915 Motherboard Roundup: Socket 775 for the Rest of Us
by Wesley Fink on December 7, 2004 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Biostar P4TGP 775: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Pentium 4 Prescott LGA 775 560 ES (2.8GHz-3.6GHz) |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.425V (1.3875V default) |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Jungle 502 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520 |
| Maximum CPU OverClock: | 217x18 (3996MHz) +9% |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 217FSBx14 (+9%) |
Like a few other boards in the 915 roundup, Biostar has made no changes whatsoever to open up the stock 10% OC lock that we saw on the first 915/925X boards. It really doesn't matter whether you are trying to overclock at the stock 18X multiplier or a reduced 14X ratio - the limit is 217 FSB or about 9% overclock. If you are an overclocker or would like to try your hand at overclocking in the future, the Biostar is not a good choice. It is competitive at stock speeds and very stable at a small overclock, but this is not a board that will make an overclocker happy.
Memory Stress Test Results:
The Biostar uses DDR memory to ease the transition form a current platform to Socket T. The memory stress test measures the ability of the Biostar P4TGP 775 to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (DDR400), at the best performing memory timings that OCZ OC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running DDR400 at 1:1 ratio with 2 DIMM slots operating in Dual-Channel mode.| Stable DDR400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 DIMMs - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | 1:1 (200:200 - Default) |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | Auto |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2 |
| RAS Precharge: | 2 |
| Cycle Time (tRAS): | 5 |
The Biostar was completely stable with 2 DIMMs in Dual-Channel at the DDR timings of 2-2-2-10 at 2.6V default voltage.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR modules on a motherboard.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | 1:1 (200:200 - Default) |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | Auto |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2 |
| RAS Precharge: | 2 |
| Cycle Time (tRAS): | 5 |
We often see boards from second tier manufacturers that have some issues when filling all memory slots on a motherboard. 4 DIMMs was not an issue for this Biostar as it handled 4 DS DIMMs at the same timings that had worked for 2 DIMMs. It appears that Biostar has paid careful attention to memory performance on the P4TGP 775 and the board performance is satisfying at stock speeds.
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krelian - Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - link
I been a Intel user since the first Pentium 3 came out now I have a Intel P4 3.0C I refused to spend more money on things I had already bought so I stayed with the 478 socket, seeing as Intel wants me to move to an expensive platform, I say I'll ditch Intel head with the AMD crowd, I'm sure I won't be the only one, maybe legions of intel campers will leave.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
About the config I put together in the previous post; does anyone know if the overclock lock on the 915P chipsets apply to lower FSB's too? Could I overclock the 133MHz Celeron D to 200MHz on any 915P motherboard?ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
The 915P chipset provides good value for the money. For example:ECS 915P-A $79
Intel Celeron D 325J 2.53GHz $88
Albatron GeForce 6600 128MB $120.50
or
Albatron GeForce 6600GT 128MB $190.50
(newegg prices)
The processor can be overclocked to 3.6+GHz very easily, much like the Athlon Mobiles.
That makes a good budget gaming rig, better than anything you could put together with an AMD processor for the same money. So, at least in my opinion, AMD has a better mainstream/high-end processor, and Intel wins the value segment. Who would say?
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I have now read the entire article, and oh boy! Though I prefer to read about socket 754/939 motherboards, this has to be the best motherboard roundup I ever read. Ever. Well done.
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#22,
thank your fixing it. The typo I wrote about on page 10:
"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
Don't you mean ABIT in the last word there?
ocyl - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wesley > Thank you for paying attention to the audio features/components of these motherboards, particularly Dolby Digital Live :)Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#21 - The Foxconn results have been corrected on p.20. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
A few typos:"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
page 10.
On page 20, the "Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed" table is probably wrong.
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Good article.
LeadFrog - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Why does only the socket 915 get a 16mb cache Hard Drive?danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wes, I said thanks before but I'll say it again, great roundup. We appreciate your hard work, always.danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Live -The P5GD2 is expensive compared to most boards, but it includes a ton of stuff, like 8 SATA ports, dual gigabit LAN, on-board 802.11g/b, and on-board hi-def audio with Dolby Digital Live (realtime encoding, like SoundStorm).
Most 915P boards aren't as close to as expensive as the Asus. The Abit AG8 is ~ $130, equal or cheaper in price than the K8N Neo2.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#16 - After I did the price analysis today I changed "outstanding value" to "good value". Thanks for the comment about the review being good reading. It is appreciated as a huge amount of work went into this roundup.