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| Overclocking Results: |
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Intel's previous mainstream chipset was a pretty good overclocker. PCSTATS definitely
has some high hopes for the P35 Express and Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 motherboard.
Equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo
E6600 processor and Corsair DOMINATOR
Twin2X2048-8888C4DF memory, PCSTATS
began these overlocking tests pretty sure that the processor would be the one component to hold the mtherboard back. Before the ovreclocking began, the memory was set to run at DDR2-533 MHz mode.
Starting at 266 MHz the FSB was increased 5 MHz at a time. Without much surprise the Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 broke 300 MHz and reached 333 MHz easily. Heck the GA-P35-DQ6's default operating speed is 333 MHz anyway right? So now the real overclocking begins. At 350 MHz the Core 2 Duo E6600 processor started to give us some problems, so the voltage was increased to 1.375V.
The Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 definitely handled overclocking quite well, and only at 380 MHz did the Northbridge voltage have to be increased by 0.1V. To reach 400 MHz FSB the CPU voltage had to be increased again, this time to 1.4V. At 430 MHz the system started to lock up and the P35 Northbridge voltage was increased by an additional 0.2V above stock.
The Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 motherboard reached a maximum speed of 482 MHz, anything higher and the system became unstable. I believe the E6600 processor was the limiting factor, as increasing the P35 Express voltage did not yield more stability. This is the first Intel P35 motherboard PCSTATS has tested but so far we definitely like what we're seeing! =D
The Gigabyte BIOS:
The Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 motherboard allows you to adjust the FSB between
100-700 MHz in 1 MHz increments. There are a whole host of memory speed options,
and you can also adjust the memory timings in the MB Intelligent Tweaker
too.
At the bottom
of the MIT screen we find the voltage options, gone are the days of
wussy voltage options from Gigabyte! You can increase the memory voltage to 1.55V
above stock, PCI-E, FSB and Northbridge voltage 0.375V above stock. CPU voltage goes as
high as 2.35V. Gigabyte gives you enough voltage to damage your hardware, so make sure
you know what you're doing before trying to overclock!
Prelude to Benchmarks
The details of how the Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
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 P35 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.
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| PCSTATS Test System Configurations |
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