i865PE: FIC and Gigabyte - PAGE 1

Intel 865PE Shoot Out

If you recall from last week's MSI 875P Neo Review and also the Gigabyte 8KNXP Review , Intel uses a chip binning process to select the better performing Memory Controller Hubs (MCH). Intel takes their latest chip architecture and adds the top performing MCHs to one set and the lesser MCHs to another. The top end group is labeled 875P with Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) and the latter and lower performing group is labeled 865PE. As mentioned above, we've had a chance to look at the performance of the 875P chipsets; now we have a chance to look at two boards incorporating the lesser but lower cost 865PE chipsets.

The 865PE boards in question come from First International Computer (FIC) & Gigabyte two long standing members of the motherboard manufacturing community. To be fair we'll start looking at the boards alphabetically, and thus first up is FIC's P4-865PE Max II AKA 865 Dynasty and next will be Gigabyte's GA-8IPE 1000 Pro. We'll begin by laying out each board individually then pit them against each other in benchmarking to see how they fare. Additionally, We'll also take a look at how much difference there is between the 865PE and 875P in those benchmarks and see if PAT is all hype or genuinely worth the extra investment. In the end summation, we'll have a clearer picture of where the two boards stand against each other and a good general idea where the 875P stands in relation to the 865PE in the scheme of things.

Let's move on to the Dynasty