C2D chipsets - 945 vs 975X vs 965?

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Valnar

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I know that the 965 is the latest and greatest chipset for the Core2Duo, but it also doesn't have an integrated IDE controller into the ICH8. I know that most manufacturers put an aftermarket one on, but I'm looking for compatibility with Linux and a variety of OS's.

So the 975X is a great chipset, and the ever popular ASUS P5W DH Deluxe is a great board to go with it. However, it also has a "great" price. It would be my first choice if money didn't matter - but since I want to build two C2D computers, it does.

So what is wrong with the 945 chipset? I rarely hear it mentioned here. It has the older ICH7 which I want, and supports the C2D. Any reason not to get it?

Is there a list of pros and cons as to why somebody would choose the 965 over the 945?

(PS. I do not overclock. These PC's are for family members)

Robert
 
the reason its not mentioned here (but it is in the sff and htpc forums) is no oc. the only matx boards for c2d are 945. so if you want to build an sff, or if you dont mind no oc/not many features, go with a 945 board. pretty much the only reason to get the 965 over the 945 is oc. if you look around, there are some 965 boards for around $100 - biostar, gigabyte (s3?), maybe ecs. 965 has a "better" memory controller and probably a "better" bios also. much newer, too. you could always get an pci/pcie sata/ide card for cheap if you needed one.
 
well i prefer the 965p's over the 945p's as they can overclock much higher and the core 2's esp the 6300's and 6400's like high fsb speeds . another reason i prefer the 965p's is that most or manyb all of them support quad-core's . now i don't expect to buy a quad core any time soon. but i do expect to run a core 2 in the 45nm size and i'm thinking if it can support the quads it can support the 45nm core 2's --but this is my hunch and YMMV.

some 945's can do fairly good oc's i've heard of some of them doing 350-380fsb--a 380fsb 945p is getting up there with the 975x mb's outside of the p5w and the xbx.

i think the big reson to get the 965p over the 945p though is that the low end 965p's are only a few dollars higher than a 945p. with say a 965p going for $99- $120 and the low end 965p's going for $99 with a $20 rebate . if you can find a 945p for $70 new--it might be worth it.

if your on a strict budget and need to run stuff like agp 8x or ddr 1. consider the asrock 775 dual vista . i've built a number of them in budget boxes with core 2's--mostly running ddr 400 and pci-e 4x and for such an old chipset--they do very well . they run about like a 965p or 945p running ddr-2-667. and there cheap -- $55 @ the egg.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Actually, the price difference between the 965 and 945 isn't what I was concerned about, it's the 945 vs the 975x. That ASUS board is over $250.

What I want over the 965 is the ICH7, which both the (expensive) 975X and (cheap) 945 have.

So it looks like the 945 is up my alley. Thanks again.

Robert
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
the only matx boards for c2d are 945.
Click to expand...

This is not true. There are a couple 965G mATX boards around; however, they do not overclock very well either. Several companies have announced Q965 and P965 mATX motherboards, but who knows when those will acutally be released or how their overclock will compare to the G's.

Be careful with the 945, they do not have native 1066FSB support on any that I've seen. These are mostly going to be useful with the Allendale cores, the ones with a native 2MB L2 cache and 800FSB. The E4300 is scheduled for release in January if you can wait and would like to use 945 or 946.
 
TheGardenTool said:
Be careful with the 945, they do not have native 1066FSB support on any that I've seen. These are mostly going to be useful with the Allendale cores, the ones with a native 2MB L2 cache and 800FSB.
Click to expand...


This is VERY wrong. First... ALL 945 boards support 1066 fsb. They support the XE line which used 1066fsb with the 65nm P4's. Second the reason that most 945s don't support Core2Duo is becuase that CPU line requires VRM11 and when 945/955 launched they used VRM10. Motherboard companies can update their 945 board designs for this.... but they mostly don't want to. There are some 945 boards that support Core2Duo, but they are hard to find.
 
To the OP... if you want Core2Duo support and a board that uses ICH7 then you should look at the 946 line from Intel. This is just a refresh of 945 to support Core2Duo. They are identical to 945 except they have the updated VRM required.

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/D946GZAB/index.htm

As far as I know only Intel is making these boards... but some companies may make them as well.
 
If I had to build now...I would go BadAxe 2 or an Asus P5-E (p965). The 680i seems to have too many reported bugs thus far.

For me...my next build will be on a Bearlake chipset. Not too much difference, but I can wait another quarter.
 
Poncho said:
This is VERY wrong. First... ALL 945 boards support 1066 fsb. They support the XE line which used 1066fsb with the 65nm P4's. Second the reason that most 945s don't support Core2Duo is becuase that CPU line requires VRM11 and when 945/955 launched they used VRM10. Motherboard companies can update their 945 board designs for this.... but they mostly don't want to. There are some 945 boards that support Core2Duo, but they are hard to find.
Click to expand...


I stand corrected, I did find some that support 1066; however, some still only support 800 and C2D.
 
Poncho said:
To the OP... if you want Core2Duo support and a board that uses ICH7 then you should look at the 946 line from Intel. This is just a refresh of 945 to support Core2Duo. They are identical to 945 except they have the updated VRM required.

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/D946GZAB/index.htm

As far as I know only Intel is making these boards... but some companies may make them as well.
Click to expand...

EPoX makes one as well. Not M-ATX though.
 
TheGardenTool said:
I stand corrected, I did find some that support 1066; however, some still only support 800 and C2D.
Click to expand...

Yea... but 1066 FSB will and does work on ALL 945 boards. Some they don't "officially" support since they want to sell the more expensive boards. Now... again, a 945 board can ONLY support Core2Duo if it has VRM11 and none of Intel's 945 boards do. The only ones that do are the 946 boards. Same chipset... different board design.
 
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