Intel's P35 "Bearlake" chipset gets benchmarked, reviewed
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 22nd 2007 12:11PM
posted May 22nd 2007 12:11PM
Those of you that have been itching to see just how well the first batch of Intel P35 "Bearlake" motherboards perform can now rest a bit easier, as the first reviews and benchmarks are finally starting to trickle in. From the looks of it, HotHardware is among the first to do the honors, getting their hands on Asus's new P5K3 Deluxe motherboard and some Corsair XMS3 DDR3 memory to go along with it. According to their findings, that combination delivered 2 to 5% boost in performance over its 965 counterpart across a range of applications, with the mobo also delivering some modest gains when loaded up with DDR2 memory. While that may seem like a relatively small bump in performance, HotHardware sees plenty more room for the chipset to grow, most notably with the addition of 1733MHz DDR3 memory. About the only downsides they could find are the DDR3 RAM's somewhat high latency and the high cost of the hardware for early adopters, although that's hardly a surprise. Those still craving some more details can hit up the link below for the complete rundown.
Hrmmm... how long till mere mortals can afford a Core 2 Duo/Bearlake/DDR3 rig?
I just have an odd feeling that it'll be Core 3 Quad when the mere mortals could afford DDR3
I believe that pricing should come down around XMAS to something relatively close to a good rig using the 9xx chip today. I'll probably build another system around that time when the new quad chips are available as well as the motherboards that support PCI Express 2.0 (not that I know of any video cards that would require it or take advantage of it but it seems silly not to wait since I don't NEED a new computer yet).
I realize the new chips aren't vastly superior but they are a nice improvement.
yummy! DDR3. yummy...
Micro ATX please....
And the sticking out antenna - is it for Wi-Fi?
That's why I love Wintel guys. They never really think what they do. Or how they do.
I bet by now Apple has internally specification for logic boards (or motherboards, whatever) and cases on how to properly integrate all such sticking parts. Wi-Fi included. So that they wouldn't stick out.
But well, what we PC users care - plus minus 10 cables on our tables wouldn't make much difference.
You know, antennae do unscrew. ASUS has added wi-fi to motherboards before, and as always, the antenna is an optional item.