Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 questions

[.Maleficus.]

Well, I'm looking for a motherboard for a Core 2 Duo build I'm doing somewhere in the next 3-5 months hopefully. This board caught my eye. It looks pretty good to me, but I'm not at all a motherboard expert. I know that everyone is saying wait for the nVidia 590 SLI chips to come out, but since I most likely won't do SLI, and this board is in my price range, I want to hear what you guys think about it. I also have a few questions.

1. Apparently, it only likes lower voltage RAM. I can't find very many RAM sets (2 gig dual-channel) that are DDR2 800 that also have low voltages. Will there be a big preformance loss if I use say, DDR2 533 or 667? Also, I would like it to be under $220 if possible.

2. (n00b question, so be prepared to laugh) It has a FSB of 1066/800 MHz. I know that has something to do with RAM and the CPU, but I don't know what. Can someone please tell me what that is for?

3. It has 3 PCI-E x1 slots. What would I ever use those for? Can regular PCI cards be put in those?

4. Overall, is Gigabyte a good company? I've heard good things about them, but I would like your opinions too.

Thanks for your help!

[Slug Toy]

how about this ram? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146118

that should be a low enough voltage to work on any board.

as for the pci-e 1x slots... those are practically useless. there are a few things for them, and ive seen one video card for it, but you cant put regular pci cards in there.

the 1066/800 fsb has to do with processor type if you run everything stock. for the core 2 duo processors, they have a base frequency of 266MHz, and then the multiplier steps it up further. the fsb is quad pumped meaning it usually takes the same base frequency as the CPU and multiplies it by 4 (266x4=1066). beyond that, there are ratios that step the base frequency up or down to match the ram frequency. in this case we want to step from 266 to 400 (remember that ram is ddr so it gets multiplied by two). that works out to a 2:3 ratio (divide 266 by two and multiply by three to get 399 which is close enough). so thats whats up with the frequencies.

overall, i think gigabyte is pretty good. good reviews all around, good performance. i havent really heard of too many problems with their boards, and i havent heard of any problems with service either. lets just put it this way... plenty of people use their stuff, os it cant be bad.

[Johnman6996]

I like that board. I have sold probably 6 of them. The only problem that I know of is with the 6800. We had that board in service and tried 2 different chips in 2 different boards... and it came up as a 700MHz chip.

Truthfully I believe it is because we are treading on new ground here and there are going to be kinks in it.


As for Gigabyte as a conpany I like them enough to buy a K8N nForce4 SLI for my Dad for Christmas last year. He then bought a second 6600GT... and Encarta and Turbo tax... I guess he wanted to bench mark his FPS in turbo tax... what a waste :rolleyes:

He does play games though... Civ 4. A couple of shooters but mostly Civ 4.

But I digress. I will be purchasing that same board in October when I get this year's Intel bundle. So yes: they are a good company, and yes: that is a good baord.

The 3 PCIx1 slots are for expansion (i.e. sata raid cards etc. I think we carry a SATA 2 RAID card and a Firewire 800 card but that is it) and no you can not use regular PCI cards in them.

And Slug Toy answered everything else... and what I reanswered.

[.Maleficus.]

Awesome, thanks for the help!


Edit: Yes, that RAM would do nicely! Thank you!