Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Living Review

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Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Living Review
If you rate this thread please
Gigabyte have kindly given us a GA-EP45-UD3R to review. The UD3 boards use the new Ultra Durable 3 PCB (Printed Circuit Board), which is covered in more detail below. This is a single x16 PCI-E with a very attractive budget price, but with many of the features of other more expensive P45 boards, in Gigabyte's extensive P45 range.

Index:
Useful Links
Gigabyte Official Support&Download - Bios
Bios Template
Voltage Measuring Points
Motherboard
1) Box and Package
2) The Motherboard
3) Official Overview
4) UD3 Board Comparison and UD3R Specifications
5) Motherboard Detail
6) Accessories and extras
7) More Motherboard Detail
8) Test Components
Bios
9) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 1of5
10) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) - Advanced Clock Control - Sub Menu
11) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 2of5 - Dram Performance Control
12) Advanced Timing Sub Menu and Channel Timing Settings
13) Channel Driving Sub Menu
14) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 3of5 - Voltages CPU
15) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 4of5 -MCH/ICH Voltages:
16) MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 5of5 - Dram Voltages
17) General Bios 1of2
18) General Bios 2of2
Benches
19) Xeon 3230 Quad 7x450@2.4B 1,080Mhz 5-5-5-18
20) Xeon 3230 Quad 8x425@266D 1,133Mhz 5-5-5-16
21) E8600 4,160 8x520@2B 1,040Mhz 5-5-5-14
22) E8600 4,260 8x533@2B 1.066Mhz 5-5-5-14
23) 4,400Mhz 8x550@2B 1,100Mhz 5-5-5-18
24) Their not bullshitting about that 2oz PCB running cooler
25) 4,320 10x432 @2.66D 1,152 5-5-5-20
26) RAM Stability

Final thoughts and conclusion
New Revision Comparison EP45-UD3R Rev1.0 v Rev1.1

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Box and Package

Box Front, Gigabyte seem to have adopted a new style for the UD3 boards, looks quiet classy. Note the blurb about the new UD3 pcb and improved cooling etc.,


Box Rear


Open


Motherboard underneath in bag With plenty of labels.

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The Motherboard
Looking very striking with the metallic blue heatsinks. As usual with recent Gigabyte boards, there is a very solid and quality feel about the board.


There seems to be fractionally less room between the CPU and northbridge than the Extreme, but the heat sinks are all low profile so your gigantic air cooler should fit with no issues.


Rear I/O Panel

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Official Overview

GA-EP45-UD3R (rev. 1.0) Official Site

Intel® P45 + ICH10R Chipset

Introduction
The GA-EP45-UD3R introduces revolutionary GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 technology featuring a 2 oz copper PCB to help reduce system temperature and dramatically enhance performance. Based on the Intel P45 chipset the GA-EP45-UD3R delivers a record-setting 1600MHz FSB for the latest Intel® Core 2™ multi-core processors, and supports dual channel DDR2 memory at speeds of up to 1366MHz and even higher. Additionally, the GA-EP45-UD3R incorporates GIGABYTE DES Advanced technology for industry leading energy saving and enhanced system efficiency.

1) Ultra Durable 3 technology with 2 oz copper PCB for 50°C cooler working temperature
"GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 series motherboards once again lead the motherboard industry for the highest quality and most innovative motherboard design. Featuring the industry’s first consumer desktop motherboard design to introduce 2 ounces of copper for both the Power and Ground layers, delivering a dramatically lower system temperature, improved energy efficiency and enhanced stability for overclocking.
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 motherboards are also equipped with the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable signature features including Japanese Solid Capacitors boasting an operational life time of more than 50,000 hours, Ferrite core chokes with higher energy efficiency compared to the commonly used iron core chokes and Lower RDS(on) MOSFETs that features a lower resistance, which reduces power consumption and heat generation. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 series motherboards promise to provide the stability, reliability and longevity essential to meet the power needs of high-end processors and other components running today's most demanding applications and games...more "

2) Revolutionary energy saving design with DES Advanced featuring hardware based Dynamic 6-Gear switching
"Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced
GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced provides better energy saving capabilities and enhanced system performance. GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced is the world’s only motherboard energy saving technology with hardware-based Dynamic 6-Gear* Switching. With support for VRD 11.1, GIGABYTE’s DES Advanced allows the motherboard to switch to 1 Gear phase switching during idle, allowing for a dramatic increase in power savings.

GIGABYTE has also retooled Dynamic Energy Saver to allow overclockers to experience the benefits of multi-gear power phase switching while overclocking, providing ultra stable, ultra smooth overclocking performance."

3) Supports 45nm Intel® Core 2™ multi-core processors with FSB 1600 MHz
4) Natively support to dual channel DDR2 1366+* for remarkable system performance
"The World's Fastest DDR2 Motherboard
Delivering native support for DDR2 memory up to 1366+MHz, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 series motherboards allow users to easily reach higher memory frequencies at lower voltages; achieving higher memory performance with lower power consumption to run even the most memory intensive applications such as high-definition video and 3D games with ease."

5) Ultimate graphics performance with PCI-E x16 interface
6) 100% 50,000 hour lifespan Japanese solid capacitors design
"GIGABYTE Ultra Durable motherboards are equipped with solid capacitors developed by leading Japanese manufacturers. With an average lifespan of 50,000 hours, these solid capacitors provide the stability, reliability and longevity essential to meet the power needs of high-end processors and other components running today's most demanding applications and games. "

7) DualBIOS solution gives a multiple security to the system
"DualBIOS™ - Patented Dual Hardware BIOS Protection
DualBIOS™ is a GIGABYTE patented technology that automatically recovers BIOS data when main BIOS has crashed or failed. Featuring 2 physical BIOS ROMs integrated onboard, GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ allows quick and seamless recovery from BIOS damage or failure due to viruses or improper BIOS updating."

8) Hardware Overvoltage Control IC Provides more voltage control options on CPU, North bridge and memory
"Enabling Extreme Overclocking
GIGABYTE Hardware Overvoltage Control ICs featuring more voltage control options than before for the CPU North Bridge and memory. The overvoltage controllers also provide hardware linear real-time voltage control, which means there is no delay compared to the GPIO controller in past implementations. In addition, GIGABYTE’s Hardware Overvoltage Controller ICs also allow for much finer voltage control, allowing power users to adjust voltage in as little increments as 20mV for better overclocking performance."

9) Blu-ray playback outputs supported by high quality 106dB SNR ALC889A HD audio

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Motherboard Detail



Sata Ports Area


PCI/PCI-E Slots


CPU Socket


Ram Slots

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UD3 Models


UD3R Specifications
CPU

• 1. Support for an Intel Core™ 2 Extreme processor/ Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor/Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor/ Intel® Pentium® processor Extreme Edition/Intel® Pentium® D processor/ Intel® Pentium® 4 processor Extreme Edition/Intel® Pentium® 4 processor/ Intel® Celeron® processor in the LGA 775 package (Refer to CPU support list for more information)
• 2. L2 cache varies with CPU

Front Side Bus

• 1. 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz FSB

Chipset

• 1. North Bridge: Intel P45 Express Chipset
• 2 South Bridge: Intel ICH10R

Memory

• 1. 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
• 2. Dual channel memory architecture
• 3. Support for DDR2 1366+*/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules

* Refer to Memory Support List for more information.

Audio

• 1. Realtek ALC889A codec
• 2. High Definition Audio
• 3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
• 4. Support for S/PDIF In/Out
• 5. Support for CD In

LAN

• 1. 1 x Realtek 8111C chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots

• 1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (The PCI Express x16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard)
• 2. 3 x PCI Express x1 slot
• 3. 3 x PCI slots

Storage Interface South Bridge:

• 1. 6x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
• 2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

• 1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
• 2. 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
• 3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD

iTE IT8718 chip:

• 1. 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

IEEE 1394a

• 1. T.I. TSB43AB23 chip
• 2. Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)

USB

• 1. Integrated in the South Bridge
• 2. 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)

Internal I/O Connectors

• [*]1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  [*] 2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
• 3. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
• 4. 1 x IDE connector
• 5. 8 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
• 6. 1 x CPU fan header
• 7. 2 x system fan headers
• 8. 1 x power fan header
• 9. 1 x front panel header
• 10. 1 x front panel audio header
• 11. 1 x CD In connector
• 12. 1 x S/PDIF In header
• 13. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
• 14. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
• 15. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
• 16. 1 x parallel port header
• 17. 1 x serial port header
• 18. 1 x power LED header
• 19. 1 x chassis intrusion header

Back Panel Connectors

• 1. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
• 2. 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
• 3. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 4. 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
• 5. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 6. 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
• 7. 1 x RJ-45 ports
• 8. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line

I/O Controller

• 1. iTE IT8718 chip

H/W Monitoring

• 1. System voltage detection
• 2. CPU/System temperature detection
• 3. CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
• 4. CPU overheating warning
• 5. CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
• 6. CPU/System fan speed control

BIOS

• 1. 2 x 8 Mbit flash
• 2. Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
• 3. Support for Dual BIOS
• 4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b

Unique Features

• 1. Support for @BIOS
• 2. Support for Q-Flash
• 3. Support for Dual BIOS
• 4. Support for Download Center
• 5. Support for Xpress Install
• 6. Support for Xpress Recovery2
• 7. Support for EasyTune 6
• 8. Support for Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced
• 9. Support for Time Repair
• 10. Support for Q-Share

Bundle Software

• 1. Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System

• 1. Support for Microsoft/ Windows/ Vista/XP

Form Factor

• 1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

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Accessories and extras
I was very pleasantly surprised looking at the accessories that accompany this board, despite being about half the price the UD3R has many of the same extras that come with the top end Gigabyte GA-EP45T-EXTREME



1x E-sata bracket allowing 2x sata drives.


IDE & sata leads


I/O Back Plate

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More Motherboard Detail

Dual Bios Chips Excellent feature on a sub £100 motherboard.


CPU Socket


North Bridge



Sata Port Area


Backside

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Bios - Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) 1of5

There is very little difference in features between this bios and the Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME

Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker - Main Menu


Robust Graphics Booster
I always run this on Turbo, without issue


CPU Clock Ratio - Select CPU Multiplier

Fine CPU Clock Ratio - Select CPU 0.5 Multiplier if 45nm CPU (Wolfdale or Yorkfield)
CPU Frequency - Information display CPU Speed (CPU Clock Ratio + Fine CPU Clock) x FSB (CPU Host Frequency)

Clock Chip Control
CPU Host Control - Default = DIsabled Enable to manually adjust CPU Host Frequency(FSB) below.



CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) - Set FSB


PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)
Set the PCIe clock frequency. Range is from 90 MHz to150 MHz. Default = Auto =100 MHz.

C.I.A.2 CPU Intelligent Accelerator 2 (C.I.A.2) Is designed to automatically adjust CPU computing power to maximize system performance. C.I.A.2 allows your system bus to be changed dynamically based on CPU loading through the use of 5 preset states below:-


Advanced Clock Control - Sub Menu

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MIT - Advanced Clock Control - Sub Menu

CPU Clock Drive
Running with a wolfdale I generally leave tthis on 700mV, a higher value may help with a high FSB or running a quad core CPU.

PCI Express Clock Drive - Leave at default, I've never really used it.

CPU Clock Skew
With wolfdale I find that >550FSB adding a notch oir two can help with stability. Again it's probably more useful for quad core CPUs.




MCH Clock Skew - A nice to have but to be honest I'vr not used it. It's possible it may help ram stability.