Introduction

Among the boards we have tested so far,  ASRock 775Dual-VSTA, ASRock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 and ASUS P5W Deluxe DH, Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6, the 2 first two boards are budget boards that are priced under a 100 USD. The other two are more expensive models that are priced much higher than the two budget boards. The ASUS board is priced at ~USD 269.99, the Gigabyte model is priced at ~ USD 279.99.

Pricing of ASUS P5W Deluxe DH

ASUS P5W Deluxe DH is a board based on the i975x proven chipset. ASUS P5W DH Deluxe has one of the most interesting designs we come across so far. Just like most 975X boards, it comes with Dual PCIex8 slots for ATi CrossFire. In terms of features, there is also 1394 controller chipset, Realtek ALC882 7.1ch HD audio codec, two Marvell GbE PHY and one Jmicron JBM363 chipset and WIFI access. There is SiliconImage 4723 Hardware Raid controller for raid 0 / 1 (ASUS EZ-Backup). The heatpipe design with a 8 phase power design for maximum stability also makes this board outstanding among the competitors. This board is feature packed and it includes a very comprehensive overclocking BIOS.

Pricing of Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6

Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 is another highly sought after board due to its insane overclocking to close to 500MHz air cool using Engineering CPUs. Firstly, it is Quad Cooling which covers the pcb with cooling devices like Crazy Cool and Silent-Pipe. Heat sinks covering Mosfets and North/South bridge. Secondly, Quad BIOS is a feature unique to GIGABYTE that includes DualBIOS™ and Express BIOS Rescue Technology. Quad e-SATA2, the board has four sets of external SATA ports based on the Serial ATA 3Gb/s storage. Fourthly, Quad Triple Phase incorporates 12 Power Phases to deliver steadier power and immediate current support for the CPU during heavy work loads or over-clocking. The 5th Quad is Quad Core Ready. On top of all these, the mainboard also has a 16x + 4x PCIe interface, 8 ch audio, PCIe GbE, 1394 and a super optimised BIOS for overclocking. One thing to observe is that this board will not work run in CrossFire mode.

My recommendations are simple. If you are on a budget, the ASRock boards are definitely the way to go. Depending on whether you need CrossFire capability or usage of older AGP and DDR modules, you have a choice there. In fact, I am using the ConroeXfire-eSATA2 as my working PC.

As for the ASUS and Gigabyte board. If you are looking for features, both boards has amazing feature set with the ASUS having a lead as it has a true Dual 8x PCIe which can run CrossFire. There is also WIFI capability and EZ-Backup using a seperate controller. In terms of o/c, this board isn't as good as the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6.

Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 has insane overclockability, I would say. Not only that, the quad eSATAII ports will also come handy if you use lots of eSATA. The board is also VISTA ready.

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