Gigabyte motherboard question

[John Brown]

Going for a major upgrade...decided on Intel core 2 duo E8500 cpu...but
which motherboard?
Been advised a Gigabyte GA EP45 DS3L would be good.
Just looked it up..yes, with my untrained eye seems ok but then I note other
similar eg
GA-EP45-DS3P
GA-EP45-DS3R
GA-EP45-DS3
GA-EP45-DS4
GA-EP45-DS5
GA-EP43-DS3L
GA-EP35-DS3
GA-EP35-DS4
Been reading the specs - now more confused that before!
In simple terms anyone able to explain the differences ?
Thanks. J
=========

 

[geoff]

I like gigabyte except they do not appear to make any boards with ECC.

--g

 

[JR Weiss]

I like gigabyte except they do not appear to make any boards with ECC.

ECC RAM is normally only used in server MoBos.

Gigabyte makes several that use ECC RAM:
http://www.giga-byte.com/products/Networking/Products_List.aspx?ClassID=17

 

[JT]

Going for a major upgrade...decided on Intel core 2 duo E8500 cpu...but
which motherboard?
Been advised a Gigabyte GA EP45 DS3L would be good.

This board supports dual channel DDR2 1333 and has 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.

GA-EP45-DS3P

Supports Dual channel DDR2 1333 and has 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots with
second running at 8x in Crossfire mode. Also has 1 PCI-E x4 slot.

GA-EP45-DS3R

Similar to the DS3P except it doesn't have the PCI-E 4x slot and also
has a TPM chip which has encryption features.

GA-EP45-DS3

Basically the same as the 2 above except that it doesn't have the TPM
chip or the PCI-E 4x slot.

GA-EP45-DS4

Appears similar to the DS3P except it has a Power/reset/Clr CMOS
onboard button.

GA-EP45-DS5

Appears similar to the DS3R with the TPM chip and the Power/reset/Clr
CMOS button, and a Smart Backup feature 4 serial ATA device attachment.

GA-EP43-DS3L

Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.

GA-EP35-DS3

Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 1 PCI-E 1.0 x16 slot.

GA-EP35-DS4

Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 2 PCI-E 1.0 x16 slots with the
second running at 8x in Crossfire mode.

Been reading the specs - now more confused that before!
In simple terms anyone able to explain the differences ?
Thanks. J
=========

If you don't need Crossfire get the GA EP45 DS3L board as it has the
newer P45 chipset and supports slightly faster memory. I have the
EP45C-DSR3 which has both DDR2 and DDR3 slots. Been a solid board for me
so far.

 

[John Brown]

The middle field is the chipset. The last field is the specific board
design.

The chipset controls the configuration of the memory bus (speed, max
capability) and PCIe bus (e.g., full 16X Crossfire capability).

Among the various versions with the same chipset, mainly the numbers of
various PCI/PCIe slots, and ports like Ethernet, Firewire, USB, and SATA
(plus SATA RAID capability).

I have 2 DS4s, a P35 and an X48. I'm happy with both.

The P43 and P45 will take advantage of the 1333 MHz FSB capability of the
E8500. using a DDR2 MoBo instead of DDR3 will save you $$ without
impacting performance.

The X48 has 2 PCIe-16X slots; the others have 1.

Decide what combination of ports & slots you need, and find the boards
that have them. Then downselect by price vs extra goodies.

============
Excellent. TVM

 

[John Brown]

This board supports dual channel DDR2 1333 and has 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.


Supports Dual channel DDR2 1333 and has 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots with
second running at 8x in Crossfire mode. Also has 1 PCI-E x4 slot.


Similar to the DS3P except it doesn't have the PCI-E 4x slot and also
has a TPM chip which has encryption features.


Basically the same as the 2 above except that it doesn't have the TPM
chip or the PCI-E 4x slot.


Appears similar to the DS3P except it has a Power/reset/Clr CMOS onboard
button.


Appears similar to the DS3R with the TPM chip and the Power/reset/Clr
CMOS button, and a Smart Backup feature 4 serial ATA device attachment.



Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.


Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 1 PCI-E 1.0 x16 slot.



Supports DDR2 1200 memory and has 2 PCI-E 1.0 x16 slots with the second
running at 8x in Crossfire mode.




If you don't need Crossfire get the GA EP45 DS3L board as it has the
newer P45 chipset and supports slightly faster memory. I have the
EP45C-DSR3 which has both DDR2 and DDR3 slots. Been a solid board for me
so far.

--------------------
Great...thanks...think I will go ahead with the DS3L.
Just a couple things, however, when comparing all the boards mentioned...:-
1. It doesn't have IEEE1394...but do I need it? The fact that I don't know
what use it would be probably means no!?
2. Again dunno what is its function but notice the PCB size is quoted as
30.5x21.0 CM whereas others all seem to be larger at 30.5x24.4 CM...any
significance?
Thanks,
J
=========

 

[Guest]

IEEE1394 is FireWire, used mainly for capturing video from video
cameras.

 

[geoff]

ASUS seems to put ECC in more of their MBs. I had an A8V before which is
not a server board and it had ECC.

--g

 

[JR Weiss]

Great...thanks...think I will go ahead with the DS3L.
Just a couple things, however, when comparing all the boards mentioned...:-
1. It doesn't have IEEE1394...but do I need it? The fact that I don't know
what use it would be probably means no!?

IEEE1394 is Firewire. If you don't have any Firewire devices, then you don't
need it.

2. Again dunno what is its function but notice the PCB size is quoted as
30.5x21.0 CM whereas others all seem to be larger at 30.5x24.4 CM...any
significance?

May be a misprint. All ATX form factor MoBos should be the same.

 

[JT]

--------------------
Great...thanks...think I will go ahead with the DS3L.
Just a couple things, however, when comparing all the boards mentioned...:-
1. It doesn't have IEEE1394...but do I need it? The fact that I don't know
what use it would be probably means no!?
2. Again dunno what is its function but notice the PCB size is quoted as
30.5x21.0 CM whereas others all seem to be larger at 30.5x24.4 CM...any
significance?
Thanks,
J
=========

Not sure about the size, but I remember looking at this board as a
possibility to get as well. The thing that bothered me slightly was that
the PCI-E slot was very close to the memory slots so it looks the
videocard might be in the way of removing/adding memory.

1394 adapter is for Firewire as others have stated.