The P965 Express is Intel's latest weapon in their chipset arsenal and it is designed to support their upcoming Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors. Currently the only other Intel chipset that will support these yet to be released processors is the i975X Express and this chipset is reserved for only the most elite motherboards. Therefore, boards supporting the P965 chipset will retail at around $160 US where as 975X boards start closer to the $200 US and can cost as much as $280 US. The pricing places the P965 Express in the mainstream market but do not let this fool you, the list of supporting features is tremendously long!
When it comes to features the P965 Express is actually the most feature packed chipset Intel has on offer and this is primarily due to the inclusion of the ICH8 south bridge. The P965 actually supports a wider range of official memory frequencies than the 975X, along with a broader range of system buses. Processor support is much the same on board chipsets, though the P965 was designed primarily to support the new Core 2 processors. The second generation Intel Matrix Storage Technology2 is also found on this new chipset, supporting a total of six SATAII ports.
So the Intel P965 Express certainly delivers when it comes to features and the chipset is also more affordable than the 975X. The only other question that needs to be addressed regards performance, how well does the P965 perform when compared to Intels 975X flagship chipset and what is the overclocking performance like? This review will certainly answer both these questions, but before we get that far, lets take a moment to examine the test subject.
The Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 is an impressive looking motherboard and its not just the looks that will impress, Gigabyte has really gone all out on this one. This is great news as I found the G1975X, their 975X Express motherboard, to be a total disappointment. The 965P-DQ6 on the other hand is anything but a disappointment, as Gigabyte has gone way out of the box on this one! They are calling it their first 6-Quad motherboard, which means it includes features such as Quad BIOS, Quad Cooling, Quad s-SATA2, Quad Triple Phase, Quad Core Ready and Quad DDR2 Slots. Of course half these Quad features are nothing more than just marketing rubbish, but there are a few that you should pay attention to.
The Quad Triple Phase in particular is quite interesting and not just because of the name. Recently I have been impressed with ASUS motherboards that have featured an 8-phase power design and most motherboards feature a 4 or 6-phase power design. Increasing the number of power phases helps reduce heat, increases stability and can extend the lifespan of the processor and motherboard. While the 8-phase power design of the high-end ASUS motherboards is very impressive, Gigabyte have gone and made it look that little bit less impressive. How you ask? Why, by including a 12-phase power design on the 965P-DQ6.
This means the 965P-DQ6 delivers an even steadier supply of power and immediate current support for the CPU during heavy work loads or over-clocking. Furthermore, Gigabyte has improved quality even further by utilizing conductive polymer aluminum capacitors for unequalled durability. In fact, every aspect of this motherboard reeks of quality, right from the aluminum capacitors to the color coded connectors. However, the quality does not stop there as the 965P-DQ6 package features a number of high-quality cables and components.
The huge 12-phase power design is cooled via a very elaborate cooling setup that relies heavily on heatpipe technology to work. Gigabyte are again calling this a quad feature, as Quad Cooling is designed to cool the power phase, north bridge, south bridge and the rear of the motherboard. There is a total of four unique heatsinks on the front side of the motherboard, all of which are connected via heatpipes. The rear side of the motherboard features what Gigabyte are calling Crazy Cool which is really their version of the ASUS CoolStack technology. The Gigabyte approach is a little more full on, as it uses a thick aluminum plate rather than just an extra layer of PCB.
Overall, the 965P-DQ6 looks to be one of the best Intel P965 motherboards on the market, with a huge array of features. Some of the features that you can expect to find on this motherboard includes, SATAII RAID, Dual BIOS, Dual PCI Express x16, 8-Channel Audio (supporting Dolby and DTS), Gigabit LAN, Silent Pipe Cooling, Solid Capacitor design, Firewire, USB 2.0 and many others. Gigabyte are also claiming that the 965P-DQ6 is an overclocking enhanced motherboard, so I am obviously very keen to do some Core 2 Duo E6700 overclocking on this motherboard.
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