Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R - motherboard - ATX - iP35

Advantages: Great performance, unbelievable overclocking, high quality
Disadvantages: Large Vdroop, Easytune temperamental, IDE socket placement may cause problems

...I recently wrote a review for the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4L board. I wrote of how the board seemed excellent, but the two I used broke within a week, for no apparent reason. This board is another storey. The installation was very easy, especially as the board is slightly thinner than standard ATX boards, which allows more room to work in. All the connectors on the board are in sensible positions. The only problem I encountered was that the IDE socket gets in the way of one of the PCI cards - it fits, but it's a bit of a squeeze. The BIOS offers all options you would expect, including RAID and NCQ setups for the 8 SATA ports provided. It is when it comes to overclocking that this board excels. My FSB will run at at least 450MHz, 117 higher than the stock 1333Mhz. There are various voltage options, including CPU, memory... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great for overclocking, fully features, well organised
Disadvantages: No DDR3 support, no proper SLI support

...is 12. 3 gold stars for mental arithmetic Gigabyte, but can't you just admit that it's 12, not quadruple-triple? Quad Core Optimized - 5/10 - Indeed, the board does support Quad-Core processors, but so do all of the P35 boards. I'm not convinced it's anything to declare to the world. Quad DDR2 Slots - 8/10 - Again, you've got to hand it to them. It is indeed the case. However, I'm not sure it's really the greatest achievement for a motherboard - it's not exactly common to find one with 2 DDR2 slots. So maybe I'm not blown away by the 6-Quad notation, but then again, 3-Quad doesn't sound nearly as enticing does it? Most importantly however, I am completely taken with their claim to the GA-P35-DQ6 being the "Gamer's Choice", and in the world of PC builders, that is exactly what matters. It is a top-notch motherboard, from a top... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Pretty intuitive BIOS, good overclocking facilities, very in-depth manual
Disadvantages: Some people have had memory issues with this board

...Besides the fact that this board used a good combination of the LGA-775 socket and the P35 chipset, the reason I purchased it to puy into my new computer was because it has DDR3 support. This makes the board slightly more future-proof as DDR3 prices and latencies are both starting to fall and with the brand new Intel chipset and socket coming out towards the end of this year (if i recall correctly), DDR3 prices will fall even more, as this new chipset will support DDR3 only. Anyway, the board. It came in the normal white box with colourful letters as with all new gigabyte motherboards these days. It was packaged in anti-static wrapping (as are all boards) and was separated from the various manuals and booklets by a thinfabric which can also be used to rest the motherboard on when inserting all the components into it. Not much... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful