Foxconn Mars or Abit IP35-Pro

[Darknova]

Well after months of trying to fix this freaking board. I've given up. MSI's BIOS support is horrible and does nothing more than make the board worse. So time to dump this POS.

I like the P35 chipset, and have no real use for CF, and couldn't afford an X48 if I wanted to lol.

So I've narrowed it down to 2 choices.

Foxconn Mars

OR

Abit IP35-Pro

I'm really in 2 minds as to which to get. I originally wanted the Abit IP35-pro, but thought this MSI would be a better deal so got that instead. But after seeing some reviews of the Mars it looks to be pretty good.

So any suggestions or comments?

 

[cdawall]

go for the mars

 

[JrRacinFan]

My vote for the Abit IMO. My reasoning being is in the past Foxconn has not been the greatest with bios updates for cpu support. Then again, Abit very rarely does the same but they are even more often than Foxconn.

 

[Scrizz]

Abit IP35 pro gmv

 

[KBD]

I say Abit, judging from the reviews at egg its a great board, and its a top seller, furthermore it has ICH9R while Foxconn only has ICH9. Actually if i were you i would also take a look at the Gigabyte ultra durable 2 boards as well as Asus, they all sell for about the same price.

 

[Darknova]

KBD, both use ICH9R lol. Also, after some bad experiences with faulty boards I tend to steer clear of Asus, and I've had a look at Gigabyte, but meh tbh.

As I said, I've narrowed it down to 2 choices, I've looked for weeks at others, but only these 2 have peaked my interest.

cdawall and scrizz, what is your reasoning for the mars?

 

[KBD]

Sorry, i thought you were thinking of this Foxconn:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186119

This one doesn't have ICH9R.

 

[Scrizz]

the abit is a great board

 

[ktr]

how about the asus p5k?

 

[Darknova]

how about the asus p5k?

Nope, only either one of those two.

 

[cdawall]

KBD, both use ICH9R lol. Also, after some bad experiences with faulty boards I tend to steer clear of Asus, and I've had a look at Gigabyte, but meh tbh.

As I said, I've narrowed it down to 2 choices, I've looked for weeks at others, but only these 2 have peaked my interest.

cdawall and scrizz, what is your reasoning for the mars?

it is one hell of an oc'ing mobo!

i try this board with a initial ATI 3870 .



and then i try Nvidia geforce 8800 GT 512



so this is the final best config

Here is our score, sorry no 3D scores

Team THL

i have only used G29 and was very happy

this was with 9650 and a 8800ultra

this board is often compared to the asus maximus formula...

were this all came from

 

[Darknova]

Nice info cdawall. Thanks!

 

[cdawall]

Nice info cdawall. Thanks!

its the mobo i would go for in that price range

if i went for intel...since i'm sticking with AMD a MSI 790X board and 9850BE would be my choice

 

[Grings]

I would go for the Mars myself, i was going to get one, but took the cheap option with this MSI also, though i've yet to have any issues with mine yet (touch wood).

The only thing that concerns me is Whether the issues youre having would be seen on another board too, i.e. could they be related to using 4 dimms, or even a windows x64 issue

 

[cdawall]

here another one for you

After my initial test with QX9650 I guess Intel was impressed so when I got another chip I was really surprised to see the post message on GA-X48T-DQ6. Yes it was the QX9770 - 45nm 1600FSB monster. :shocked:

I have been busy with stuff so just plain screeines of whatever I did in past 2 days. Did not cross 1.9V as I have to return the chip in working condition :shrug:

Setup
Processor: Intel Core 2 QX9770 (3.2GHz)
Videocard: MSI 8800 GT 512MB [V-MODDED] | GeCube 3870X2
Memory: 2* 1GB Corsair Dominator PC9136
Motherboard: Foxconn MARS P35 [Thanks Shamino]
PSU: Corsair TX750W
Cooling: Custom Container for DICE/LN2 for CPU and 8800GT. Air Cooling for rest.


On to resuslts then:
3DM01


3DM03



3DM05


3DM06


Super Pi 1M


Max bootable [BIOS]

This one keeps crashing while loading CPU-Z but I am not feeding more then 1.9V (real).​

That's it for now. Thanks for the support!! :up:

Harshal
Team THL

source

 

[Spacegoast]

i have the Foxconn Mars and i have the abit ip35-e which is very similar to the ip35 pro except no cmos switch, raid and 2 less sata inputs. i have to say that the Foxconn BIOS is much better than the abit BIOS. they both are extremely easy to work with, however i feel that the MARS has more to offer. it has a cmos reset switch just like the ip35 pro, has raid, but also has a fan for the NB cooler, in my opinion looks better, and it has more options in the BIOS. it will store up to 4 separate overclock settings so you can switch between normal use and benchmarking. it has a auto recovery feature that will automatically restart the pc if settings are unstable. also the MARS has been know to hit insane fsb speeds, upwards of 550 and beyond. some over 600!!! both good boards, but the MARS gets my vote since it was built specifically for overclockers, by ex-DFI engineers mind you

 

[Kursah]

I vote the DFI P35 Lanparty Dark board...last I checked it was $139 @ Newegg w/Free S/H. I absolution love it and was considering those two also...but I wanted something I knew would hit 500+ FSB easy and was a stable and very tunable board, which this board covers very well in all areas.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136043

If that's not an option, I'd have a tough decision...but I'd get the MARS for higher OC's or the IP35-Pro for decent OC's and a nice feature set, cooling and looks.

EDIT: LoL...didn't notice you were in UK...lol my bad

 

[Darknova]

Hehe, that board's still not available over here, only one place will be getting them in, and they aren't sure when

 

[Kursah]

Hehe, that board's still not available over here, only one place will be getting them in, and they aren't sure when

That's a bummer man...the only thing is I wish they'd explain some of the settings more, or even at all lol. There's so many options to tune, especially for memory...lol!

But either of those boards would be nice...follow your gut...what do you want out of your next board? How well should it OC? I could go either way on your choices...but if I wanted more OC-ability...I'd go MARS...though the IP35-Pro will OC quite well from what I've read though.

 

[Darknova]

What I want is a good BIOS, and a good layout. Abits is nice, but fails with the placement of the extra molex power connector...but the Mars color scheme isn't as nice lol.

Overclocking capability is important, but it's not that important I'd sacrifice the other stuff tbh.

 

[Grings]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=787775

Scan are taking pre orders on that DFI, price is pretty good too

 

[philbrown23]

What I want is a good BIOS, and a good layout. Abits is nice, but fails with the placement of the extra molex power connector...but the Mars color scheme isn't as nice lol.

Overclocking capability is important, but it's not that important I'd sacrifice the other stuff tbh.

the reason there is no molex on the ip35-pro is because it does not need it abit has made that board as stable if not more stable than my dfi (the one that grings linked) without the need for pesky extra molex connectors.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=787775

Scan are taking pre orders on that DFI, price is pretty good too

I own that board and it rocks but if you want a board that is easy to overclock then do not get it, don't get me wrong this thing will overclock like crazy! but it is for ADVANCED USERS ONLY!