Advantages: cheap, does the job Disadvantages: graphics card obscures one of the pci express slots
Having no idea which Motherboard we needed to buy, we looked on the internet to see what was going for what price.
Having used Gigabye Motherboards in the past and never had any trouble with them the wisest thing to do was to keep to Gigabyte.
We decided on the Gigabyte GA-945P-DS3 purely on the features it offered.
Cost
Around £46. For a motherboard this is good.
Features
Width: 30.5 cm
Depth: 19.3 cm
Compatible Processors: Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme
64-bit Processors Compatibility: Built-in
Processor Socket: LGA775 Socket
Multi-Core Support: Dual-Core
FSB Speed: 1066 MHz Max
Power Connectors: 4-pin ATX12V connector, 24-pin main power connector
SATA 11 with 4 SATA 11 connectors
3 pci slots, 1pci express x 16, 3 pci x 1
takes up to 4 gb of ddr2 memory ...
Advantages: Easy installation, compatible with a wide range of cpu's, FSB speeds... Disadvantages: Esata port does not work properly
I purchased this motherboard recently to upgrade my PC to Core 2 Duo, I chose this motherboard because of the external sata port which I wanted to connect an external hard drive to. Installation was simple and the drivers disc installed everything necessary for Windows XP but the external Sata port would not detect the external drive, I emailed Asus who over the course of a week had me install several different drivers but none of them helped and eventually they said that I should return the board - I haven't returned the board becuase I haven't got another computer but to be honest I don't think the port is faulty I jus think the drivers (jmicron chipset) are completely useless because the supplied driver is a RAID driver even though this board does not have RAID capability. ...
This motherboard has saved me several times from BIOS errors. I have accidentally flashed the wrong BIOS but was able to restore the original version from the Backup BIOS. I was able to overclock my Intel 630 Processor from 3Ghz to 4Ghz without any problems. The options included in the BIOS for overclocking was adequate as it enables a selection of wide range of voltages for the processor and RAM. This motherboard also provides auto-overclocking on-the-fly based on the system workload and therefore I do not have to put my hands on the FSB control menu. Upon unstable overclocking, the system was able to restart with the original settings so it is a very easy job for beginners. Onboard connectors are spaced adequately and correctly so it has reduced the clutter of wires in the casing. The environment monitor is not very excellent as it ...
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