Quake 4
Making the CPU / Memory / Hard Drive earn their pay in this test, and the Asus comes out with a slight edge.
Subsystem Testing
The first thing we'll check is the audio. We downloaded and installed to test its CPU utilization.
CPU utilization was minimal throughout the DirectSound 2D and DirectSound 3D tests. With an average CPU utilization of 0.11% and 0.57% respectively, add to those impressive scores the 3D Hardware +EAX tests at a mere 0.49%, you can see that the Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 is extremely efficient at delivering high quality audio. Unlike it's brethren Intel 975x chipsets utilizing HD Audio, Gigabyte chose the Realtek ALC888 DD. As is typical fashion, the drivers for the Audio chipset feature “soft ports” for the rear panel connector so you can plug in as you see fit, without crawling to the back of the system. Gigabyte and Asus are in a dead heat in this category.
Hard Drive Performance
While Gigabyte employs the ICH8, a newer South Bridge, you would be hard pressed to find a performance advantage. Granted, the 6 SATAII ports are a start.
AHCI is supposed to give you some nice advantages, apparently the advantages are not found by a synthetic program. I must say, however, that playing around with the system built with AHCI enabled form the start, feels faster then one that uses the IDE compatible mode.
Network Performance
We used to test the networking speed, and Windows Task Manager for CPU utilization. As with Most motherboards today, the Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 is a PCIe based GB NIC. Unlike the Asus competitor here, the DQ6 only has a single NIC. I copied a variety of files varying in size of 300kb to as much as 150MB and totaling 2.0GB, from my ArchOS Server to the Test System and back. Then I performed the same test with a 3.7GB ISO image. This test was performed at stock CPU speeds using an Enterasys C2 (C2G124-24) enterprise class switch.
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49.84
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16
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| Asus P5W DH Deluxe |
51.27
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17
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| Download |
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66.39
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12
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| Asus P5W DH Deluxe |
69.33
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12
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Asus takes this one both uploading and downloading. Performance is close and to be honest, this is some of the fastest sustainable rates I have gotten from a desktop PC.
Overclocking
While I am new to Gigabyte, I have heard of them as decent to very good overclockers lately. The DQ6 motherboard specifically, I have seen some pretty amazing clocks. With that in mind, there was some frustration as Gigabyte does not provide some of the same tweaks I am used to seeing. First however, we will go over what the results were, then some of the pain involved in getting there.
I was able to obtain a healthy OC of 415MHz FSB using a 6x multiplier, my maximum using the stock 8x multi was at 410MHz.
Easy Tune is Gigabytes Windows Overclocking utility. While a Windows based utility is nice, it rarely gets us to where we want to go. Granted, if you want to dabble in OC without mucking around in the BIOS, this is a nice solution for you. Unfortunately, Gigabytes Easy Tune does not reach the levels of OC I have gotten from similar products from Asus and Abit. I am not saying it doesn't work, because I was able to get to 350MHz FSB (2.8GHz in my case) which is a decent overclock to be sure. Unfortunately, I got locked when I tried to do 375MHz (remember, I got to 410MHz through the BIOS). The last picture up there the system is locked solid.
Using Gigabytes BIOS setting of “Auto” for all of the voltage controls allowed me to clock to 410MHz, while I was able to get slightly higher using manual configuration, it isn't enough in my humble opinion to be to concerned about (unless you HAVE to have every drop of performance). Moving to manual mode we run into a few hiccups, changing the voltage from Auto to Manual lists all variable voltages as “normal”. The VCore has its “normal” value listed in the menu below, nothing else has a base listed. To compound the confusion, Gigabyte has only offered up the ability to adjust from the “normal” value, be it +0.05 or +0.5V. What is that normal value you ask? Got me as well, as not everything is documented (specifically in this case the DDR2) so it is hard to adjust a value when no basis has been established. Add to this, Gigabyte gives you no information of the “normal” voltages in any other screen, they could easily by added to the “PC Health” screen (one would think) or even sub listings such as they use for the VCore, it would have been very nice to know the “normal” values I was adjusting from.
Once I figured out my baseline (to a degree anyway) I was able to forge ahead and get a slightly better overclock manually. What impeded me you ask? Well, it was not memory, which I could not tweak to my liking, it was flat out temperature of the cores. I was running at 1.40 VCore and 55C idle. I am use a decent Heat Sink Fan combination on this setup, I did say decent, not outstanding. If I were to be able to cool the C2D a little better I am sure the motherboard had a little more room to go, but with the cooling I had to hand and the afore mentioned copper sink on the back of the motherboard causing issues, I had to settle for the modified cooling solution for testing.
Final Words
I will be the first to admit that I have not previously been intimate with but this motherboard has made me question why that is. While there are quirks for this or that, it is something we all have become accustomed to, as no motherboard has everything we want, exactly how we want it or I would be out of a job. brings to the decision making process 3 things that will make it hard not to choose them over the competition: A stellar performing solution, a design that is both logical and efficient and downright good looking motherboard.
The included package is not the largest or best seen with a board, but it is plenty. The manual provides plenty of information although here and their an option could be expanded upon.
The board itself as I have mentioned before is very attractive. The cooling employed is a chained heatpipe cooling setup which negates the need for an active cooling solution, however if you were to watercool your CPU, then a cooling fan for the heatpipe cooling might be required for overclocking. There are plenty of features, ports and connectors available too.
It's not all positives however. The biggest negative is the copper plate on the rear which caused more than a few headaches in regards to using a decent CPU cooler on the front. Many after market coolers use their own mounting system which we found to be impeded by the rear cooler in some cases. Also, a few of the BIOS options could have been explained a lot better. The voltage options spring to mind; list them as OK if everything is running fine but I'd rather make the observation for myself thank you. It also makes it difficult to decide if you want to push a little more voltage through a component as you have no baseline to compare to without going into Windows and using a program such as CPUz to determine your current voltage.
is making a bold statement, one that has caught this reviewers attention and held it. A BIOS update to fix the informational quirks, and being prepared with a cooler for the CPU that uses a standard mounting setup will make this board a very positive one in the eyes of an end user.
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