Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

Gigabyte has long been a very big name in computer hardware. They manufacture almost any sort of hardware you can imagine. High quality computer cases, motherboards, video cards, laptops, CPU coolers, you name it they have it (they even have a cell phone!). Like ASUS, they are able to diversify and cover a massive segment of the industry, and they are able to do this without sacrificing quality and performance. An impressive feat indeed. Not so long ago, Gigabyte made a massive splash in the enthusiast/overclocking world with their release of the board known as the DS3. The 965P-DS3 was one of the best overclocking motherboards ever to be released on the market. Not only was it brilliantly designed, but very importantly, it was brilliantly priced. Everyone could afford it because it was not only better performing, but also cheaper than the competition. Overclocking was BY FAR the easiest we have ever encountered in all our years of experience. This is also partially because almost all of the Core 2 Duos are simply beasts. The P35-DS3P that we will be looking at today carries the same DS3 mark. This board is really the successor to the incredible 965P-DS3 and should be held to the same standards of quality and performance.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=11001

[Kano]

I have got a similar board (GA-G33-DS3R), but never had issues with network in dual boot, maybe your WIN driver was too old? It does not like to boot from grub with USB cdrom, isolinux boots. One thing with OC, when you for example would lower the multi then WIN shows correct speed, but when you use LINUX then you see a speed which would be shown when the original multi was used. You could try that if you like to.

[Panix]

I have got a similar board (GA-G33-DS3R), but never had issues with network in dual boot, maybe your WIN driver was too old? It does not like to boot from grub with USB cdrom, isolinux boots. One thing with OC, when you for example would lower the multi then WIN shows correct speed, but when you use LINUX then you see a speed which would be shown when the original multi was used. You could try that if you like to.

I'm looking at getting a GA-G35-DS3R board and was glad to read a review on the GA-G35-DS3P which should be similar in setup and application regarding Linux.

Actually, there is a thread in the Ubuntu forums devoted to the network issue with the GA-G35-DS3R/P boards. It seems it's universal but a minor thing. More of an inconvenience if anything. It sounds like a decent board to use with Linux which is good because I've been considering the board for a while because of the price. I only need a PSU and GPU besides the MB.

[Kano]

G35 can only combined with ICH8(R) instead of ICH9(R), but the difference is rather small. You need a Linux distribution with kernel 2.6.22+ and relative new Xorg. Ubuntu Gutsy would work out of the box, but if you want something Debian Etch based I could help you too with a Xorg backport.

[Panix]

G35 can only combined with ICH8(R) instead of ICH9(R), but the difference is rather small. You need a Linux distribution with kernel 2.6.22+ and relative new Xorg. Ubuntu Gutsy would work out of the box, but if you want something Debian Etch based I could help you too with a Xorg backport.

I meant I'm considering a GA-P35-DS3R board, sorry!

Does that mean it's more likely to be supported out-of-the-box? I can use debian-based distros like Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Etch etc. or Fedora? Maybe kernel .20+?

[Kano]

ICH9R alone is no problem with current kernels. But the G33/G35 would be interesting too if you want to try the intel onboard drivers. Usually the price is the same, just firewire missing and the serial port needs a slot bracket.

[Panix]

Is there any issue with sound with these motherboards? I went to the Realtek site and although Linux drivers are listed, none of the Realtek (audio) chipsets/codecs listed there are ALC889 (Gigabyte P35 boards usually have that one). ALC888 is listed so an Abit IP35 Pro mb (has the ALC888) probably wouldn't have an issue?

[Michael]

There were no sound issues with the GA-P35-DS3P during testing, it worked out well.

[Panix]

Thanks for the quick confirmation.

I read someplace that Linux (well, one distro is claimed to, anyway) reads the ALC889A codec as ALC885 but the concern there is an issue is alleviated to discover the sound works without additional tweaking. Thanks.

[dj_segfault]

It seems this board is out of stock at almost every vendor. For instance, newegg is estimating they'll have them 10/01. Do you think they're transitioning to rev 2.0? Or is there something wrong with this board that they're recalling them?

Thanks.