Gigabyte EP45-DS3P (P45) DDR2 Motherboard
Introduction
Published: 12th August 2008 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £80.00 |
Introduction

Based on the P45 Chipset, the EP45-DS3P is an entry level motherboard missing some of the deluxe features that are available on its bigger brothers but be under no illusion that, despite the price and lack of those added extras, that this is a budget motherboard because it's plainly not. All the most commonly used features are still there - Dual LAN ports, Raid 0, 1, 5, 10, on-board 7.1 channel audio, Firewire as well as CrossfireX support, albeit in 8x8 configuration. So as you can see this board has more than enough for even the more demanding consumer. Being a P45 chipset based board, it should be no slouch either as all the other P45 boards we have tested thus far have been very fast and not one has been a disappointment.
I must say at this point that I have never been a big fan of Gigabyte motherboards due to some bad experiences with AMD based chipsets and therefore, perhaps without any valid foundation, have normally given them a wide berth despite the fantastic reputation they have. It has also become fashionable among the elitist geeks to cast a shadow over Gigabyte, again with little foundation - I have been guilty of this myself in the past. As a reviewer though, I have to stay objective and cannot give any prior judgement to a motherboard and I am, as always, happy to be converted should the product warrant it. Fingers crossed, Gigabyte can take pleasure in proving my previous judgemental attitude to be both incorrect and unfounded.
Specification
We have extensively covered the features of Intels P45 chipset in previous reviews so can Gigabyte bring anything new to the table? Lets take a look :
CPU
- Support for an Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor/ Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor/Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor/ Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor/Intel® Celeron® processor in the LGA 775 package
- L2 cache varies with CPU
- 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz FSB
- North Bridge: Intel® P45 Express Chipset
- South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
- 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
- Dual channel memory architecture
- Support for DDR2 1200/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules
(Refer to Memory support list for more information)
- Realtek ALC889A codec
- High Definition Audio
- 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
- Support for Dolby Home Theater
- Support for S/PDIF In/Out
- Support for CD In
- 2 x Realtek 8111C chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Support for Teaming
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8
(The PCIEx16 and PCIEx8 slots support ATI CrossFireX technology and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.) - 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
- 3 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 1 x PCI slots
- 6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4, SATAII5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
- Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
- 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
- 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
- T.I. TSB43AB23 chip
- Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports
(2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)
- Integrated in the South Bridge
- Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
(8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
- 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
- 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
- 1 x floppy disk drive connector
- 1 x IDE connector
- 6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
- 1 x CPU fan header
- 3 x system fan headers
- 1 x power fan header
- 1 x North Bridge fan header
- 1 x front panel header
- 1 x front panel audio header
- 1 x CD In connector
- 1 x S/PDIF In header
- 1 x S/PDIF Out header
- 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
- 1 x IEEE 1394a header
- 1 x serial port header
- 1 x power LED header
- 1 x chassis intrusion header
- 1 x power switch
- 1 x reset switch
- 1 x clearing CMOS switch
- 1 x PS/2 mouse port
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
- 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
- 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
- 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
- 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
- 2 x RJ-45 ports
- 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
- iTE IT8720 chip
- System voltage detection
- CPU/System temperature detection
- CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
- CPU overheating warning
- CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
- CPU/System fan speed control
- 2 x 8 Mbit flash
- Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
- Support for Dual BIOS™
- PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
- Support for @BIOS
- Support for Q-Flash
- Support for Dual BIOS
- Support for Download Center
- Support for Xpress Install
- Support for Xpress Recovery2
- Support for EasyTune
- Support for Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced
- Support for Time Repair
- Support for Q-Share
- Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
- Support for Microsoft/ Windows/ Vista/XP
- ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm
• Low RDS MOSFETs, Ferrite Core chokes and Solid capacitors ensure that this motherboard is not only highly efficient but also built to last. So much for this being a budget board!
• Dual BIOS chips have been around for quite sometime now but it is an essential part of the board and a feature every manufacturer should employ. Gigabyte have had this feature for some time now and it is proof of its popularity that it is still being used today. The time lost due to a corrupt BIOS, be it from overzealous overclocking or a bad BIOS flash can be a deciding factor when deciding on a new motherboard.
• On-board diagnostic LED's. The EP45-DS3R has seven of these leds which indicate a malfunction is occurring whether it be CPU, memory, PCIe16/8/4/1, PCI, SATA or IDE. The DS3P also has another set of four LED's that signify the state of the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) which act as a gentle reminder of how much power your CPU is using. Think of it like a graphic equalizer - red=heavy load, yellow=medium and green=low. Yet another nice addition!
• On-board Power/Reset/CMOS clear switches. Those who have used high end Asus boards will be familiar with these switches and how useful they are. I was pleasantly surprised to see these employed on a Gigabyte board but thankful nonetheless. Big thumbs up Gigabyte!
Below we see the Dynamic Energy Saver. The DES is very similar to the Asus EPU engine we reviewed previously but the Gigabyte is more advanced in that does not rely on an IC circuit, rather utilizing the Intersil PWM controllers which switch on and off power phases 'on-the-fly' as and when required. For example the EP45 is a six phase engine and while that six phase power will be needed for 100% CPU load or, for example, playing a game, the Dynamic Energy Saver will throttle back the power to say two phases when you drop out of the game to check-up on how you eBay bid is doing as browsing the net requires so little power.
While this may seem a little like a marketing gimmick, it does actually work and while monetary savings will depend on your electricity supplier, savings are to be had nonetheless. While the money saved, in all honesty, won't be a great deal, the tree-huggers out there can rest easy that at least Gigabyte are doing their bit to save the environment.
Most Recent Comments
Hmmm - looks like a fine review
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Slightly raindowish. But pretty nice for the price tbh.Quote
See now that's an enthusiast mmotherboard. Cheap and clocks nice with decent performance. Like it
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What BIOS was it flashed too? I have the same motherboard and with an E8500 at 4085MHz but I'm have some troubles. I keep getting BSOD and I looked up the BBCode and they are all memory related. I did some research and apparently the motherboard is picky with the RAM it is used with.
I flashed from the default BIOS to F7 and still getting the same problems
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I flashed from the default BIOS to F7 and still getting the same problems
