Gigabyte DS3?

[CompG33k]

Hey Guys

I'm planning on building a new rig soon after a price cut takes place for Core 2 Duos and I'm trying to debate on which motherboard to go with. Originally, I planned on going with an Asus P5N-E Sli. However I've read some DS3 reviews and I'm kinda leaning towards the DS3 Mobo right now as some reviews have said that it is quite a fast and stable motherboard. However I do not plan on doing any over-clocking. My question is should I still go with the DS3 even if I do not plan on over-clocking? Or should I save my money, go with the P5N-E Sli and invest in a better graphics card?

Your input is appreciated and all comments are welcome!

Thanks in Advance!

 

[Storm_uk]

Hi, new user here on the forumz. I am nearly in the same boat as you, i am looking for a core 2 duo mobo but i want to OC mine as much as i can. I am leaning towards a Asus P5B Deluxe board as i heard these are extreme in OC'in!!

Also heard that it is very stable at high speeds which helps lol. Any other users use this board or have advice on other boards?

Sorry if im hijacking the thread but i have heard about the DS3 but cant seem to get hold of it if i were going to buy it anywayz.

 

[vonhell]

I've built a PC for my brother on monday, got P35-DS3 for him. Unfortunately, haven't really tried any OC yet, only put his E4300 @ 2100 MHz (undervolted a bit) and not much more

As to the board itself - it uses Intel ICH9 (not 9R) southbridge so RAID is available using proprietary Gigabyte hardware. I got it to work without any problems at all, even though it was my first encounter with installing RAID array. 6 SATAs connections are enough for most people, but you can get DS3R for not much more and have 2 additional ones

BIOS is strange. Especially voltage settings. You can set them normally for CPU but for RAM you have +0.0, +0.1, +0.2... instead of conventional 1.8, 1.9 and so on. Same for FSB, PCIe and other things. Strange. On the plus side - the manual is REALLY useful, and gives step-by-step instructions for everything

Two things I didn't like:
1) no Floppy disk with RAID drivers. I am aware that such disk is rarity but still...
2) Lack of cables. There were only 2 SATA cables in the package (only 2 !!), and no MOLEX->SATA power adapters whatsoever

What I really did like is a special adapter for external SATA, to which you can plug standard SATA disks using provided adapters so you don't need to take the case apart. Haven't tried it in practice yet but it looks promising.

All in all - from the user-friendliness point of view I liked it, although I didn't like trip to friend of mine just to get missing cables. From the OC point of view - no idea yet

 

[rahvyn13]

I bought the Gigabyte DS3 a week or so ago along with the e6600. The board installed easily, and mounted the 120 Ultra Heat Sink just fine. vonHell is correct about the Bios, took some getting used to, but I have the e6600 overclocked to 3Ghz currently, and the board did that efforlessly. I plan to go higher, but wanted to give the system time to run a bit and kind of "break it in". If I understand the BIOS correctly, the .1, .2, .3 etc are voltages above the stock voltage for what you overclocking. You can still set the VCore in increments, I'm currently at 1.35, and have added .1 on the RAM, but havent had to up the northbridge or PCIe yet. On top of that, it has support for both DDR2 and DDR3, I'm using DDR2 currently, and will also support the Penryn chips when they arrive. It comes with a tool called @BIOS (or something like that) that is supposed to flash the BIOS from within Windows. Not sure how that will work, havent tried it yet as it came with the latest BIOS. Overall I am quite happy with the board so far.

 

[maxpleasure]

My choice is, if I were you, DS3.

I've been using it for 6 months already and OC with no problem, as long as you follow OC instruction provided in many threads.

When I looked at ASUS mobo threads, many of them who has problem with the board, saying that "it's typical ASUS mobo problem"..... this is why I had chosen DS3.

 

[plguzman]

I have a DS3 and I'm very pleased. Very stable OC with good capabilities.