Motherboard for Core 2 Duo

To run the powerful dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processor, you have a new option with the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset and a 'take advantage' of the Intel 945 chipset if you are not yet able to deploy Core 2 Duo on boards. motherboard using Intel 965 chipset.

Processor (Intel Core 2 Duo processor), was tested for the first time about 6 months ago when it was available in the market, helping to improve desktop performance. However, the recent Core 2 Duo system is only limited to Intel chipset (BMC) selection. Seeing this problem, NVIDIA 'boldly' introduced the nForce 590 SLI (Crush19) chipset and gave users more options BMC. So, compared to Intel chipset, how is this new product? Test Lab conducted 5 BMC tests, of which 4 products from Asus and Gigabyte used Intel 965 chipset, separately ECS used NVIDIA 590 SLI.

BMC using Intel chipsets often have high performance thanks to the perfect "pairing" with Intel processors. The 965 chipset has new Intel technologies such as Intel High Definition Audio, Intel Matrix Storage and Intel Fast Memory Access. While nForce 590 SLI has dual graphics with x16 bandwidth for both slots, good support for memory and network.

Design

Asus P5B-E Plus

Except Gigabyte GA-965G-DS4 uses tube heat sinks that work efficiently and look 'professional'; Asus and Gigabyte GA-965GM-DS2 BMC use large, high metal blocks for chipset heat dissipation, and ECS only uses thin metal plates in combination with radiator fans. Two Asus products also have Stack Cool 2 technology to help heat dissipation by bringing heat down to the bottom of the board. Both also have Q-Connector connectors that specify the name of each pin to facilitate assembly and fast. Gigabyte and Asus P5B-E Plus both use solid capacitors (Solid) to increase longevity and heat resistance.

Function

Asus P5B-V

All 5 products use high-end chipsets, which fully support the features such as bandwidth of 1066MHz, dual channel DDR2 memory, x16 PCIe graphics, 8-channel audio, ATA or SATA 2 hard disk communication with Features RAID, gigabit network speed, IEEE 1394 signal line specializing in video signal transmission.

In addition to the above-mentioned features, the products also have their own characteristics. All 4 BMC based Intel 965 chipsets support dual channel DDR2 800MHz memory, ECS PN1 SLI2 only supports DDR2 667MHz but compensates up to 16GB of memory capacity. Products using Intel G965 chipsets such as Asus P5B-V, Gigabyte GA-965GM-DS2 and Gigabyte GA-965G-DS4 have integrated X3000 VGA with Clear Video technology, maximum resolution reaches 2048x1536 at 75Hz, split memory up to 256MB. ECS PN1 SLI2 supports dual graphics with SLI technology, bandwidth for both slots reaches x16. Asus P5B-V, though designed with 2 PCIe slots, only has a blue slot with x16 (black slot only supports x2 or x4 speed).

ECS PN1 SLI2

Except for the Gigabyte GA-965GM-DS2, the remaining products have optical / coaxial digital audio ports. ECS PN1 SLI2 has up to 2 gigabit (dual LAN) ports that allow simultaneous connection with 2 networks. External SATA ports are supported in Asus and ECS products, allowing hot mounting to make data backup with external hard drive faster and more convenient. ECS PN1SLI2 NCQ technology makes accessing hard disk data faster.

Gigabyte and ECS products all support Microsoft Windows Vista; BMB Gigabyte also supports 4-core processor (Core 2 extreme quad-core).

Experiment

Gigabyte GA-965GM-DS2

SYSMark 2004SE score shows that the system performance of all tested products when running normal applications for Office (Office) and Internet is almost no difference (less than 0.01%) but with testing PCMark05 to evaluate each component is different. Compared to the results of similar BMC chipsets, ECS PN1 SLI2 showed improvement in graphics and memory tests; that may be due to the advantage of leading graphics chip manufacturer NVIDIA. However, it should be noted that the internal memory only has a 533MHz bus.

Conclude

Under test conditions, we noted the improvement in performance of the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset system; Furthermore, BMC uses this chipset and has more features such as 2 gigabit network terminals, supporting x16 bandwidth SLI technology for both PCIe slots. However, with the Intel 965 chipset, you have many options for BMC and flexibility to choose products according to your needs.

Gigabyte GA-965G-DS4

In addition to performance, you should pay attention to the utilities and software that comes with BMC when the copyright issue becomes increasingly severe. The BMC has utilities to update online drivers, update BIOS, overclock, software for watching movies (Win DVD, Power DVD). Gigabyte has the Xpress Recovery2 utility to help create and restore the system quickly, Xpress BIOS Rescue 'saves' the BIOS.

The Gigabyte GA-965GM-DS2 features the smart and safe features (Smart, Safe) while the GA-965G-DS4 has all four features including Silent-. Pipe (Tube radiator), Speed, Smart, Safe. Both are aimed at gamers, lower prices than the rest. However, if you need more features such as digital audio, external SATA, you can choose Asus products. ECS ECS belongs to Extreme series, the price is higher but it has many features, accessories and high performance for heavy and entertaining applications.