Intel P35 with DDR3 compared to P965 with DDR2

Before we evaluate performance, we should note that we are waiting for a confirmation to the performance level demonstrated by MSI motherboards. Indeed, all our three motherboards demonstrated an absolutely identical performance level with DDR2 (two of them support only this memory type). But when our tests were almost completed, we got a new firmware version for the P35 Platinum, which slightly increased its performance (by several percents). Besides, although we cannot assert that combined solutions are outperformed by ''dedicated'' models, we are still anxious about it. So it's too early to close the DDR3 performance issue. And if we consider inexpensive (that is mass-scale) processors with a 1333 MHz FSB, the situation may change. Nevertheless, it would have been silly to run so many tests and skip conclusions. Here are our conclusions: considering the above mentioned provisos, chipsets of the new series look slower than the old ones (like i965 or NVIDIA nForce 600i); DDR3 memory may result in a 2-3% performance drop; the P35 works better with 1066 MHz memory regardless of timings.