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Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

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  • Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

    Well thanks to ClubIt I have to get another motherboard. They screwed up my order big time. I went looking for the same DS3R board, but now I'm seriously considering the DS4 instead. What's weird is I was looking at the DS4 on this Legion Hardware review here, but the board pictured looks totally different than anywhere else.

    Below is the picture of the Gigabyte P35-DS4 from the Gigabyte site:



    Here's the same board at Newegg:



    Now this is the P35-DS4 picture on the Legion Hardware review:



    On the Legion site the DS4 looks completely different. I'm referring mainly to the heatsinks. I actually like the heatsink arrangement on the board pictured at Legion, but since it doesn't look anything like the ones pictured everywhere else I'm wondering has the board been changed? If anyone knows I'd appreciate the info.

    Either way, would the DS4 be a better mobo than the DS3R?

    Thanks.
    Last edited by desktop; 02-06-2008, 06:25 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

    Yes it has changed, the P35-DS4 has gone through 4 different revisions, 1.0/1.1/2.0/2.1

    The one you see at legionhardware.com is revision 1.0...The revision 1.0's had the problem that the northbridge heatsink completely blocked out the topmost PCI-e x1 slot.

    All the other revisions are the same except 2.1 incorporates DES [dynamic energy saver]

    YES the DS4 is better than the DS3R, BUT i think the DS4 is more expensive cause your paying for more heatsinks! So, basically your paying extra for more copper heatsinks.

    Although if your forte is overclocking, then get the DS4 is your budget is not limited.
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    • #3
      Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

      Originally posted by randomness View Post
      YES the DS4 is better than the DS3R, BUT i think the DS4 is more expensive cause your paying for more heatsinks! So, basically your paying extra for more copper heatsinks.

      Although if your forte is overclocking, then get the DS4 is your budget is not limited.

      Thanks. I have a Q6600 with G0 stepping and a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with a Scythe 120mm fan, because I do plan on OCing some. I believe the G.SKILL RAM I just got should work well in the DS4.

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      • #4
        Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

        Do not forget about 1.2 revision, but I do not see any differences compared to 1.1

        Main difference from 1.0 to 1.1/1.2 is the height of the heatsinks; from 1.1/1.2 to 2.0
        more USB ports at expense of LPT/COM; 2.1 is DES board ;-(
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        • #5
          Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

          Originally posted by randomness View Post
          Yes it has changed, the P35-DS4 has gone through 4 different revisions, 1.0/1.1/2.0/2.1

          The one you see at legionhardware.com is revision 1.0...The revision 1.0's had the problem that the northbridge heatsink completely blocked out the topmost PCI-e x1 slot.
          Maybe it's just sample variation, but my rev 2.0 also suffers from the NB heatsink blocking the topmost PCI-e x1 slot. At least, the backs of tuner cards which are not particularly long, such as the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800, rub up against the heatsink fins.

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          • #6
            Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

            2.1 Also looks to be the same NB/PCIX1 problem. I dont have a card to stick in it to test, but looks pretty obvious you couldnt stick anything in it

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            • #7
              Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

              If you plan to overclock, I would steer you away from Gigabyte Board. I know that it's being touted as one of the best overclockers. In fact, P35 is the best overclocking chipset, but Gigabyte's quality control is less than acceptable. I've gone through 4 boards and all had some serious issues. Just read the boot issues on this forum.

              I've tried 3 different Q6600, 4 different sets of RAMs, and every possible known configuration to resolve reboot issues + BIOS reverting back randomly.

              I have the lastest 2.1 revision in hand.

              With the latest BIOS, when you set the DDR2 voltage to anything other than the default 1.8x V, computer will not wake up from sleep. BIOS F7 works fine.

              I would certainly look at Abit IP35 Pro.

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              • #8
                Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                You are paying for more than just more heatsinks. Its in the name, DS4 meaning it has 4 power phases while the DS3R has 3 power phases. Helpfull for overclocking especially on quads because power is generally more stable and not as much stress on each power phase as there is more of them delivering the power, also less vdroop in most cases. I myself have ZERO vdroop and the board is not modded.

                @ solo, GIGABYTE boards are the best I ever used for overclocking, I have no idea what you are talking about.. just because you have a problem with their product don't mean stay away from them. I like to look into Abit's history of faulty products because its much higher than GIGABYTE. Seen enough reviews and almost every GIGABYTE board was walking all over Abit.. I absolutely love my DS4.

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                • #9
                  Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                  nah...both the DS3R and DS4 have 6 phases of power. IF you look around the cpu socket, there are those black square things.

                  They are the phase thingys.


                  The DS4 has "silent pipe" as well as crazy cool whereas the DS3R doesnt. Plus if you want crossfire support, only the P35-DS3P and P35-DS4/5/Q6 supports it.
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                  • #10
                    Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                    Originally posted by GiggaByte View Post
                    You are paying for more than just more heatsinks. Its in the name, DS4 meaning it has 4 power phases while the DS3R has 3 power phases. Helpfull for overclocking especially on quads because power is generally more stable and not as much stress on each power phase as there is more of them delivering the power, also less vdroop in most cases. I myself have ZERO vdroop and the board is not modded.

                    @ solo, GIGABYTE boards are the best I ever used for overclocking, I have no idea what you are talking about.. just because you have a problem with their product don't mean stay away from them. I like to look into Abit's history of faulty products because its much higher than GIGABYTE. Seen enough reviews and almost every GIGABYTE board was walking all over Abit.. I absolutely love my DS4.

                    Thanks to everyone who has posted. GiggaByte, thank you for that information about the boards. I'm still seriously considering the DS3R, since this within my price range for a mobo and would meet more of my needs without overdoing it. However, since I had to send my board back I'm keeping my options open (until pay day, that is) and I appreciate all your feedback. It helps to hear what actual users have experienced with these products. The runners up for P35 is Abit, Gigabyte, and ASUS.

                    I have had an ASUS P4P800 in my current PC for over seven years without a single issue and I was going to do ASUS again, but then I started reading more and more that recent ASUS mobos were experiencing a lot of issues and that's when I learned about Gigabyte. I originally liked the DS3L and then later went for the DS3R, because I preferred the Ultra Durable 2 design, which the DS3L does not have.

                    Thanks again everyone for taking the time to post. I appreciate it.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                      Yeap, Asus used to be Better then now. All I see nowadays is asus complaints. And more then half of the complaints about booting issues with gigabytes are due to users not finding the right overclock settings is all, or not knowing that is the issue. So they then fall into the talk of reboot cycle and do not know they can fix it and just give up. Not all, but some for sure.

                      Ohh, and by the way no crazy cool on DS4 2.0 or 2.1 just so you know. And my comments on DS4 2.1, it rocks. NO Vdroop and if there was to be there is loadline calibration settings in the bios anyhow. And also different from the ds3 line is more finer voltage settings for fsb, ram, and mch.

                      If you have the extra $50 or so, the DS4 is worth it for sure!!!

                      Ya know, I think gigabyte owns asus

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                      • #12
                        Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                        Originally posted by a573573 View Post
                        If you have the extra $50 or so, the DS4 is worth it for sure!!!

                        Yeah, I'm leaning more towards the DS4 right now. Spending the extra 30-40 bucks is a non-issue for me, considering I already have a Q6600 and a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (with a Scythe 120mm fan) for cooling. Might as well get a board worthy of the CPU, eh?

                        However, just reading through all the issues people are having (here and newegg) I get a bit nervous at times. One of my biggest concerns is I've noticed the DS4 has a big metal plate underneath the CPU, and I'm hoping this doesn't interfere at all with the Ultra120E I'm going to install. In addition, there’s no internal Reset and clear CMOS button which I found in many of other motherboards in the same price range. People also seem to be having a ton of post/boot problems with these boards, which is quite worrisome. All these issues people are having seems odd. My ASUS P4P800 I've had for seven years and never had a single issue with it. Another weird thing is on the Gigabyte web site when I downloaded the manual it says GA-EP35-DS4. I'm wondering what's with the "E"?

                        Everyone it seems to be having issues getting their CD/DVD drives to work with RAID, AHCI, and JMicron. I was actually looking at the ABIT IP35 Pro in the beginning, because many ppl give high accolades to uGuru, which is the best mobo manufacturer supplied hardware monitor/fan control going (or so they claim). Of course the IP35 Pro has just as many problems as the Gigabyte boards.

                        Hopefully the HS doesn't present a problem during isntall with that metal plate on the back of the DS4 (and I don't encounter the plethora of issues others are having). Newegg appears to be selling the latest revision of this board, which seems like a good thing. Some of the newer user reviews say they received the rev 2.1 board.

                        So all in all I'm considering the DS4. Hopefully the RAM I purchased (G.SKILL 2 x 1GB PC6400) will work. I haven't checked on this yet so I don't know.
                        Last edited by desktop; 02-07-2008, 02:41 AM.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                          The big metal plate is the "CRAZY COOL" module which helps in cooling the heat from the CPU/north bridge/southbridge and maybe the MOSFETS.

                          The "E" you see in the EP35-DS4 means you are buying the board with DES [Dynamic energy saver] or in other words, your buying the revision 2.1 board.

                          Im sure all DDR2 800 or PC26400 will work. MY ADATA DDR2 800 2x 1GB worked out of the box too, although its not listed on the supported memory PDF on the gigabyte website.

                          If you do decide to get the DS3R, you need to think wether you want to get crossfire support or not. only the DS3P and DS4/5/Q6 series supports crossfire, albeit one card gets only x4 bandwidth.
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                          • #14
                            Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                            Originally posted by randomness View Post
                            The big metal plate is the "CRAZY COOL" module which helps in cooling the heat from the CPU/north bridge/southbridge and maybe the MOSFETS.
                            Just visited the Thermalright site and found out that the backplate of the DS4's cooling arrangement does interfere - they suggest removing it completely. Bad news there. Be nice to actually find someone that got the Ultra120E to work on their DS4 without removing the whole stock backplate. On Newegg's site I don't see a backplate on the DS4, and they are showing the rev 2.0 model. Does anyone know for sure?

                            I guess with that in mind I'll have to wait and see if there's a solution to be found otherwise go for the DS3R. There are no installation issues with Ultra120E and the DS3R.

                            They have too many mobo revisions, in my opinion, lol.

                            I have no interest in crossfire/SLI/dual video cards. I just want dual monitor setup is all, which the card I bought (Diamond Viper X1650 Pro 516MB) should handle nicely.
                            Last edited by desktop; 02-07-2008, 04:16 AM.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Gigabyte P35-DS4 - Which Board?

                              You should send an email to your shop asking the revision first of all, i wouldn't take anything below 2.0, preferrably 2.1.
                              For the crazy-cool backplate, my Rev 2.0 doesn't have one, and i was disappointed by that, seems the reviewers got some inofficial "inbetweener".
                              Even if it did, i don't think it would be complicated or dangerous to remove it.
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