Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 21st Nov 2008, 10:16

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...ga-ep45-ud3r/1

Gigabyte has primed its GA-EP45-UD3R Ultra Durable 3 motherboard for some hefty overclocking and claims serious DDR2 memory performance. Naturally curiosity got the better of us so we had to check it out!

Matticus · 21st Nov 2008, 10:54

Nice informative review and nice to see another gigabyte board performing pretty well. I have a bit of a soft spot for gigabyte. I really don't need a board to be an extreme overclocker or have crossfire/sli, I mainly want a board that will give me a modest overclock, performs 100% stable 24/7 and doesn't nom nom nom all my electricity. Obviously most of all it needs to be affordable, which is why I will be aiming for gigabyte boards for at least the foreseeable future.

Denis_iii · 21st Nov 2008, 11:27

a shame about the 500FSB barrier, was hoping to run e8400 with 8 multiplier on this board
maybe a bios update will resolve?

Bindibadgi · 21st Nov 2008, 11:34

Check other reviews - if they do it maybe they do something I don't know, but honestly I doubt it - the DS3R never hit 500FSB either and the P45 has been around for ~6 months now.

SPQQKY · 21st Nov 2008, 12:41

There is a large thread on these boards at XS, I've seen several go over 500FSB. I myself have not been able to, but I got the EP45-UD3R and loved it so much, it replaced my Asus Maximus Formula and I have another one on the way to replace my IP35 Pro in my other rig. These are fantastic boards at an incredible price. Anyone looking to get a new C2D motherboard, I can't think of a better board right now.

BTW: The GA-EP45-UD3P has dual LAN and an extra PCI-E x16 slot. I actually have THAT board on order and got it for $119 USD Shipped from newegg using a $10 off promo code.

[USRF]Obiwan · 21st Nov 2008, 12:44

If they ditch the fdd/ide and move the sata to the sides. It would have been a winner.

Bindibadgi · 21st Nov 2008, 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by [USRF]Obiwan

If they ditch the fdd/ide

It absolutely will not happen on P45 or any mid-range product for at least the next .. 3 years.

ravenelje · 21st Nov 2008, 17:33

It seems to me that many reviews leave out durability tests. Not about overclocking, or performance, but rather what happens when your kid grabs the board and drops it prior to insertion into the case, or when the case manufacturer provides the wrong standoffs and you have to rip the screws out of the board with pliers?

This happened recently and have scratches and cracks in two seperate places around the screw holes. It appears that I even crossed over the circuitry and exposed the copper underneath. It booted first time no problem and hasn't had a single issue. This MoBo is a beast. Not only does it do all the stuff outlined in this review, but it can sustain physical damage and continue to fucntion.

crompers · 21st Nov 2008, 18:23

having had all sorts of boards from asus, abit, biostar and others i can honestly say that my P31-DS3L is the most stable mobo i have ever personally experienced and i'll certainly be going for gigabyte next time round

steelblade · 21st Nov 2008, 18:50

Thanks for this review - I wasnt expecting it so soon. Ill be doing a bit more reading first but I think this fits my bill. Thanks again!

HourBeforeDawn · 21st Nov 2008, 18:56

huh my brother needs a new board maybe I will get him to upgrade to this so I can mess around with it lol.

trek554 · 22nd Nov 2008, 02:13

my GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P board uses those red slots just fine. the only difference between my board and this one is that I mine has an additional PCI-E slot for crossfire.

zr_ox · 22nd Nov 2008, 06:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by crompers

having had all sorts of boards from asus, abit, biostar and others i can honestly say that my P31-DS3L is the most stable mobo i have ever personally experienced and i'll certainly be going for gigabyte next time round

I have to agree with you. My EP45 DS5 is the most trouble free motherboard I've had and I for one would not hesitate to buy Gigabyte again.

Looks like another nice, if un-necessary release from Gigabyte.

SPQQKY · 25th Nov 2008, 03:29

New DDR2 Speed records broken with Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

DDR2 1696 (848MHz) !!!

I really love this board. Although I'm not breaking records, I am running 2 x 2GB G.Skill Pi Black @ DDR2 900 4-4-4-12 w/ 2.0v. I'm also running them in the red DIMM slots. In this review, you had bad luck with the red DIMMs, but I think it was just that...bad luck.

Tim S · 25th Nov 2008, 08:39

That's sick and I love the pics too

[USRF]Obiwan · 25th Nov 2008, 08:48

Who needs stinking DDR3 ram

cpemma · 25th Nov 2008, 20:17

Quote:

In terms of the "2oz" copper adverts from Gigabyte showing a clearly chunkier PCB, this just doesn't seem to be the case as we compared it to other six-layer PCBs we had in the lab.

To get some perspective here, "2oz copper" is just 0.07mm thick, a bit thinner than 60g paper. Much improved current handling for sure, but don't expect to spot the difference from the 0.035mm usual stuff visually where most of the board thickness is poxy resin, not copper.

GigaMan · 26th Nov 2008, 17:05

Hello,
Actually the GA-EP45-UD3R is a 4 layer PCB motherboard, not 6 layers like the GA-EP45-DQ6.

HenrikW · 26th Nov 2008, 21:57

Oh why oh why did I buy a 780i mobo and SLI, when I could have had this cheap OC beast and some cheap x-fire

Seems like a really good board, especially at that price.

Bindibadgi · 26th Nov 2008, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by GigaMan

Hello,
Actually the GA-EP45-UD3R is a 4 layer PCB motherboard, not 6 layers like the GA-EP45-DQ6.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpemma

To get some perspective here, "2oz copper" is just 0.07mm thick, a bit thinner than 60g paper. Much improved current handling for sure, but don't expect to spot the difference from the 0.035mm usual stuff visually where most of the board thickness is poxy resin, not copper.

Thank You! I've made an addendum to the article.

21st Nov 2008, 10:16	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...ga-ep45-ud3r/1 Gigabyte has primed its GA-EP45-UD3R Ultra Durable 3 motherboard for some hefty overclocking and claims serious DDR2 memory performance. Naturally curiosity got the better of us so we had to check it out! __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

21st Nov 2008, 10:54	#2
Matticus Do me a favour, plug me into a Sega Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Peterborough Posts: 1,398	Nice informative review and nice to see another gigabyte board performing pretty well. I have a bit of a soft spot for gigabyte. I really don't need a board to be an extreme overclocker or have crossfire/sli, I mainly want a board that will give me a modest overclock, performs 100% stable 24/7 and doesn't nom nom nom all my electricity. Obviously most of all it needs to be affordable, which is why I will be aiming for gigabyte boards for at least the foreseeable future. __________________ \|\|\|E8200@3.4ghz\|\|\|GA-P35-DS3L\|\|\|4GB OCZ/Corsair DDR2 800\|\|\|8800GT 512mb\|\|\|VX450w\|\|\|Under Water\|\|\|

21st Nov 2008, 11:34	#4
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,228	Check other reviews - if they do it maybe they do something I don't know, but honestly I doubt it - the DS3R never hit 500FSB either and the P45 has been around for ~6 months now. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

21st Nov 2008, 12:41	#5
SPQQKY Evil Modder Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Dark Forest, IL Posts: 509	There is a large thread on these boards at XS, I've seen several go over 500FSB. I myself have not been able to, but I got the EP45-UD3R and loved it so much, it replaced my Asus Maximus Formula and I have another one on the way to replace my IP35 Pro in my other rig. These are fantastic boards at an incredible price. Anyone looking to get a new C2D motherboard, I can't think of a better board right now. BTW: The GA-EP45-UD3P has dual LAN and an extra PCI-E x16 slot. I actually have THAT board on order and got it for $119 USD Shipped from newegg using a $10 off promo code. __________________ I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Core2Duo E8400 @ 4GHz - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - 4 x 2 GB G.Skill Pi Black-6400C4 - eVGA GeForce GTX 260 - Auzentech X-Plosion 1 x 250GB and 2 x 300GB Barracuda - LaCie 1TB BD - Corsair CMPSU 620HX - etc., etc. Last edited by SPQQKY; 21st Nov 2008 at 13:12.

21st Nov 2008, 12:44	#6
[USRF]Obiwan Ultramodder Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,218	If they ditch the fdd/ide and move the sata to the sides. It would have been a winner. __________________ Mascleta: "The most accurate simulation of thunder, humans can simulate..." The answer is 42, so... whats the question again? If you know what 'Peek' and 'Poke' represents, then you are probably as old as me.

21st Nov 2008, 11:27	#3
Denis_iii Hypermodder Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 872	a shame about the 500FSB barrier, was hoping to run e8400 with 8 multiplier on this board maybe a bios update will resolve?

21st Nov 2008, 17:33	#8
ravenelje What's a Dremel? Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1	It seems to me that many reviews leave out durability tests. Not about overclocking, or performance, but rather what happens when your kid grabs the board and drops it prior to insertion into the case, or when the case manufacturer provides the wrong standoffs and you have to rip the screws out of the board with pliers? This happened recently and have scratches and cracks in two seperate places around the screw holes. It appears that I even crossed over the circuitry and exposed the copper underneath. It booted first time no problem and hasn't had a single issue. This MoBo is a beast. Not only does it do all the stuff outlined in this review, but it can sustain physical damage and continue to fucntion.

21st Nov 2008, 18:23	#9
crompers Dremedial Join Date: May 2008 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 1,218	having had all sorts of boards from asus, abit, biostar and others i can honestly say that my P31-DS3L is the most stable mobo i have ever personally experienced and i'll certainly be going for gigabyte next time round __________________ \| Q6600 G0 @ 3.21ghz \| ACF7P \| GA-P31-DS3L \| 4GB HyperX 857mhz \| XFX GTX280 655/1210 \| WD 160GB \| Maxtor 250GB \| Black Gigabyte Aurora \| OCZ GameXStream 700W \| HP LP2475w \| AE Aego M 2.1 \| Roccat Kone \| Saitek Eclipse \| Steam: psycrompton PSN: crompers85

21st Nov 2008, 18:50	#10
steelblade Minimodder Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 48	Thanks for this review - I wasnt expecting it so soon. Ill be doing a bit more reading first but I think this fits my bill. Thanks again!

21st Nov 2008, 18:56	#11
HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Cali, USA Posts: 1,785	huh my brother needs a new board maybe I will get him to upgrade to this so I can mess around with it lol. __________________ Current Rig: RubyRED • Lian-Li A05B • (2) Swiftech 220 Radiators • (2) D5 Variable Pumps • (2) Res • and a whole lot of modding • Retired Rig: Project F.E.A.R. • TT Lanbox Lite • Swiftech H2O-120 • Q6600 G0 OC@3.6ghz • 2900XT • 4gb SuperTalent Memory •

22nd Nov 2008, 02:13	#12
trek554 What's a Dremel? Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 6	my GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P board uses those red slots just fine. the only difference between my board and this one is that I mine has an additional PCI-E slot for crossfire.

25th Nov 2008, 03:29	#14
SPQQKY Evil Modder Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Dark Forest, IL Posts: 509	New DDR2 Speed records broken with Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R DDR2 1696 (848MHz) !!! I really love this board. Although I'm not breaking records, I am running 2 x 2GB G.Skill Pi Black @ DDR2 900 4-4-4-12 w/ 2.0v. I'm also running them in the red DIMM slots. In this review, you had bad luck with the red DIMMs, but I think it was just that...bad luck. __________________ I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Core2Duo E8400 @ 4GHz - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - 4 x 2 GB G.Skill Pi Black-6400C4 - eVGA GeForce GTX 260 - Auzentech X-Plosion 1 x 250GB and 2 x 300GB Barracuda - LaCie 1TB BD - Corsair CMPSU 620HX - etc., etc.

25th Nov 2008, 08:39	#15
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	That's sick and I love the pics too __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

25th Nov 2008, 08:48	#16
[USRF]Obiwan Ultramodder Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,218	Who needs stinking DDR3 ram __________________ Mascleta: "The most accurate simulation of thunder, humans can simulate..." The answer is 42, so... whats the question again? If you know what 'Peek' and 'Poke' represents, then you are probably as old as me.

26th Nov 2008, 17:05	#18
GigaMan GIGABYTE UK Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: On earth Posts: 24	PCB layer Hello, Actually the GA-EP45-UD3R is a 4 layer PCB motherboard, not 6 layers like the GA-EP45-DQ6.

26th Nov 2008, 21:57	#19
HenrikW Bacon is an element! Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark. Posts: 55	Oh why oh why did I buy a 780i mobo and SLI, when I could have had this cheap OC beast and some cheap x-fire Seems like a really good board, especially at that price. __________________ My G5 mod in the works