abit IP35-Pro: Houston, We Have a Winner
by Gary Key on November 1, 2007 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
abit IP35-Pro Specifications
The abit IP35-Pro targets the enthusiast user, with an emphasis on BIOS features for those interested in overclocking the system. abit provides the standard laundry list of board options such as the JMicron JMB363 chipset for eSATA and IDE support, IEEE 1394 support from TI, decent onboard audio support from the Realtek ALC888, 12 USB ports, Intel Matrix RAID, and Gigabit LAN support from the ubiquitous Realtek RTL8110SC controller chipset. Both LAN ports run off the PCI bus but it is doubtful that most users will ever exceed their throughput rate of 735Mbps.
The board offers a very good mix of expansion slots although utilizing a CrossFire setup will create the physical loss of a PCI slot. We still recommend utilizing the 975X or X38 chipsets for CrossFire operation. The BIOS options for the IP35-Pro are good for a motherboard in this sector, and of course the board features abit's excellent µGuru technology. We ran a few early tests with the QX-9650 Yorkfield CPU and the board would POST and operated fine except for one problem. The CPU multiplier runs at 6X and will continue to do so until the next BIOS update. This a problem we have experienced with most of the P35 boards, and a BIOS code update to include full functionality for the Penryn family is all that's required.
| abit IP35-Pro Specifications | |
| Market Segment | Enthusiast - $174.99 |
| CPU Interface | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support | LGA775-based Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, or Core 2 Quad Recommended |
| Chipset | Intel P35 (MCH) Northbridge and ICH9R Southbridge |
| Front Side Bus Speeds | Auto, 100 ~ 750 in 1MHz increments |
| Memory Speed DDR2 | Auto, Six Ratios |
| PCIe Speeds | Auto, 100MHz - 200MHz |
| PCI Speeds | Locked at 33.33MHz |
| Core Voltage | Auto, Base to 1.8000 in .0100 increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | 6x ~ 12x, downward adjustable for Core 2, upward to 50 for Extreme |
| DRAM Voltage DDR2 | Auto, 1.50V ~ 2.78V in .02V increments, 1.50V standard |
| DRAM Timing Control | Auto, Manual - 9 DRAM Timing Options (tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, tRFC+ 4 sub-timings) |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1N, 2N |
| NB Voltage | Auto, 1.25V ~ 1.72V in various increments |
| ICH Voltage | Auto, 1.05V ~ 1.38V in various increments |
| ICHIO Voltage | Auto, 1.50V ~ 2.00V in .05V increments |
| CPU VTT Voltage | Auto, 1.20V to 1.57V in various increments |
| GTLRef | 45% ~ 80% in 1% increments |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered DDR2 Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 2 - PCIe x16 (1 - x16, 1 - x4 electrical) 1 - PCIe x1 3 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - ICH9R (RAID 0,1, 10, 5) 2 eSATA 3Gbps Port - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard IDE | 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 12 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 8 via Headers 2 Firewire 400 Ports by TI TSB43AB22A - 2 via Header |
| Onboard LAN | 2 - Realtek RTL8110SC - PCI Gigabit Ethernet controller |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC888 - 8-channel HD audio codec |
| Power Connectors | ATX 24-pin, 8-pin ATX 12V |
| I/O Panel | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 2 x SPDIF - Optical Out, Optical In 2 x eSATA 1 x Audio Panel 2 x RJ45 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| Fan Headers | 6 - (1) CPU, (1) System, (4) Aux |
| Fan Control | CPU, System, Aux Fan Control via BIOS/uGuru |
| BIOS Revision | B.16 |
| Board Revision | 1.00 |
The abit IP35-Pro targets the enthusiast user, with an emphasis on BIOS features for those interested in overclocking the system. abit provides the standard laundry list of board options such as the JMicron JMB363 chipset for eSATA and IDE support, IEEE 1394 support from TI, decent onboard audio support from the Realtek ALC888, 12 USB ports, Intel Matrix RAID, and Gigabit LAN support from the ubiquitous Realtek RTL8110SC controller chipset. Both LAN ports run off the PCI bus but it is doubtful that most users will ever exceed their throughput rate of 735Mbps.
The board offers a very good mix of expansion slots although utilizing a CrossFire setup will create the physical loss of a PCI slot. We still recommend utilizing the 975X or X38 chipsets for CrossFire operation. The BIOS options for the IP35-Pro are good for a motherboard in this sector, and of course the board features abit's excellent µGuru technology. We ran a few early tests with the QX-9650 Yorkfield CPU and the board would POST and operated fine except for one problem. The CPU multiplier runs at 6X and will continue to do so until the next BIOS update. This a problem we have experienced with most of the P35 boards, and a BIOS code update to include full functionality for the Penryn family is all that's required.
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Crafty Spiker - Sunday, July 27, 2008 - link
This board should be called the Catch-22. I'm on my 4th day and 2nd chassis (and peripherals) trying to find some combination of hardware that this piece of crap will handle properly.Catch #1: Trying to get an LSI SCSI RAID card and a Promise SX4000 to work at the same time. Far as I can see, can't be done. No diagnostic messages at all. Great BIOS engineering
Catch #2: Tried a smaller rig - just one Adaptec SCSI RAID card. Won't work at all.
Catch#3: IDE does not work. The BIOS sees the attached devices but the OS won't/
Catch #4: Digital audio output is optical ONLY. How do you spell "reconfigure the home theater"?
Catch #5: the onboard NIC's are crap. Won't do 9KB jumbo frames.
All in all I'd say that unless you are doing a completely dirt simple build that you look elsewhere. And reviewers should look a bit more carefully at what they're reviewing.
Dacalo - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
I notice that under Bios UGuru, your screen shows 1.25V. Mine MB's lowest option is only 1.3175(?) around there. I thought this was odd. Do you think it's because I have older BIOS?Cybertori - Friday, November 9, 2007 - link
I have one of these boards, and its been very good and reliable. Works with my new dual-core CPU, the BIOS is amazingly accomodating, and no problems whatsoever. This is my first purchase of an Abit product, but I am impressed. CPU and MB temps have been very cool, even under load, so I'd have to say the passive cooling is working well. Apart from the placement of some connectors, a really good motherboard - one of the best available for Intel processors, and a good value too.Zak - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
A couple of years ago I had so many problems with abit mobos (and MSI by the way), like 4 lemons in a row, that I will never ever touch their mobos no matter what they do, my distrust for their quality is too deep. I'll stick to Asus (despite their horrible support) and Gigabyte.Zak
MichaelD - Friday, November 2, 2007 - link
So, there's a "trick" or "tweak" that fixes a deficiency and makes the board more stable and reliable...yet you don't tell us what that is? Why not just link directly to the webpage showing the fix? OR just TELL US what said fix action is? "A quick Google search" yielded me nothing but other reviews of the board. I could not find the fix. Great article and review, but you fell short by not linking directly to the fix action.
Gary Key - Saturday, November 3, 2007 - link
The hot link was in the article if you mouse over "user" - but here it is in case that does not work - http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p... .Shimmishim - Friday, November 2, 2007 - link
This board has been out since about July? X38 reviews have been popping up all over the web. Anyway.I've owned this board for over 3 months now and it has been one of my all time favorite boards. It o/c's 4x1GB of ram very nicely and quadcores (with a bit of tweaking).
Bozo Galora - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
for those who cant wait another month for AT to achieve a good enough review so as not to threaten ad revenues - here's a fairly good overview from Tomshttp://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/31/x38_compari...">http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/31/x38_compari...
goinginstyle - Saturday, November 3, 2007 - link
You are an arse. I have not seen any ads on AT with abit so that blows your statement. Also, they had the one of the first X38 previews on the web and at least they are doing the reviews right instead of some photos and a couple of tests while declaring any and all boards to be the greatest. AT's X38 launch article was the only one that told the truth about this not ready for prime time chipset. I guess they did that to improve ad revenues in your book.
Anonymous Freak - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
I mean, who doesn't have a router nowadays? Even goofier are the boards with Wi-Fi and "built-in routers". Call me old fashioned, but I actually want my router separate from my PC.What I want is a micro-ATX board, dual PCI-E x16 slots, (not that I actually expect to use SLI/CrossFire anytime soon, but what if I want to slap a RAID card in there?) onboard "HD Audio" with optical in and out, eSATA, onboard FireWire on the backplane (some of us still use FW camcorders,) and ONE Gigabit NIC. No need for a second, really.
Is that too much to ask?
It's like they now equate "enthusiast" with dual NIC. (A few years ago, before decent Wi-Fi routers could be had for http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3635275">less than $30, it might have made sense. But not any more. There are even http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5117566">multiple http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4832150">under http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4863030">$100 http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5232917">802.11n http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5284527">wireless http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5192516">routers.