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Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 Express Motherboard Review
Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 Express Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
Mainstream users really can't hope for much more, but if you're looking to build a low cost entry level computer I'll bet you want something a little cheaper than P35 can afford. Well just your luck, Intel has released a stripped down iteration of the P35 called the P31 Express chipset.
 88% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Gigabyte Nov 02 2007   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

Overclocking the the budget platform

Overclocking Results:
stock max. oc
motherboard speed: 333 mhz

463 mhz

if you're new to Overclocking and not sure what to do, check out these two excellent Guides for some pointers:
Overclocking the CPU and Memory
Overclocking the Videocard

We are very excited at the prospect of overclocking the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard because the Intel P35 series has been easy to work with. An Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor and a set of 2GB Corsair DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-8888C4DF memory were installed into the system, and as usual the CPU clock multiplier was to 6x and the memory to DDR2-667 speeds.

Starting at 333 MHz the GA-P31-DS3L's FSB was increased in 5 MHz increments. The Gigabyte motherboard easily broke the 400 MHz FSB mark. Continuing, at 425 MHz the motherboard started to show some signs of instability and the chipset voltage had to be increased by 0.1V.

Shortly thereafter the GA-P31-DS3L motherboard reached a maximum speed of 463 MHz, anything higher and system was too unstable to load Windows. A speed of 463 MHz is not the highest FSB we've seen, but considering this motherboard only retails for ~$80 CDN it's a heck of a performance.

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L BIOS:

You can adjust the CPU clock multiplier and increase the GA-P31-DS3L motherboard frequency from 200-600 MHz in 1 MHz increments. There are a whole load of memory speed options, and as you can see memory timings are in the MB Intelligent Tweaker section as well.

The GA-P31-DS3L allws you to increase the DDR2 voltage 0.7V above stock, chipset voltage to 0.3V above stock and CPU voltage as high as 2.0V! You're warned though.... Gigabyte gives you options high enough to damage the hardware.

Prelude to Benchmarks

The details of how the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard test system was configured for benchmarking, including the specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions are indicated below. In the second column are the general specs for the reference platforms this Intel P31 Express based system is to be compared against. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations
test system reference system #1 reference system #2
processor: intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (775) AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+ (AM2)
Clock Speed: 8 x 333 = 2.66 GHz 9 x 266 MHz = 2.4 GHz 13 x 200 MHz = 2.6 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L (P31 Express)

ECS PN2 SLI2+ (NF 680i SLI)
Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (X38 Express)
Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H (975X)
Biostar TForce P965 DLX (P965 Express)
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (P965 Express)
Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H (P965 Express)
MSI P965 Platinum (P965 Express)
Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 (P965 Express)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 (P35 Express)
MSI P35 Platinum (P35 Express)
Biostar TP35D3-A7 Deluxe (P35 Express)

ASRock AM2V890-VSTA (VIA K8T890)
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 (GF6150)
MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NF 570 SLI)
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI)
Videocard: MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D256E
Memory:

2x 1024MB Corsair DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-8888C4DF (DDR2)
2x 1024MB Corsair DOMINATOR Twin3X2048-1800C7D (DDR3)

Hard Drive: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740
CDROM: AOpen Combo 52x
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 SLI
Heatsink: Intel E6600 Reference AMD Athlon64 FX-62 Reference
Software Setup:

Microsoft WindowsXP SP2
Intel INF 7.22
nVIDIA Forceware 91.47

Microsoft WindowsXP SP2
nVIDIA Forceware 9.35
nVIDIA Forceware 91.47

Benchmarks:

SYSMark 2004
PC Worldbench 5.0
Super Pi
SiSoft Sandra 2005
PCMark05
3DMark05
3DMark06
FarCry
Doom 3

Quake 4

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
 Pg 1.  Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 Express Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Motherboard highlights
 Pg 3.  Intel P31 Express Chipset
 Pg 4.  — Overclocking the the budget platform
 Pg 5.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sysmark 2004
 Pg 6.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sysmark 2004 Continued
 Pg 7.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Graphics)
 Pg 8.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Office)
 Pg 9.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Data Crunching)
 Pg 10.  Motherboard Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra, Super Pi
 Pg 11.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PCMark05
 Pg 12.  Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark05, 3DMark06
 Pg 13.  Motherboard Benchmarks: FarCry, Doom 3., Quake 4
 Pg 14.  PCSTATS Maximum Motherboard Overclocking Chart & Conclusions

 
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