan on the NB & 2 x 70's cable tied together on the RAM just out of habit but in all honesty they are not needed even @ 3.7GHz as the board runs super cool.

I have since posting the above overclock tweaked the RAM a little & reduced the voltages considerably see below.

VOLTAGE CONTROL:

CPU CORE VOLTAGE................... - 1.5500V
DDR2 VOLTAGE....................... - 2.150V
CPU VTT 1.2V VOLTAGE............... - 1.20V
MCH 1.25V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.37V
ICH 1.05V VOLTAGE.................. - 1.12V
ICHIO 1.5V VOLTAGE................. - 1.50V
DDR2 REFERENCE VOLTAGE............. - 0%
CPU GTLREF 0+2..................... - 67%
CPU GTLREF 1+4..................... - 67%


ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES:

DRAM TIMING SELECTABLE............. - MANUAL
CAS LATENCY TIME (TCL)............. - 5
RAS# TO CAS# DELAY (TRCD).......... - 5
RAS# PRECHARGE (TRP)............... - 5
PRECHARGE DELAY (TRAS)............. - 15
REFRESH CYCLE TIME (TRFC).......... - 30
WRITE RECOVERY TIME (TWR).......... - 3
WRITE TO READ DELAY (TWTR)......... - 3
ACT TO ACT TIME (TRRD)............. - 3
READ TO PRECHARGE (TRTP)........... - 3
COMMAND RATE....................... - 2T
PCIE COMPLIANCE MODE............... - V1.0A
PEG FORCE X1....................... - DISABLED
INIT DISPLAY FIRST................. - PCIEX

I cant really tell you the ASUS is a pile of s**t as we all have different needs & want our boards to do different things however I have now sold my ASUS & am very very happy with my Abit which I have not had a single issue with & is currently thundering along rock solid stable 24/7.

CN

Hmm, I just might opt for the Abit then since honestly I do not need all the extras that the Asus has i.e the wi-fi since I have stand alone usb wi fi adapter. The sound issues are also unimportant to me since I use an X-Meridian 7.1 sound card hooked up to an Onkyo high end A/V receiver.

So that leaves me with the Raid and heat issues which are unacceptable since I plan on using RAID in the future. The Asus is also 20-30 Euros more expensive than the Abit so the latter looks an even better deal. Regarding the heat in no way I want fans in there producing noise and the HTPC is not placed in a wide open space so this is a real issue that virtually prevents me from buing it. The main purpose of this PC is stability, low heat output, silence and performance with moderate overclocking.

Thanks for the info.

[emoners]

Isn't the NB heatsink too big? Any HSF compatibility issues there?

[angelicavoc]

any one can tell my about vdroop in P35pro???

[Heidfirst]

all you need is in http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=147163

[Seanie's Show]

Just one thing im curious about, why only 4 phase PWM, and how does it handle Quad overclocking on 4 phase, would hate to get one and find it couldnt handle my Quad and 4gb Patriot (2x2gb) LLK DDR2 CL4.

[Deanzo]

Just one thing im curious about, why only 4 phase PWM, and how does it handle Quad overclocking on 4 phase, would hate to get one and find it couldnt handle my Quad and 4gb Patriot (2x2gb) LLK DDR2 CL4.

It does all right ,
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=167716

[Nosfer@tu]

An AMAZING REVIEW m8.
Cant find words.
Must be the BEST review I have ever read.

[atm743]

i get my abit ip35 tomorrow morning.

can anyone inform me on the drivers i should update the board to. any ones that i should stay away?

[Seanie's Show]

It does all right ,
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=167716

Thanks for the link and the info Deanzo, you lucky lucky man living in New Zealand, the most beatiful place in the world.

[emoners]

i get my abit ip35 tomorrow morning.

can anyone inform me on the drivers i should update the board to. any ones that i should stay away?

try here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=147163

[Ka0sX]

hey jonny thos Cell Shock's you had in this abit did you have to put in other ram and up the volts first then put in the Cell shock's

thanks

[seamumc]

hey jonny thos Cell Shock's you had in this abit did you have to put in other ram and up the volts first then put in the Cell shock's

thanks

I'd recommend sending Johnny Bravo a pm, this post is almost a year old.

[Johnny Bravo]

Ka0sX, I think I was able to get them to boot ok - but if I recall correctly I was lucky in this respect - as the board normally POSTs at 1.8volts. I cannot remember if abit implemented a 2volt boot feature in later bioses tho

[Ka0sX]

thanks for the reply much appericated