HotHardware review Abit IP35 PRO and AB9 QuadGT Motherboards
It's been almost one year since Intel launched the 965 series of chipsets, which were originally designed to be packaged with Intel's Core 2 Duo series of processors. While the 965 series didn't perform quite as well as Intel?s flagship 975x chipset in some cases, most notable in multi-GPU configurations, it made a name for itself due to its more flexible nature along with lower power consumption and heat output, and strong overclocking, which were made possible due to the more refined manufacturing process used to build the chipset. Not only was the 965 series a great overclocking chipset for the money, but over time, it's evolved to support the changing needs of the market. While this chipset was originally a solution for 1066 MHz FSB-based dual core processors with DDR2-800 memory and single graphics card, newly launched 965 series boards support quad-core processors, multi-GPU ATI Crossfire, and unofficially, 1333 MHz FSB speeds and memory speeds far greater than DDR2-800.
While the 965 is definitely still a viable player in today's market, Intel's own newly launched P35 Express series of chipsets are eyeing to take over the 965's market share in the near future. The P35 Express brings new features to the table, such as (official) 1333 MHz FSB processor support, optional support for DDR3 memory modules, native eSATA, and additional USB ports, as well as a few other smaller features. The P35 Express is definitely a solid follow-up to the 965-series, as the two products share much of the same core architecture...
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