Abit IP35 Pro vs Gigabyte DS4 rv2.0

Narrowed it down between these two choices. I'm sure both are very rock solid boards. Any reason to choose one over the other though?

Some of my concerns...

Abit IP35 Pro:
1. Will I need to use the bolt mod?
2. Still Corsair PSU issues with some boards?


Gigabyte P35-DS4:
1. No LED Post display, is this a concern?
2. Abit has CMOS reset switch on I/O panel.

Thanks

I don't really understand your questions about the Abit, but I have one so I'll tell you what I know.

It's a great board, very stable, I love it and I'm really glad I made the decision to go with Abit. I have a Corsair power supply and I haven't had any problems yet and I don't know what you mean by "bolt mod" but I didn't do anything like that so I doubt it.

I just built my Abit IP35 Pro machine last week. I'm using one of the "troublesome" Seasonic PSUs (NO problem).

Will I need to use the bolt mod?

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If you are referring to the heat pipe mod, I did that also. Mine looked pretty good even without the mod, but I didn't notice that 'till after I had bought all the #4 nylon hardware for the remounting. Might as well use 'um, now that I had 'um. Looks like Abit changed a few things around and went to thermal pads on most of it.
YMMV.

Abit IP35 Pro:
1. Will I need to use the bolt mod?
You should redo the thermals (TIM and hardware) on ANY board you intend to overclock with a FSB approaching 400 or more. So this concern does not really matter.
2. Still Corsair PSU issues with some boards?
Good question, it was rare, but reported and commented on by the Corsair rep in the power supply forums, I can no longer find the post.

Gigabyte P35-DS4:
1. No LED Post display, is this a concern?
Not really, it does give post codes and beep codes. Frankly it probally confuses more people than it helps.
2. Abit has CMOS reset switch on I/O panel.
Nice little extra, but here is a tip, under windows hitting reset is a crash anyway and something you you want to avoid. During setup and while establishing you stable overclock put the connector for the reset switch on the clear cmos pins, Then you have a clear cmos on the front of the PC. After you get it all set up, put it back. Also you can get or make a switch to do the same thing. So it is a nice thing but I would not base my board buying decision on that feature.

My 2 cents, I have a Gigabyte, its a very good board, simple to OC and works well as do all the Gigabytes. However, for hard core OCing and if you like to "play" in the bios the ABIT is a better board IMO. I will probally buy an ABIT next go round if they continue their present trend of quality products. Gigabyte seems to be all about first to market with several versions (fixing their "rushed" first versions) and are not too concerned with supporting the older versions. I find Abit customer/tech support better in general as well. My dealings with Gigabyte tech support have been less than ideal when asking technical questions that should have been explained in the manual and have frequently gotten answers that later proved to be wrong.


IMO the one thing the DS4 has that makes it superior is that there is a physical backup bios on the board to recover from bad flashes. I will add this, in 25+ years of using the floppy method to flash a bios I have never had a failure. I have probally flashed my present Gigagbyte 20+ times playing with different versions of the bios. However some people are apparently cursed. If the Abit has a socketed cmos chip so that you can order a replacement or hot flash it with out having to return the entire board to ABit then the DS4 have the backup is not quite as important. (going to go check now as that is an interesting question.)

All I can go by is the product pictures but it appears the Abit does have a socketed bios, This is a good thing. For instance the Gigabyte DS3's do not and if a flash goes bad you have to return the entire board.

All I can go by is the product pictures but it appears the Abit does have a socketed bios,

Click to expand...

Yep, it does.

The Abit also has the most retarded FireWire header placement possible as well. WTF were they thinking? R&D should have figured out in the first day that an enthusiast board may lead to enthusiast video card coolers being put to use upon said board... so why they tucked that header right under the video card is beyond me. That mistake alone is my reason for not really considering the IP35 Pro. I need firewire.

The DS4 on the other hand has 2 FW pre-exposed on the back. And a whole lot more USB ports as well...

uGuru hardware monitoring is also much nicer than what GB utilizes. Never was a fan of their software besides @Bios. I like flashing from within Windows.

Mase said:

The Abit also has the most retarded FireWire header placement possible as well. WTF were they thinking? R&D should have figured out in the first day that an enthusiast board may lead to enthusiast video card coolers being put to use upon said board... so why they tucked that header right under the video card is beyond me. That mistake alone is my reason for not really considering the IP35 Pro. I need firewire..

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It works though even with dual slot cooler cards like 8800s & X2900s - all you have to do is fit the plugs to the headers before installing the video card, what's hard about that?

BUFF said:

It works though even with dual slot cooler cards like 8800s & X2900s - all you have to do is fit the plugs to the headers before installing the video card, what's hard about that?

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I have to find a detailed pic yet of that situation. I checked the clearance from my 1900XT to the mobo and its not even an inch. I'm sure on some cards you could MAYBE fit the header and cable up under there... but I wont just assume it until I see.

Anyways, you're tellin me this is the best place Abit could find to stick that thing?! Thats BS, still retarded in my book. All you have to do is look to the DS4 to see how it could have been done smarter.

Somebody link or post a nice shot of the FW hooked up under a dual slot cooler if they find one. I'd appreciate it.

You da man BUFF! Props for posting that...
Thats still a close fit.
Puts Abit back on my radar though. Thanx brotha!